Prada is no longer selling a line of accessories and displays following complaints that they featured blackface-style imagery.

The controversy began last week when a New Yorker complained in a viral Facebook posting after walking past a Prada boutique in Manhattan's SoHo district and noticing what she described as a ``racist and denigrating'' caricature in the storefront.

The Italian fashion house had recently launched a series of luxury keychains and trinkets, including one showing a character with brown skin and exaggerated red lips.

Prada Group released a statement saying that it ``abhors all forms of racism'' and that the imaginary creatures were not intended to ``have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface.''

The statement said it was withdrawing the characters in question from display and circulation.