Fashion staple Dolce & Gabbana has seen a continued nosedive in a key market, as Chinese media boycotted the brand’s fashion show in Milan on Sunday.
According to a report from The South China Morning Post, the Chinese media contingent for Dolce & Gabbana’s fall/winter show, which “normally occupies a large number of seats, rivalling the US section”, was less than a third of its usual size.
Only a handful of major editors were in attendance, including representation from Marie Claire China and Harper’s Bazaar China.
The South China Morning Post reported that a Marie Claire editor only attended the show “to support the Dolce & Gabbana public relations team in China but not the brand itself”, while Five Chinese editors said that they had “no plans to cover the show in their publications or on social media”.
Dolce & Gabbana’s reputation in China has seen an immense nosedive following an atrocious ad last November that portrayed a Chinese woman eating Italian food with chopsticks, which unsurprisingly garnered accusations of racism from both the general public and prominent figures like Taiwanese actor Talu Wang.
The video, along with others in the short-lived series, was quickly pulled.
To make matters worse, co-founder Stefano Gabbana, no stranger to controversy, allegedly took to Instagram, sending an inflammatory direct message to fashion writer Michaela Phuong.
In the DM, Gabbana said that the racist videos were removed, against his will, because of his “stupid” office.
He went on to declare Chinese people as being “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia”, and that China was “the country of (poo emojis)”.
He concluded by goading Phuong, asking: “you think I’m afraid about your post?”
Dolce & Gabbana quickly took to Instagram, claiming that its account, along with Gabbana’s, had been hacked.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqbjuT3nYa4/?utm_source=ig_embed
The series of events led to Dolce & Gabbana cancelling its planned fashion show in Shanghai, and if the numbers at its Milan show are any indication, its reputation in the market continues to wither.
