Fashion house mocks Melania tie-up critics

Dolce & Gabbana still have designs on the US first lady

WASHINGTON: While some fashion designers have distanced themselves from the Trump administration – or outright refused to dress the first lady – Dolce & Gabbana has embraced any connection.

The love has been mutual: Melania Trump has worn the label on many high- profile occasions, most recently when she accompanied her husband on a trip to the Middle East.

The fashion house’s response to critics? The equivalent of a catwalk hair flip and a shrug – and not the fabric kind.

Dolce & Gabbana has rolled out a line of $ 245 ( R3 120) T-shirts to flout the objections of those who call for a boycott of the luxury fashion label.

“Dolce & Gabbana boycotts itself,” the brand tweeted last week.

The only thing missing was the crying-laughing emoji.

The brand also released a video of a fake protest urging people to boycott Dolce & Gabbana. Filled with young models in the aforementioned shirts and waving banners, the faux footage could have been ripped from Kendall Jenner’s ill-fated Pepsi commercial.

The fashion house’s founders, designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, both make appearances in the video, pretending to “lead” the protests and give interviews.

Criticism of both the first lady and the Italian fashion house flared after Trump wore a $51 500 multicoloured Dolce & Gabbana coat to last month’s G-7 summit in Italy, with some on social media declaring her out of touch with average Americans.

Gabbana has been unabashed on his personal social-media accounts about his support for Trump.

When he received backlash for posting a picture of the US first lady in a Dolce & Gabbana jacket, Gabbana hit back at commentators who said they were giving up on the brand.

“I don’t care!! Really,” Gabbana replied to one Instagram user. He told another critic to “go to hell” in Italian, according to People magazine.

After the US first lady was photographed wearing Dolce & Gabbana the day she moved from New York to the White House, Gabbana shared a photo of her on Instagram with heart emojis and the words “THANK YOU”.

Since the US election, calls to boycott retailers that carried merchandise bearing the Trump name have become a way to protest against the president, spearheaded on the left by a campaign called #GrabYourWallet.

Those calls have been met with some equally passionate responses on the right.

Outrage at Dolce & Gabbana is are nothing new. In 2015, Elton John called for a boycott of the fashion house after the two lead designers told Italian magazine Panorama that they opposed gay adoptions. – Washington Post

PICTURE: AP Fashion designers Stefano Gabbana, left, and Domenico Dolce arrive for the presentation of the book Milan Fashion Soccer Players Portraits, in Milan, Italy, in 2011. Their fashion house, Dolce & Gabbana, is thumbing its nose at critics with a new...