Supermodel Naomi Campbell was one of many who were taken by surprise by the controversy but on Wednesday she publicly backed Gucci after the brand said it had learnt a lesson from its unfortunate faux pas.Gucci was sucked into the public relations disaster after releasing product photos of the turtleneck, which many on social media associated with blackface, when white people imitate physical attributes of black people with costume or makeup, a masquerade that is widely perceived as an expression of racism.

“It was a mistake…. And for me it has been a great learning experience,” Bizzarri said on Wednesday at the Conde Nast luxury conference in Cape Town, South Africa. “It was something that we did not expect. Many people in the company did not see that it could be interpre…