Dolce & Gabbana: Celebrities pledge to boycott designer amid racism backlash

The company cancelled its Shanghai catwalk show following the controversy

A variety of celebrities have vowed to boycott Dolce & Gabbana following the racism controversy caused by the designer’s latest campaign.

In videos posted on the luxury fashion house’s Instagram account earlier this week, the ‘DG Loves China’ campaign featured an Asian model attempting to eat Italian food with chopsticks.

Many condemned the designer following the release of the video clips, describing the campaign as “offensive” and pandering to “false stereotypes”.

“It attempts to target China, but instead mocks them with a parodied vision of what modern China is not... a gag for amusement,” wrote fashion Instagram account Diet Prada in a caption accompanying a video clip from the campaign.

After the video clips were removed from the Dolce & Gabbana social media accounts, Diet Prada then shared screenshots from an alleged conversation between Stefano Gabbana and Instagram user Michaela Phuong Thanh Tranova, in which the designer appeared to make derogatory comments about Chinese people and Chinese culture.

While Gabbana has claimed that his Instagram account was hacked and that the messages weren’t sent by him, a number of celebrities have pledged to boycott Dolce & Gabbana over the controversial campaign and comments.

“As I have voiced time and time again publicly and privately, western brands seeking to enter and expand in China should be aware of Chinese cultural sensibilities,” wrote Angelica Cheung, editor in chief of Vogue China, according to WWD.

“Instead of dictating everything from head office, they would gain a lot from listening to the opinions and insights of their Chinese teams.”

According to the South China Morning Post, actor and singer Chen Kun arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday morning in order to attend the Italian fashion house’s ‘The Great Show’ catwalk, which was due to take place that evening.

However, he later stated that he would no longer be attending the show.

Actor Dilraba Dilmurat, who was made an ambassador for Dolce & Gabbana in February, also revealed that she would not be attending the event.

“I am proud of the best possible motherland. The motherland is above everything else!” she wrote on social media platform Weibo.

Other celebrities to voice their opposition to the campaign include actors Zhang Ziyi and Li Bingbing.

Furthermore, model agency Dongfang Binli stated that 24 of its models had banded together in order to pull out of the Dolce & Gabbana show.

Following the backlash that it received, Dolce & Gabbana later revealed that ‘The Great Show’ catwalk that had been scheduled to take place had been cancelled.

“Our dream was to bring to Shanghai a tribute event dedicated to China which tells our history and vision,” the company wrote in a statement.

“It was not simply a fashion show, but something that we created especially with love and passion for China and all the people around the world who loves Dolce & Gabbana.”