Fashion Icons cancel Show Following Accusations of Racism

Photo by by Renan Katayama via Wikimedia Creative Commons

Dolce & Gabbana has reportedly canceled their high-profile fashion show in Shanghai following accusations of racism in their latest digital marketing campaign featuring an Asian model attempting to eat Italian food using chopsticks, reports CNBC.

According to Jing Daily, the well-known Italian fashion label released the video series entitled ‘Eating with Chopsticks’, using the hashtags #DGLovesChina and #DGTheGreatShow, on China’s popular social media platform, Weibo. These videos were an attempt to generate excitement and promote their now-canceled Nov. 21 show in Shanghai.

The three-part videos displayed outdated interpretations of Chinese decor and a young Asian woman, in a red sequined D&G dress, attempting to eat over-sized versions of various Italian foods like pasta, pizza, and cannoli with chopsticks. Jing Daily reports that the male narrator, in the video with the cannoli, asked the model this sexually suggestive question, “Is it too huge for you?”

The company’s marketing for this event is perceived to perpetuate monolithic representations of Chinese culture and has been deemed “racist” and “stereotypical” by many Weibo users. Jing Daily also reports that while the videos were removed in less than 24 hours, videos were widely shared across social media platforms and the hashtag #BoycottDolce was mentioned over 18,000 times on Weibo.

According to the Business of Fashion, the brand reportedly had to cancel the 500-look runway event due to demands by the local Chinese government. However, before the official cancellation, many prominent Chinese celebrities, including Zhang Ziyi, Li Bingbing, Chen Kun, Wang Xiaoming, and Donnie Yen, rescinded their decision to attend the show.

 

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As @dolcegabbana prepares to mount their next runway show in Shanghai this coming evening (7:30PM) and the rest of Instagram fawns over what’s sure to be an overly lavish “love letter” to China, we’ll be wondering if we’ll see chopsticks as hair ornaments, take-out boxes as purses, or even kimonos misappropriated as Chinese costume. Time will tell. For now, we’ll let y’all simmer on this DM between Stefano and Dieter @michaelatranova (chronology is reversed in slides). Word has it that they’re still in the process of model casting (over 200 Asian girls scheduled)…wouldn’t let them walk the show if we were their agents lol. Also, curious what the Chinese government will think of their country being called shit basically…especially considering how strict they are on who to allow to enter the country on work visas based on a thorough social media background checks. • #DGTheGreatShow #DGlovesChina #runway #fashionshow #cancelled #racism #dolceandgabbana #altamoda #rtw #dgmillennials #stefanogabbana #shanghai #chinese #china #wtf #dumb #lame #asianmodel #asian #dietprada

A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada) on Nov 20, 2018 at 7:05pm PST

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Dolce & Gabbana faced continued condemnation after Instagram users @dietprada and @michaelatranova leaked screenshots of an alleged conversation with co-founder Stefano Gabbana making racist comments via direct message reports CNN.

In an Instagram post, both Stefano and the fashion label claim that both accounts were hacked and said they have “nothing but respect for China and the people of China”.

 

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A post shared by Dolce & Gabbana (@dolcegabbana) on Nov 20, 2018 at 9:26pm PST

 

 

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A post shared by Dolce & Gabbana (@dolcegabbana) on Nov 21, 2018 at 6:27am PST

 
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