D&G unveils ‘Italian oomph’ after China fiasco
DOLCE and Gabbana mixed checks, furry gloves and shimmering dressing gown-style coats over the weekend at Milan Fashion Week, branding it “Italian oomph”.
The Sicilian duo were making their first presentation after the fashion house was forced to apologise to Chinese customers in November last year for posting short clips on Instagram showing a Chinese woman eating pizza, spaghetti and a cannoli with chopsticks.
The uproar escalated when Stefano Gabbana allegedly used poop emojis to describe China and hurled insults at the country and its people.
But the pair steered clear of controversy at their AutumnWinter 2019-20 collection named Eleganza, or “elegance” in Italian.
The backdrop oozed 1930s Berlin decadence with giant red curtains, jazz and a master of ceremonies (shades of Joel Grey!) recreating a Cabaret ambience.
But to highlight Italy’s mastery of cloth, an atelier was also recreated with tailors and fitters taking measurements and cutting and stitching as the models walked up and down the ramp.
Models showcased quirky styles, teaming tailcoats with plaid trousers, matador suits with sparkling bowties and a ginger velvet suit with black lapels.
D&G did not skimp on the lame Hollywood-level glamour incorporating colours such as midnight blue, burgundy and deep purple.
‘We made mistakes’
Although there were some Chinese people at the show, Chinese online retailers are boycotting D&G despite a public apology in which Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana capped a one minute 30-second mea culpa by saying “sorry” in Mandarin in an attempt to salvage their reputation in the world’s most important luxury market.
“Our families always taught us to respect different cultures across the world and because of this we want to ask for your forgiveness if we have made mis t a k e s i n i nt e r pre t i ng yours,” Dolce said in Italian.
“We want to say sorry to all Chinese people across the world, of which there are many, and we are taking this apology and message very seriously,” Gabbana added.
The Chinese-subtit led v ideo was posted on Weibo, the popular Chinese Twitter-like socia l media platform where they have close to one million followers.
T he cont rover s y ma rked t he latest backpedalling by a foreign company for offendi ng Chi nese consu mers or aut horities.
Last year, German carmak- er Mercedes-Benz apologised for “hurting t he feelings” of people i n Ch i na a f ter it s Instag ra m accou nt quoted Tibeta n spi r it ua l leader t he Dalai Lama, seen as a separat ist by Beijing.
And under pressure from Beijing, a growing number of international airlines and companies have edited their websites to refer to the selfruling democratic island of Taiwan as “Taiwan, China” or “Chinese Taipei”.
Hotel chain Marriott’s web- site in China was also shut down by the authorities for a week last year after a customer questionnaire listed Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong as separate countries, prompting the hotel chain to apologise and change the wording.