Artist Azealia Banks will be staging a boycott of Italian designer Dolce & Gabanna, harshly criticizing the spring 2013 collection the company debuted last month. Present in the collection are caricatures of women of color, printed on dresses and made into earrings. Dolce & Gabbana chose to send out only white models during their showcase, drawing criticism from a number of sources. Banks may be the loudest voice yet, as she laid into the designer on Friday via Twitter.
“Definitely boycotting Dolce & Gabanna,” the rising star tweeted. “Whoever designed that racist ass Dolce and Gabanna collection needs a swift kick in the mouth and a big d–k up the ass.”
“I really hate when people do corny, racist things then try to justify it as ‘art,’” She added.
When the bad press first hit, Dolce & Gabanna posted an article to their website Swide.com, describing the pieces as “blackamoors,” and attempting to justify their cultural significance to the designer’s Sicily theme.
“The head is inspired by Moorish features. Moorish is a term used to define many peoples throughout history,” the article explained. “In Sicily’s case it defines the conquerors of Sicily. The first Muslim conquest of southern Italy lasted 75 years, from 827 to 902 AD.”
Regardless of its historical significance, the images did evoke feelings of racism when used in a contemporary setting.
“It’s all just really unnecessary,” Banks told her fans. “The clothes in the collection were fine without all the “black mammie” imagery.
