Story highlights
- Spanish fashion retailer Zara sorry for striped T-shirt bearing yellow star
- Item drew criticism for resemblance to uniforms worn by concentration camp inmates
- Zara parent company says shirt inspired by "sheriff's stars" from Western films
- "We honestly apologize," company says on Twitter
Spanish fashion retailer Zara has apologized for selling a striped T-shirt bearing a yellow star that drew criticism for its resemblance to uniforms worn by Jewish concentration camp inmates.
Zara said the garment, advertised online as a striped "sheriff" T-shirt, was inspired by "the sheriff's stars from the Classic Western films."
"We honestly apologize," Zara said on Twitter in response to numerous outraged tweets.
The offending item was removed from Zara stores and its website, according to a press release from Zara's parent company, Inditex. It was on sale for just a few hours before the company pulled it "due to the potential similarity with the Star of David," the company said.
Sales were "marginal" and the remaining products will be "destroyed."
Photos: Shocking fashion tragedies and scandals
Photos: Shocking fashion tragedies and scandals
The heads of the upscale Dolce&Gabbana brand, Stefano Gabbana, left, and Domenico Dolce, are facing a boycott led by singer Elton John after the Italian designers told a magazine they disagree with in vitro fertilization.
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Photos: Shocking fashion tragedies and scandals
Mirjana Puhar – Model Mirjana Puhar, who appeared last year on "America's Next Top Model," was found dead February 24 in a drug-related triple homicide in North Carolina, according to police. She was 19 years old.
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B. Smith – Former model and celebrated restaurateur B. Smith was reported missing on Nov. 26, 2014. Thankfully, the 65-year-old, who has Alzheimer's disease, was later found in a Manhattan diner.
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Gianni Versace – Celebrated designer Gianni Versace was killed on July 15, 1997, allegedly by suspected mass-murderer Andrew Cunanan. Versace's sister, Donatella, took over the Versace company three months after he died. Ten years after Versace's death, Italy's fashion capital paid tribute to the slain fashion designer with a glittering ballet performance at Milan's La Scala opera house.
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L'Wren Scott – Famed fashion designer L'Wren Scott was found dead Monday, March 17, 2014 of an apparent suicide in her New York City apartment, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told CNN. Scott's creations were popular with Madonna, Christina Hendricks and other stars as well as the public who patronized her Banana Republic line introduced in late 2013. Scott was 49.
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Michele Savoia – Fashion designer Michele Savoia, left, was found dead in New York's Hudson River on Sunday, February 16. He was 55. The designer built a career dressing himself and celebrity clients in vintage clothing from the 1930s and 40s. He had a flair for the dramatic and had worked on Broadway shows such as "Swing," "Promises, Promises" and "Evita."
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Vittorio Missoni – Missoni director Vittorio Missoni and his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, had been missing since the airplane they were in disappeared off the coast of Venezuela on January 4, 2013. A bag from the plane was later found on Curacao. With no other signs of the missing flight and passengers, Missoni's siblings showed the company's newest collection in their home town of Milan without him. The downed airplane was located near Key Carenero six months later and recovery efforts launched.
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John Galliano – "I love Hitler," was about the tamest thing John Galliano said in an anti-Semitic rant caught on tape in 2011. As a result, Galliano was fired from fashion giant Christian Dior and found guilty of making public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity by a French court. In his trial, he said that alcohol and drugs were major factors, which he realized during a stint in rehab after he was fired.
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Alexander McQueen – British designer Alexander McQueen's technical skill as a tailor and boundless imagination at the helm of his own label made him one of his generation's most influential designers, despite earning the monicker "enfant terrible" and his penchant for controversy. Soon after his mother died in February 2010, McQueen took his own life. His former assistant, Sarah Burton, who was named head of McQueen's women's wear line in 2000, took over as creative director following his death. She went on to design Kate Middleton's royal wedding gown as well as sister Pipa's head-turning maid of honor dress.
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Zahia Dehar – French designer and Karl Lagerfeld's muse/protege Zahia Dehar shows collections in Paris, but she's also been embroiled in an underage prostitution scandal. In 2010, she was linked to a sex-for-money case that tarnished the reputation of one of France's most beloved soccer stars, Franck Ribery. (He allegedly paid for sex with her when she was under 18, which is illegal in France.) Another French soccer hero, Karim Benzema, was also alleged to have purchased her services while she was underage.
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Anand Jon Alexander – Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander was convicted in 2008 of 14 counts including forcible rape and was sentenced to 59 years to life in jail. The Beverly Hills designer had been featured on "America's Next Top Model."
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Isabella Blow – Tatler fashion director Isabella Blow had a knack for discovering British fashion talent, from milliner Philip Treacy and designer Alexander McQueen to models Sophie Dahl and Stella Tennant. She struggled with depression for many years and committed suicide in 2007 while she was stricken with ovarian cancer.
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Naomi Campbell – British supermodel Naomi Campbell was sentenced to a week of community service with the New York City Sanitation Department in 2007 after being convicted for throwing a cell phone at her housekeeper so hard that the woman required stitches. But mopping floors and picking up trash did not stop her from getting a case of air rage a couple of years later, which got her banned from British Airways and another 200 hours of community service and fines ordered by a British court.
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Kate Moss – In 2005, supermodel Kate Moss was in the papers, but not because of the clothes she was wearing. Photos were published in The Daily Mirror showing her apparently snorting cocaine. She was not charged with drug offenses, because of weak prospects for a conviction, but she was swiftly dropped from many advertising contracts.
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Gianfranco Ferre – Italian designer Gianfranco Ferre, a favorite of Hollywood stars Elizabeth Taylor and Julia Roberts, suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2007 and died soon after. Often called the "Frank Lloyd Wright of fashion" (he trained as an architect), Ferre became a fashion designer after college and was known for his voluminous and structured clothing as well as his use of innovative techniques.
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Helmut Newton – Photographer Helmut Newton's career as an international glamor and fashion purveyor built him a legendary reputation. Known for his black and white photos of nude models and celebrities, his photos were often featured in Vogue and Elle magazines. He was killed in 2004 when he crashed his car in Hollywood at the age of 83.
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Winona Ryder – In December 2002, actress and fashion darling Winona Ryder was sentenced to three years probation and 480 hours of community service for shoplifting from Saks Fifth Avenue. She was also ordered to pay more than $10,000 in fines and get drug and psychological counseling.
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Ossie Clark – English fashion designer Ossie Clark (pictured here in 1972), spent the 1960s and '70s outfitting rock stars and celebrities like Mick and Bianca Jagger and Elizabeth Taylor. He was found murdered in 1996, stabbed to death by an ex-lover.
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"Inditex would like to reiterate its utmost respect for all cultures and religions. The Group is a Company where people from 180 nationalities work together representing all the cultures, races and religions of the modern world. Inditex is proud of its cultural diversity. In addition, respect and dignity feature among the principles which guide and define its corporate values. The Group condemns and rejects any form of discrimination."
It's not the first time Zara has come under fire for using controversial imagery, according to the World Jewish Congress, one of many groups that called out the garment on social media.
The fashion chain withdrew a line of handbags in 2007 from stores in Britain after some said the design featured Nazi swastikas.
"The bag had been produced in Asia, however, where the symbol also carries ancient cultural significance," the World Jewish Congress said in a statement.
The Anti-Defamation League said it welcomed the removal of what it called the "deeply offensive" shirt.
"The shirt emblazoned with the yellow star is in poor taste and is deeply offensive to Jews and Holocaust survivors. To anyone who knows their history, this kind of imagery should be off-limits. We welcome Zara's recognition of the shirt's potentially offensive imagery and removal from sale," the group said in a statement.
"This is not the first time we have seen a retail clothing company making this same offensive mistake. The fact that this keeps happening shows that there is a serious need for education about the Holocaust and the history of anti-Semitism."
