Fashion

Prada Mounts Diversity Council as Brands Face Blackface Backlash

  • String of insensitive gaffes have bruised leading labels
  • Social media refrain urges firms to ‘hire some black people’

Pedestrians walk past a Prada SpA store in Beijing.

Photographer: Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg

Prada is mounting an advisory group on diversity as more European fashion brands come under fire from consumers for products and marketing seen as racially insensitive.

Two African-American artists -- sculptor Theaster Gates and filmmaker Ava DuVernay -- will chair a group whose role will be to “elevate voices of color” and “advise the company as it invests in diverse talent development,” Milan-based Prada said in a statement.