The Empire Strikes Back
Today’s digital age and globalisation may have dissolved borders, but reality reveals a more harrowing undertone. Amy Yasmine explores how Asian mavericks are taking matters into their own hands, and keeping cool in the face of adversity.
In November 2018, Dolce & Gabbana released campaign teasers ahead of its #DGLovesChina show, one of which featured a Chinese model dressed in an overtly ornate frock, dripping in jewels, and struggling to eat pizza with a pair of chopsticks. Hours later, models and Chinese celebrities stormed out from the designers’ Shanghai produced show, while Instagram users—with much credit to @diet_prada—ran amok; “I can’t believe they made this” one user commented, while the words “SHAME ON YOU” glazed across another user’s comment. Needless to say, the video had since been taken down from the designers’ Instagram account, but certainly not before it made its damage. Many of its Chinese-based stores were shut down, and culminated in a projected loss of USD500 million, according to Reuters.
The issue with Dolce & Gabbana’s campaign was that it portrayed its Chinese consumers as “provincial”, thus alienating Asian cultures from its Western counterparts. It’s a sentiment that somehow still permeates within the industry, even in this day and age of being “woke”. The runways are a great indicator. Just this Spring/Summer ’19, The Fashion Spot reported that in Paris, models of colour made up of 32.4 percent of runway castings, with Milan accounting for only 29.9 percent. Nepalese-American designer Prabal Gurung put it best: “From very early on, I knew what it was like to face adversity, to be different, to be made fun of, and to not fit in,” he said in an interview. “We do live in a world where anyone who is the slightest bit different from what is mainstream normative has to work harder, fight more, and persevere.” The 39-year-old designer’s statement echoes a similar thought in Malaysia, too. In an interview ahead of 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians film,
Malaysian designer Carven Ong noted how it truly is a journey of perseverance for Asian designers, considering how most Hollywood films are dominated by Western names “because of their market share in the world”, while Khoon Hooi mentioned how the global fashion industry needs to take heed of the lack of diversity, and “not ignore the bright and wonderful Asian designers.” Perhaps that’s why mavericks such as Carol Lim and Humberto Leon of Kenzo and Opening Ceremony have gone the distance to push the boundaries of Asian diversity in fashion. Case in point: The creative directors’ Kenzo Spring/Summer ’18 show at Paris Fashion Week saw an all-Asian cast, which honoured the label’s Japanese heritage and the collection’s irreverent muse, Sayoko Yamaguchi. The season after that, Prabal Gurung launched his Autumn/ Winter ’18 campaign featuring yet another all-Asian cast, but took it further with an all-Asian crew. “I’ve always believed in the power of visual representation,” he said, in an interview with Huff Post earlier in 2018. “Growing up, I never saw someone who looked like me represented in Hollywood films or fashion photos in a desirable and glamorous way—or really represented at all, to be honest. I want to change this.” As Crazy Rich Asians took Hollywood by storm, so did its lead actors—and some of them have used their popularity to highlight Asian talent. Gemma Chan, who plays Astrid Leong in the film, did it best, going as far as including a designer’s biography on her ’gram of her getup from the label. At the film’s Los Angeles premiere, the British-born actress wore Oscar de la Renta by Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, while in New York, the actress sported a knitted top and pleated skirt by Chinese-American, French-Basque designer Joseph Altuzarra. “We are all becoming more aware that the greater platform you have, the more responsibility you have, but it isn’t just about speaking about designers—it’s about speaking up when we see a disparity or a problem,” said the actress to Hollywood Reporter. With newfound awareness also comes greater responsibility, which causes a change of tide within the industry itself. See: the growing influence of the continent of Asia in the luxury market. According to a report by McKinsey & Company and Business of Fashion, China is slated to eclipse its European counterparts in luxury sales, with India following closely behind. And as borders come to a complete dissolution, perhaps the time is nigh for the rest of the world to keep up with the region, and consider a new course for an Eastern orientation.