BY AMANDA GUNN

A jacket released by fashion house Giorgio Armani has sparked controversy on social media for its resemblance to a WWII concentration camp uniform worn by Jewish prisoners.

Despite the controversy, the jacket was sold until April 14, but it has since been taken down from its catalogue and Instagram. 

Holocaust survivor Phillip Maisel, 98, saw the Armani jacket and said he was “disgusted”.

“The jacket may offend others or produce resentment,” he said.  

Mr Maisel was sent to seven hard labour camps in Estonia and three concentration camps in Germany.

Mr Maisel, who has collected more than 1000 testimonies of survivors, said that this kind of clothing triggers “a subconscious response to anything that resembles the events of the holocaust”.

“It brings back the memories that cannot be erased,” he said.

“The holocaust was no small crime, and there are other ways to dress elegantly.”

Manager of Collections and Research at the Jewish Holocaust Centre Dr Anna Hirsh said she was not particularly surprised when she saw the jacket on social media.

Dr Hirsh said the jacket demonstrates, “desensitisation, lack of education and understanding of  [the] Holocaust”.

“You can have an understanding [of the Holocaust], but not experience the depth of the distress unless it was personal,” she said.

Dr Hirsh said that Armani’s jacket highlights the need for sensitivity and respect in the fashion industry. 

“This is not the first time a fashion house has created clothing that can be interpreted as something else,” she said.

Indeed, other fashion labels such as Loewe and Urban Outfitters have been under scrutiny for provocative garments referencing the Holocaust. 

Dr Hirsh said while Giorgio Armani may not have intended to create clothing that would likely be offensive to Holocaust survivors and others, the “resemblance to concentration camp uniforms is visually provocative”.

“Stripes have been part of fashion for ages centuries and are ubiquitous, but it is the colour scheme of this particular suit that is too closely aligned with concentration camp uniforms from the Holocaust,” she said. 

Hirsch said clothing that resembles concentration camp uniforms might diminish its historical meaning.

“[High-end brands] have some responsibility to understand the associations of the clothing they are releasing,” she said.

“I don’t think the intention was to appropriate [the camp uniform design], but there would have been enough people along the design processes to question [the jacket]."