If you are in any way connected to the fashion realm, then you’ve probably already heard all about Dolce & Gabbana’s latest blunder with their Great Show planned in Shanghai, China. An enormous fashion show was planned, boasting over 300 models with thousands of Chinese stars and Key Opinion Leaders (their term for influencers) set to attend. Unfortunately for Dolce and Gabbana, the universe had other things in mind.
Leading up to the show, Dolce and Gabbana released a series of three promotional videos on Chinese social media and their Instagram that featured a Chinese model attempting to eat oversized Italian cuisine with chopsticks, all while a male voiceover attempted to tell the model how to eat the food in a very patronizing, and semi-creepy-sexual tone. As you might expect, this did not go over well, as Chinese people took to social media to denounce the videos as racist because they relied wholly on stereotyping and infantilized the model and Chinese people overall by suggesting that they would not know how to eat foreign foods if presented with them.
Enter Stefano Gabbana- the decidedly filter-less cofounder of the label that has a long history with taking criticism poorly… really poorly. In response to someone letting him know why the campaign was racist, Gabbana responded by saying that China is a “country of s***” and that Chinese people eat dogs. Apparently he didn’t get the memo that blatant racism isn’t good for PR.
In another amateur bad PR move, Gabbana later claimed that those comments were not made by him because his account was hacked, even though, as the much-revered Instagram fashion blog @diet_prada pointed out, Gabbana posted screencaps of the very same Instagram DM conversation on his stories. Mixed messages much?
After enormous outcry and an onslaught of entertaining videos of Chinese influencers destroying their D&G goods in a variety of ways, Dolce and Gabbana’s dreams of holding their “Great Show” died, leaving us with a half-assed apology video and a ton of questions like “Why do we even still put up with them?”
That’s right, folks- the fact that Dolce & Gabbana is problematic isn’t news. The infamous duo (but mostly Stefano Gabbana) has been offending various audiences for years and here are a few of the best (worst) examples:
5 Reasons Why Dolce & Gabbana (But Mostly Gabbana) Are Trash
1. Internalized Homophobia and War On IVF Children
In 2015, Dolce & Gabbana showed their blatant homophobia when they stated that they do not believe that gay people should be able to have and raise children because it went against nature. To make matters worse, they also referred to children conceived via IVF as “synthetic.” Yikes!
Elton John, who had two beautiful sons with his husband through IVF clapped back- “…Shame on you for wagging your judgemental little fingers at IVF – a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children.”
2. #DGHatesNaples
In 2016, Dolce & Gabbana created the #DGLovesNaples campaign, where they photographed a slew of models dressed to the nines in D&G with Naples locals. While the idea seems charming in concept, it was deemed offensive in its execution because it often showed the models photographed with Neopolitans in stereotypical roles like pizza maker or peasant.
When the Neoploitan people pointed out why they didn’t appreciate the campaign, Stefano Gabbana responded in the only way he knew how, by further insulting them, saying he will never visit Naples again and that Neopolitans are “the disgusting of Italy.” The D&G PR department should really consider taking Gabbana’s social media privileges away.
One of the images from the Dolce & Gabbana Napoli campaign that featured a Neopolitan pizza maker.
3. Even More Racism
In a recent interview, Stefano Gabbana admitted that after he and Dolce are finished, he does not want a Japanese designer to design for the label. And this comment came soon after the label staged a show in Japan to court the Japanese public. Gabbana really has a terrible track record for showing basic human decency.
4. Body Shaming Lady Gaga
After Lady Gaga’s dynamite halftime performance in 2017, Stefano Gabbana took to social media to criticize her choice in showing her stomach, later retracting his comment and issuing an apology: “I know it’s strange, but finally something real not retouched! The truth, reality. Yesterday I criticized it too, but I thought about it and I was wrong!!!”
While some may credit him for issuing an apology, that doesn’t change the fact that he found the need to comment on Lady Gaga’s stomach to be more important than commenting on her abilities and her outstanding performance- a common issue for women in many industries.
Lady Gaga put on a spectacular show during the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, yet received a ton of unwarranted comments about her body, rather than her kick-ass performance. (Photo: Ben Liebenberg/NFL)
5. Fatphobic Sneakers
How could you go wrong with a pair of sneakers? If anyone could find a way, it’s good ol’ Dolce & Gabbana. They released a pair of sneakers with the phrase ” I’m Thin & Gorgeous” printed on them, something that many people found to be a subtle way of pushing a fatphobic message.
So what did Gabbana do when faced with criticism? You guessed it- he made matters worse with more hateful comments like:
“u think is better to be fat full of hamburger??? Stupid” and
“When idiocy distorts reality!!! incredibile!!!! Next time we’ll write LOVE TO BE FAT AND FULL OF CHOLESTEROL.”
The infamous sneakers that boasted the questionable phrase “I’m Thin & Gorgeous.” (Photo: Dolce & Gabbana)
You can’t make this stuff up, folks. If you decide to support Dolce & Gabbana, then that’s your decision, but in my personal opinion, jerks like Gabbana don’t need anybody to stroke their ego. Just let it die.
