Instagram is the first social media platform that has really shaken up the fashion industry. In only ten years since its launch in 2010 it has become a massive part of fashion media. Those interested in fashion don't have to wait to purchase issues of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar anymore. You simply need a phone or computer and you can go onto Instagram and immediately scroll through hours of content from your favorite brands and publications.
Major fashion brands have been able to utilize platforms like Instagram to connect with customers and further build their brands. Chanel and Gucci are currently competing for being the most followed fashion brand on Instagram with 43.5 million followers each. Although they have the same amount of followers the brand's approaches to Instagram differ greatly. Gucci has fully embraced the platform utilizing features like stories, guides, reels, Instagram TV, and filters. Gucci is one of the few luxury brands to fully embrace social media and use it to further build the brand and connect with customers. Customers don't have to be able to buy Gucci in order to feel like they can take part in what the brand offers anymore. They've been extremely innovative in terms of creating filters individuals can use on Instagram stories. These filters have further built the brand's image and allowed them to connect with customers in a less traditional way.
Chanel has taken a different approach. They have nearly half the total number of posts that Gucci has and have only utilized stories and Instagram TV. Their approach differs from Gucci in the sense that they are not furthering the Chanel brand, but simply using Instagram to advertise like they would in a magazine. The content is not really meant for customers or followers to engage with, but more so to promote new collections, beauty, and fragrance.
Other brands have taken an entirely different approach like Bottega Veneta. Bottega Veneta, the Italian luxury house shocked followers when they completely deleted their Instagram profile early on in January of 2021. They still have not created a new account and its leading to lots of speculation within the industry about the potential of a big return, new product launch, etc. Clearly whatever their plan for utilizing Instagram in this way has been working because it has gotten people within the fashion industry talking and paying attention.
Not only have fashion brands been able to take over the platform, but fashion influencers and other commentators have been able to use the platform to cultivate their own audiences. Instagram has really opened up and democratized fashion media by providing a space for anyone to post their unique viewpoints.
One of the most well known accounts on Instagram within the fashion industry is Diet Prada. Diet Prada is an account with over 2.6 million followers that comments on all topics related to the fashion industry, pop culture, and current events. The page has become so popular because it directly calls out brands and individuals for their behavior, but some criticize it for promoting cancel culture. The account is well known within the fashion community for calling out brands for copying smaller designer's work and most notable calling out Dolce and Gabbana's racist ad campaigns.
In 2019, the brand Dolce and Gabbana sued the founders of Diet Prada for defamation in Italian court seeking $600 million in damages. To better understand the law suit it requires taking a look back to 2018 when Dolce and Gabbana released a video advertisement that received a lot of backlash.
The brand was trying to promote a big runway show that they were going to host in Shanghai in November of 2018 by using a series of promotional videos. The video advertisements showcased an Asian woman trying to eat stereotypical Italian dishes with chopsticks. The introduction of the video makes fun of the way Chinese people speak then a male voice attempts to explain how to eat the dishes in a sexually suggestive way. The advertisements were extremely racist and things took an even worse turn when a blogger shared screenshots of an online chat between Stefano Gabbana and another user. In the chat Gabbana said disgusting things about China including that it is an "ignorant dirty smelling mafia". After this the hashtag #boycottdolce starting trending and people supposed to be involved in the Shanghai show backed out and the show was immediately cancelled.
Diet Prada took to their own Instagram profile to post the following response.
Read the full caption below:
"#DGlovesChina ? More like #DGdesperateforthatChineseRMB lol. In a bid to further appeal to luxury's covetable Chinese consumers, @dolcegabbana released some hella offensive “instructional” videos on the usage of chopsticks. Pandering at it's finest, but taken up a notch by painting their target demographic as a tired and false stereotype of a people lacking refinement/culture to understand how to eat foreign foods and an over-the-top embellishment of cliché ambient music, comical pronunciations of foreign names/words, and Chinese subtitles (English added by us), which begs the question—who is this video actually for? It attempts to target China, but instead mocks them with a parodied vision of what modern China is not...a gag for amusement. Dolce & Gabbana have already removed the videos from their Chinese social media channels, but not Instagram. Stefano Gabbana has been on a much-needed social media cleanse (up until November 2nd), so maybe he kept himself busy by meddling with the marketing department for this series. Who wants to bet the XL cannoli “size” innuendos were his idea? Lmao."
To try and diffuse the situation Gabbana said that not only his Instagram was hacked, but also the Dolce and Gabbana brand’s Instagram was hacked. They also made a statement saying “we have nothing but respect for China and the people of China”. A video on Youtube was also posted with the brand’s founders, Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, saying sorry for the advertisements. In response to the crisis Dolce and Gabbana and Gabbana himself wanted to communicate that the brand was hacked and that clearly the brand respects China, despite the video advertisements.
The lawsuit is still taking place and has been delayed due to the situation with COVID-19. Diet Prada is being represented by Fordham Law School’s Fashion Law Institute and AMSL Avvocati. They also currently have a Go Fund Me where supporters can donate to their legal defense fund. They have raised $52,000 and met their goal within the first twenty four hours of creating the fundraiser. Read below for the statement given with the Go Fund Me by Diet Prada
"With so much anti-Asian hate spreading in the U.S., it feels wrong to continue to remain silent about a lawsuit that threatens our freedom of speech. Diet Prada is a small company co-founded by a person of color, trying to speak out against racism in our own community, and we need your help.
On March 1st, we filed a defense of our freedom of speech in answer to defamation claims brought in a Milan court by Dolce & Gabbana. The lawsuit argues that we should be held responsible for lost revenue and other harm to Dolce & Gabbana and its co-founder Stefano Gabbana after we criticized their 2018 advertising campaign on Weibo for its stereotypical and sexist depiction of a Chinese woman, and revealed anti-Asian remarks originating from Gabbana’s Instagram account.
Following the widespread negative response to its advertising campaign and the withdrawal of many Chinese models and guests from a planned fashion show in Shanghai, the event was canceled and Dolce & Gabbana issued a public video apology featuring its founders. Shortly thereafter, in early 2019, the brand filed an action for defamation demanding that we pay damages in the amount of €3 million for Dolce & Gabbana and €1 million for Stefano Gabbana. The nonprofit Fashion Law Institute, based at Fordham Law School, is coordinating our defense through its pro bono clinic in collaboration with Italian law firm AMSL Avvocati, which has graciously agreed to represent us at a reduced rate. We need your help more than ever to raise funds to cover law firm costs, filing fees, and other legal expenses. Will you consider donating to our Gofundme? Having cultivated Diet Prada as a platform where we can denounce racism, amplify stories from the larger BIPOC community, and hold the fashion industry to a higher ethical standard, has been one of the most rewarding experiences thus far and our only hope is to protect that. Going up against a large luxury brand is daunting, but your contribution means we can continue protecting our fundamental rights, but also preserve what is so special about the Diet Prada community. ❤️, Diet Prada"
This case brings up an interesting discussion in terms of free speech on social media. Diet Prada simply posted the video made by Dolce and Gabbana along with a caption calling the brand out for its racism. Most viewers of the promotional video by Dolce and Gabbana did not need to read Diet Prada's commentary to see the issues within the video. It will be interesting to follow this story and lawsuit moving forward to see how this potentially changes the landscape moving forward for commentators and other accounts that use platforms like Instagram to voice their opinions.
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