Italian high fashion label Miu Miu has pulled several garments from it’s new collection, after shoppers complained about a yellow star design featured in the chest area that closely resembles a symbol the Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust.
A shopper at a Holt Renfrew boutique in Canada posted on Facebook about the offensive plaid dress. It caught the company’s attention after the post was widely shared. The company then pulled the dress, as well as a skirt and denim jacket bearing a similar design.
Miu Miu is a sister company of Prada.
While a Magen David has 6 sides and the stars Miu Miu used only had 5, a yellow star on the chest of any garment is enough to evoke horrors of the Holocaust for Jewish survivors. Adding insult to injury, the Miu Miu stars contained names beginning with the letter ‘J’ – and the Nazi symbol worn by Jews bore the word ‘Jude.’
It’s not known exactly what Miu Miu was charging for the dress, however a jacket from the same collection with the name “Jack” embroidered in the center of a purple star can still be found online for $2307. A blue chambray shirt with a similar design also remains online for $969.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC), an international organization founded in 1936 that advocates on behalf of Jewish communities and groups, writes that it contacted Miu Miu on Monday to express its “discomfort over the items and demand their removal,” and then lauded the company’s immediate move to do so.
“The World Jewish Congress commends Miu Miu and its parent company, Prada, on its swift attention and action to the concerns we raised regarding the use of the yellow star on its clothing items,” WJC CEO and Executive Vice President Robert Singer said in a statement on Tuesday. “At this critical time, when anti-Semitism and bigotry are rearing their heads in the public sphere, we must continue to exercise caution and show sensitivity in every sphere and sector.”
Preia Narendra, senior vice president of marketing and communications at Miu Miu, thanked the WJC for bringing the matter to the company’s attention. “It was not Miu Miu’s intent in any way to make any political or religious statement, and we apologize for any offense that may have been taken,” she told the WJC. “Kindly note that effective immediately these items will be removed from the collection.”
(Nat Golden – YWN)
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2 Responses
Political correctness nonsense. The Jewish star during the holocaust had 6 points. This has 5 points like a sheriff’s star/badge. Other items have a red star. Is that also like from the Nazis ?!?
Why can’t kids have fun with their clothing and pretending they are deputies…….?
If everyone cries on small things, when it’s a big thing they won’t listen………
Reply to hock …: The company making the clothes voluntarily chose to pull the line when it realized that some people – but not you – might be offended by the resemblance to government-ordered markers on Jews’ clothing from the time of the Holocaust. The company did it voluntarily, not in response to a government order. That’s what free markets are supposed to do.