Milan-based Dolce & Gabbana is firing back at fashion platform Diet Prada with a suit seeking damages filed in civil court in Milan. Claiming defamation from Diet Prada accusations in 2018 up that led to the label shutting down a planned runway show, the suit seeks €3 million for Dolce & Gabbana and €1 million for Stefano Gabbana in damages.
Diet Prada founders Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler issued a statement in response to the suit and have let it be known they’re being represented by Fashion Law Institute at Fordham in partnership with Italian law firm AMSL Avvocati, which is providing Diet Prada a reduced rate.
In an effort to help offset the costs of their defense, Liu and Schuyler started a GoFundMe fundraiser, which met fundraising goal of $40,000 within 24 hours.
The suit is a response to Diet Prada’s description of a Dolce & Gabbana campaign the label launched in China in 2018 as racist. As the controversy gained steam and began to be discussed in China, the ads were removed from social media platforms in China.
Known to have an contentious relationship with Diet Prada’s founders long before the controversial campaign, Dolce & Gabbana designer Stefano Gabbana in a fit of fury DMed the account and inexplicably wrote that the ads were only pulled because of a “stupid” team. He then made use of an emoji to describe China as a “country of sh*t.”
Not long after, several Chinese brand ambassadors made public statements cutting ties with Dolce & Gabbana. Eventually, the label was forced to cancel what would have been its debut runway presentation in Shanghai.
Gabbana went on to publish a video in which he apologized for his actions though at the time it was widely viewed by Chinese people as lacking sincerity. While the label has yet to show a runway in China, it participated at the China International Import Expo (image above) in 2018 and 2019.
Find Gabbana’s 2018 DM exchange with Diet Prada below. You can also find interviews conducted on the street in Shanghai following Gabbana’s apology.
