The Problematic History of Dolce & Gabbana
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Ok so I don’t know if you know this, but Dolce & Gabbana have a problematic history. One of their most problematic and frankly racist moments was the breakdown of their major fashion show in Shanghai in 2018, but trust me, there’s more than you think. Founded in 1985 by Italian designers Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, Dolce & Gabbana creates menswear, womenswear, accessories and perfume/cosmetics, rising to fame in the mid 90s. But it was soon obvious that Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce are not afraid of being controversial, putting their brand at risk for their racist and problematic views. So, to convince you not to support Dolce & Gabbana ever again, here’s a little timeline of D&G’s controversies:
There’s no doubt that this saying is used way too much in fashion marketing, but “Sex sells”. But I would admit that there’s a limit, and D&G’s ads in Spain during 2007 referencing gang rape surpasses that limit. It depicted a male model holding a female model down by her wrists while a group of men watch on.
Dolce & Gabbana released a policy in 2012 to forbid Hong Kong residents from take photos outside or inside their flagship store on Canton Street in order to protect their “intellectual property”. Whilst not too surprising for a luxury brand wanting to keep their luxury status, the fact that foreign tourists and residents from mainland China were excluded from D&G’s photo ban caused public outrage. Public protests and a flood of images of the store hitting the internet caused a temporary closure of the store and D&G issued an apology.
“Blackamoor” earrings and prints were featured on D&G’s S/S 2013 collection. Referencing the “Mammy” archetype of the colonial era with cartoonish and politically incorrect depictions, D&G tried to defend themselves by saying that the imagery was inspired by Sicilian artwork.
Stefano Gabbana was photographed with a friend Dell’Acqua in blackface at a ‘Disco Africa’ Halloween Party in 2013.
Dolce & Gabbana dropped criticism on same-sex parenting and In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) parenting from an interview Dolce & Gabbana did in 2015 with an Italian Magazine. “What I call children of chemistry don’t convince me, synthetic children.” “You are born and you have a father and a mother. At least it should be like that.” “We oppose gay adoptions.” Boycotted by many major celebrities, including Elton John, Courtney Love and Victoria Beckham.
In 2016, Dolce & Gabbana released a pair of multicolour embellished sandals for $2,395 as part of their S/S collection. Whilst aesthetically offensive, it was also named the “Slave Sandal”.
Who would be a perfect choice for D&G’s support in 2017? Melania Trump. Not only choosing to dress Melania in 2017 for her public and overseas appearances, Stefano Gabbana also become vocal in their support for Melania, even calling her a #DGWOMAN on their Instagram.In response in to the resulting social media boycott, D&G launched a fashion campaign titled #BoycottDolceGabbana, featuring white t-shirts with the hashtags and a large red heart. Even Stefano Gabbana wrote in the caption; “THANK YOU Haters!!!! Remember #boycottdolcegabbana please…”
Once again, Stefano Gabbana simply couldn’t keep his opinion to himself when in 2018, he commented “è proprio brutta!!!” which from Italian translates to: “she’s really ugly!!!” under The Catwalk Italia’s Instagram post of Selena Gomez.
In addition, in an interview about D&G’s future in 2018 with and Italian daily newspaper, Stefano Gabbana said; “I don’t want a Japanese designer to design for Dolce & Gabbana”, without elaboration. Sounds like deep rooted racism to me.
As part of their “DG Loves China” marketing campaign for their major 2019 resort fashion show in Shanghai, D&G released a number of videos as advertisement. These videos included an Asian model struggling to eat traditional Italian food with chopsticks, which has been deemed culturally insensitive. Along with the stereotypical Chinese music in the background, the narrator asks; “Is it too huge for you?”, which just adds fuel to the disrespectful fire. The narrator even mispronounces the brand’s name, which can be interpreted as a way to mock the way Chinese people say Dolce & Gabbana. You can watch the videos below.
After receiving an initial wave of backlash for these videos, Stefano Gabbana shared his thoughts over Instagram Messaging, in which he said the following:
These messages were shared to Instagram account @dietprada, who then reposted them on their account and it’s fair to say that D&G was cancelled. Stefano Gabbana then went to his own account and claimed that his account was hacked, as well as the official D&G account claiming the same, stating “We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China.” while D&G sent a @dietprada a cease and desist letter in the background.
Once these messages were shared, the boycott began. Many Chinese celebrities and influencers called for a boycott on their social media, as well as not attending the fashion show altogether. Chinese online shopping sites pulled D&G fashion and fragrance from their platforms. Many models who were employed to walk for the show pulled out of the show. Within a day of the social media outbreak, China’s Cultural and Tourism Department (the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Shanghai) forced D&G to cancel the show, just hours before it was scheduled to take place.
It’s estimated that D&G’s estimated profits in 2018 were $1.3 billion euros, with around 30% of that coming from China. However, this controversy could’ve cost them $400 million euros, not even counting the loss from the failed fashion show itself and the loss of sales in the aftermath. It couldn’t be said better than Chinese—French model Estelle Chen, “You don’t love China, you love money. China is rich yes but China is rich in its values, its culture and its people and they won’t spend a penny on a brand that does not respect that.”
I just think Stefano Gabbana needs his social media taken away from him, as well as magazines need to stop giving D&G a platform for their ideologies. Every brand owner, whether luxury or not, needs to be aware of their impact in our society, and if they possess opinions and ideologies that are frankly racist or rude, they do not need to use their brand as a platform to preach their hate. The fact that you’re a designer for a major fashion label does not make you exempt from being held accountable for your horrid actions. There’s no place for racism, bullying and conservative ideals in the fashion industry, let alone society in general. So if you haven’t made up your mind, I would recommend you stop supporting Dolce & Gabbana, whether through purchasing their products or following them through social media. There’s nothing good about supporting a racist and controversial fashion brand.