The Fashion Institute of Technology, a New York fashion school, has apologized for a parade deemed racist by several observers, in which models paraded with huge fake red lips and big black ears. During New York Fashion Week, FIT organized its first fashion show to show the production of its master students on February 7.
During this event, several of the models wore giant false red lips, bushy false eyebrows and imposing false ears. One of the models who was to parade with these accessories, Amy Lefevre, revealed that she had refused to wear them, saying "very uncomfortable", and had drawn attention to the fact that they were "Clearly racist".
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According to the New York Post , the organizers then explained to him that "it was not a problem to feel uncomfortable for 45 seconds", the time of the passage on the podium. Several observers saw in the appearance of the models a resemblance to the imaginary character Sambo, a little black boy often represented in the United States with caricatural features, in particular very red lips and very large.
In front of the turmoil caused by the affair, the President of the FIT, Joyce Brown, officially apologized "to those who participated in the parade, to the students and to all those who were shocked by what they had seen ", according to a letter sent Wednesday to AFP. The official said that the FIT would put in place "safeguards" to prevent such a situation from happening again, without giving further details.
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In early February, Italian luxury house Prada pledged to New York City to take action to combat racism, just over a year after a controversy over the figures she had put in the window of his Soho store. Several people had also seen in these figurines a resemblance to Sambo and the house had withdrawn the objects of the sale.
