Death hoods bring fashion protest

Many of the models stumbled as they were unable to see

MADRID, Spain -- Models sporting nooses, execution-style hoods and body-covering bandages brought howls of protest and walkouts at Madrid's most prestigious fashion show.

Carrying rosaries or crucifixes, the models paraded -- and stumbled -- to the sounds of a man's voice saying the "Our Father," followed by a woman panting erotically and iron bars screeching as they opened and closed.

Spectators at the finale of the Pasarela Cibeles fashion show on Friday night booed, whistled and called out to the hooded models to guide them after some tripped.

Some in the crowd likened the hoods to the the burqa head-coverings that women in Afghanistan had to wear when the Muslim fundamentalist Taliban were in power.

The director of the weeklong show, Cuca Solana, leapt from her seat and ran backstage in a frantic but failed bid to persuade the models to stop the show.

Fermin Lucas, director of the Ifema convention centre which was hosting the show, stormed out in protest.

Many fashion writers followed suit.

"This is an insult to women at a time when we are all fighting for equality and respect," Lucas said.

The outfits were the work of new designer David Delfin, 31, who went out on stage afterward and put his hands together as if to ask forgiveness.

Speaking later to reporters, a visibly upset Delfin insisted he had not meant to trivialise repression against women.

He said he had got the idea from a painting by Rene Magritte in which two hooded lovers kiss. "My mistake is that this was a theatrical concept and here in the Cibeles show there is no way to do a dress rehearsal," he said.

Nevertheless Delfin defended the third fashion collection of his career as "the most feminine one I have ever designed."

Copyright 2002 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.