Blowing Water | How to make Dolce & Gabbana really pay for co-founder’s anti-China slur
- Luisa Tam says Stefano Gabbana’s foul-mouthed remarks about the country and brand’s misjudged advert suggest apology not worth accepting
- Customers should stay away and hit the company where it hurts
Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana has done it again.
Let me jog your memory: back in January 2012, the fashion house triggered a citywide outrage and a series of high-profile protests after banning Hongkongers from taking photographs outside its flagship store in Tsim Sha Tsui.
The outcry erupted because the D&G store allowed foreigners and mainland Chinese tourists – their target customers – to take photographs of its shopfront, but discouraged local residents from doing so.
The fashion giant later apologised for its insensitivity and things returned to normal not long afterwards.
However, its co-founder, Stefano Gabbana, is notorious for constantly mouthing off with politically incorrect and biased views. He has lashed out at gay adoption, and has long been accused of fat shaming and insulting women by calling some female celebrities ugly.
And yet the fashion label has emerged almost unscathed over the years and recorded soaring sales totalling US$1.5 billion in 2017.