In The Student Journals, Emma Williamson on how Topshop have once again been the subject of controversy, with a t-shirt which appears to carry a symbol associated with Nazism:

This week, following a number of complaints from consumers and followers, high street giant Topshop made the decision to remove a particular t-shirt from their instore and online range. Upon first glance, the item appears fitting with the collections of many stores on the British high street today: sleeveless, black, emblazoned by the word ‘Slayer’ and adorned by an illustrated skull and cross bone motif. Harmless, right?

But this isn’t just a t-shirt with a skull design. The symbol carried on these t-shirts is the emblem of the SS Division Totenkopf – a division of the Waffen-SS, who in part committed the atrocities of Nazi Germany. Topshop’s recognition of and apologies for the ‘upsetting historic connotations and references’ carried by the garment, designed by London-based fashion collective And Finally…, clearly show that the retailer wants no associations whatsoever with the brutality of the Holocaust. Much in the way that John Galliano’s dismissal from Christian Dior in 2011 verified high fashion’s dismissal of anti-Semitism, Topshop’s admission to their own faux pas shows that the British high street has no room for fascism.

Full article here.