LOS ANGELES: Giorgio Armani has branded Madonna “very difficult” and insists the cape he designed did not cause her to fall at the BRIT Awards.

The Italian fashion designer hit back at Madonna after she claimed the “heavy” cape he designed was partially responsible for her falling off the stage at the BRIT Awards last Wednesday, but he insists it was her own fault.

Asked about the accident, the 80-year-old couturier told PEOPLE.com: “Madonna, as we know, is very difficult. This cape had a hook and she wanted a tie, and she wasn’t able to open it with her hands. That’s all there is to it.”

The 56-year-old singer got “a little whiplash” when she was pulled down a small flight of stairs by a dancer who was attempting to remove the huge cape during her performance at the ceremony in London, and claimed her ensemble was to blame.

She later said: “Everybody was worried that my cape was going to slide off because it’s quite heavy, so they tied it really tight around my neck. So here I am marching in like a queen, and I got to the top of the stairs and I pulled my silky string, and it would not come undone. And my two lovely Japanese dancers basically strangled me off the stage. I had a choice: I could either be strangled or fall with the cape, and I fell.”