Prada stops selling US$550 monkey figurines that resembled blackface

The monkeys were a part of Prada’s new ‘Pradamalia’ line of small items like key chains and toys featuring cartoon creatures that come in several colours

It marks the latest instance of a fashion house using imagery that’s at best tone-deaf, at worst, racist and exploitative

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A display of expensive tchotchkes in the windows of Prada’s Soho boutique in downtown New York included one style that recalled a Golliwog, the 19th century blackface character with big round eyes and large red lips. Photo: Chinyere Ezie/Facebook

Published: 9:42am, 16 Dec 2018Updated: 9:42am, 16 Dec 2018

Prada has apologised after some of its products displayed at a store in New York appeared to contain blackface imagery.

The US$550 figurines, part of a line of goods called Pradamalia, were pulled after they prompted outrage and accusations that they depicted racist caricatures of black people.

Prada said in a statement that it had not intended the products – some of which seemed to resemble black monkeys with outsized red lips – to have any reference to the real world or blackface imagery.

“The Pradamalia are fantasy charms composed of elements of the Prada oeuvre. They are imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface. Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery,” the firm said.

The monkeys were part of Prada’s new Pradamalia line of small items like key chains and toys featuring cartoon creatures that come in several colours. Photo: Prada

New York-based civil rights lawyer Chinyere Ezie had seen the products at the Prada store in Manhattan’s Soho.

She later recounted on Facebook how the sight had left her “shaking with anger”.