Givenchy criticised for noose necklace at Paris Fashion Week

French fashion house Givenchy has been criticised after models wore necklaces shaped like nooses on the catwalk at its Paris Fashion Week show.

Three models wore gold and silver versions of the accessory at Givenchy's spring-summer 2022 show on Sunday.

It comes two years after Burberry said sorry for a hoodie featuring a noose.

It added: "This @givenchyofficial necklace that just came down the runway steers dangerously close to that same territory. Really makes you wonder how no one noticed, but alas… history repeats itself."

Activist and artist Kim Saira wrote: "How did this go through several people before this show and everyone thought this was OK? And also why am I not surprised?"

The necklace was part of Givenchy creative director Matthew Williams' first in-person catwalk show since he joined the luxury brand last summer.

He told Vogue the pieces were "really, really worked and complex", and were created with US artist Josh Smith, inspired by his Grim Reaper paintings.

Givenchy has not commented on the backlash to the necklace.

When the Burberry row erupted in 2019, one of its models, Liz Kennedy, wrote in a long post on Instagram: "Suicide is not fashion."

Burberry boss Marco Gobbetti said the brand was "deeply sorry for the distress" caused, adding: "It was insensitive and we made a mistake."

In recent years, the fashion industry has caused controversy on a number of occasions.

Prada also pulled items with images that appeared to resemble black monkeys with large red lips.

And Dolce & Gabbana caused controversy in 2016 when it called an item of footwear in its spring/summer collection a "slave sandal".