MILAN (AP) – Milan-based fashion house Dolce & Gabbana has filed a defamation lawsuit in an Italian court seeking more than $ 600 million in damages from two American fashion bloggers who posted anti-Asian comments attributed to a of designers that led to the boycott of Asian consumers.
The lawsuit was filed in Milan’s civil court in 2019, but was only made public this week when bloggers posted it on their Instagram account, Diet Prada. Her feed is widely followed in the fashion world for her reduced commentary on originality in designs and on social issues.
“This whole case is a way of trying to silence Diet Prada and personally silence Tony (Liu) and Lindsay (Schuyler),” said Susan Scafidi, director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School, which coordinates defense bloggers.
Dolce & Gabbana’s lawyers reached by the AP declined to comment on the case.
The case dates back to November 2018, when Dolce & Gabbana faced a boycott in Asia after outrage over what was seen as culturally insensitive videos promoting a big catwalk show in Shanghai and subsequent posts of insulting comments in a private Instagram chat.
The show was canceled in response, which included retailers throwing Dolce & Gabbana merchandise and Asian VIPs renouncing the brand.
Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana initially said Gabbana’s account had been hacked. The two later appeared in a video apologizing to the Chinese people.
“A public apology and a silent lawsuit really cancel each other out,” Safidi told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Italian defense lawyers filed a writ this week in Milan’s civil court, arguing that Italy is not the right place for the case, given that the blockade occurs in the United States and the alleged damage occurred in Asia.
The fashion house is seeking damages in excess of half a billion euros, Scafidi said.
He said the fashion house is looking for 450 million euros spent to restore the brand image since 2018 and damages of 3 million euros for the company and 1 million for Gabbana, to whom the statements were attributed. The lawsuit also seeks more than 8.6 million euros for the cancellation of the Shanghai show, 8.6 million euros more for staff costs and 89.6 million euros for the loss of sales Asian countries from November 2018 to March 2019.
Since it went public, Diet Prada, which has more than 2.5 million Instagram followers, has raised more than $ 38,000 for its defense.
In a statement, Liu and Schuyler said they would not allow to silence their platform, which has also been vocal about the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter and the recent attacks on Asians in the United States.
“Diet Prada will continue to be a platform to elevate these crucial issues,” Liu said.
Schuyler appealed to “personalities and public brands to respond to public opinion and media criticism with progressive actions, not with lawsuits.”