Trend Alert: 'Penis Necklace' by Designer Tom Ford

Controversial designer Tom Ford has sparked fury by launching a range of penis necklaces - just in time for Christmas.
The phallic pendants - which resemble the shape of a cross - come in gold or silver and are available with small, medium and large charms.
Intended as the perfect holiday gifts for kinky fashionistas, size apparently doesn't matter as they are all priced $790.
But the latest offering from the designer provoked outrage on Twitter from users, as well as The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights  who said the necklaces were 'unbelievably offensive' to Christians because of its semblance to a cross, and branded Ford 'sick' for combining a phallic image with a religious symbol.

Controversial: Tom Ford released his pricey 'Penis Necklace' just in time for Christmas

Offensive or piece of art? Tom Ford's phalliv necklace comes in gold and silver, and is available in small medium and large

Some twitter users who expressed censure over the necklace wrote:
Susan Swift : 'Just in time for Christmas, a way to say "screw Christ," the savior of the world. This is sick. Just sick.

Kevlyn Hall: 'How dare you use a phallic symbol in the Christian cross! You insulting piece of trash! HOW DARE YOU!'

Another Twitter user : 'This is unbelievably offensive to me. Is he insane?'

Another user added:  the designer could 'rot in hell', adding: 'What is wrong with people these days?'

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has also taken issue with a Ford over the necklace because it considers the piece offensive, especially because the pendant appears to be in the shape of a cross.

"When we learned of this item, I said to the staff that I bet this guy Tom Ford is a homosexual," Bill Donahue, the Catholic League's president and CEO, is quoted as saying in a press release. "I was right. He even think he’s married." (Ford is married to journalist Richard Buckley.) 

Donahue continued:

"A designer gets a little too cute with my religion at Christmastime, and uses sexual imagery to make a quick buck off of it," he said. "Sounds like someone who is not exactly Catholic-friendly, and has some sexual hang-ups as well. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in Profiling to guess just who might be behind this sick gambit."

The 53-year-old fashion aficionado debuted the necklace at his spring-summer 2015 show in London over the summer. At the time, Esquire noted the possibility that the penis cross may be an allusion to the phallus-shaped fascinus charms worn by ancient Romans.

'Agent Provocateur': Tom Ford

The designer has had fashion ads banned in the past for appearing too raunchy, including an advert in 2007 for a men's fragrance that featured a bottle of perfume between a model's open thighs.

In 2003, a controversial campaign for Gucci which featured the fashion house's iconic G shaved into a model's pubic hair, was also banned and condemned for being vulgar and degrading.

Several media houses have reached out to Ford for comment but he has decided to remain mum on the subject.

Ford appears to be having fun playing 'Agent Provocateur', knowing before hand the raucous his creation would generate.

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