Fashion designer Donna Karan walked back her comments about the role of women's clothes in sexual harassment cases on Monday night, but it was too late. The Twitter storm was already raging.

While discussing the Harvey Weinstein sexual-harassment scandal with UK's Daily Mail on the red carpet at Sunday's CinéFashion Film Awards, Karan posed a question of women that suggested they ask for trouble by dressing a certain way.

"How do we present ourselves as women?" Karan said. "Are we asking for it, by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality? And what are we throwing out to our children today about how to dance and how to perform and what to wear? How much should they show? I don't think it's only Harvey Weinstein ... We have to look at our world ... And how women are dressing and what they're asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble."

In a statement to the Associated Press hours the following day, she apologized and said her remarks were taken out of context "Sexual harassment is NOT acceptable," she wrote, "and this is an issue that MUST be addressed once and for all regardless of the individual.”

She added that she was “truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim.”

Karan's comments immediately drew a swift Twitter rebuke from actress Rose McGowan, who tweeted a screen grab of the Daily Mail article.

"Donna Karan, you are DEPLORABLE," McGowan wrote. "You are scum in a fancy dress."

McGowan has been one of the more prominent voices against Weinstein since the Oct. 5 publication of a New York Times article listing three decades of alleged harassment against women. Weinstein was fired by The Weinstein Company, the company he co-founded, on Sunday.

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain asked the designer Karan on Twitter Monday: "How many seventeen-year-olds have you dressed like they are, in your words, 'asking for it?'"

Megyn Kelly accused Karan of victim-blaming at the opening of Tuesday's show, noting that, “Unfortunately, (Donna Karan) is not the only one who apparently thinks this way and it is wrong."

The journalist, who was among the women harassed by late Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, then got at the underlying problem: "The truth is, sexual harassment has nothing to do with wardrobe. It has to do with power and control and sexual proclivities that a superior chooses not to reign in."

Addressing Karan directly, Kelly said, "This attitude of blaming women for their own harassment is actually one of the reasons why women choose not to come forward after they get harassed because they fear victim shaming. They fear it. They know it's going to happen. How about we not pile on, Donna?"

Instead, she suggested, "How about we use this moment to encourage women to find their own voices, despite the risks and to stand up for themselves, which is hard enough, without rich, powerful, well-connected fashion moguls lecturing them on their clothing choices. And speaking of fashion choices, here's one for you. I’m done with Donna Karan.”

Karan, 69, stepped down as chief designer at her eponymous label aimed at working women in 2015. However, The Hollywood Reporter noted that at her peak, Karan dressed a slew of A-list actresses for the red carpet, including Barbra Streisand, Viola Davis, Jane Fonda, Taylor Swift and Jennifer Aniston.

Some of her most notable looks were barely-there numbers, including a red gown with a see-through skirt worn by Jennifer Lopez at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, as well as a heavily sheer black ensemble worn by Rita Ora to the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar party.

Karan has not responded to USA TODAY's request for comment.

Contributing: The Associated Press