Dolce & Gabbana Ruin a Model's Career

Model Zuo Ye attempting to eat pizza with chopsticks in a D&G commercial

Back in November, Dolce & Gabbana released a strange commercial where a Chinese model wearing a red dress from the Italian fashion house, is seen struggling to eat pizza, cannoli and spaghetti with a pair of chopsticks.

The Italian fashion design duo were accused of racism and cultural insensitivity for the commercials, which were timed just before they were about to put on their fashion show in Shanghai. It also didn't help that co-founder Stefano Gabbana got into a row on a private Instagram message when he apparently described China as a "country of s***". The screen capped conversation was published it online, compounding the already bad situation.

Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce giving an apology

As a result the fashion show was cancelled at the last minute when Chinese models and stars pulled out, and the two designers were shown in a video giving a sober apology for the PR crisis they had created.

Meanwhile the poor model involved in the commercial was attacked online by fellow Chinese, who accused her of "making money by insulting your own country" and "vilifying the image of the Chinese".

Two months after the incident, Zuo Ye finally spoke out, explaining she had not given enough thought to the content of the video and felt "very guilty and ashamed" about it.

"Personally I would never show any disrespect to my motherland. I love my country and feel proud to be able to represent China on the catwalk," wrote Zuo on her Weibo account. "I will draw a lesson from this and show the Chinese in a better light. Again, I apologize to my fellow countryman."

Zuo says she didn't have much say over the content of the ad

But how is this her fault? The recent graduate of South China Agricultural University wouldn't have known ahead of time what she was expected to do in the commercial and how it would impact her career, that she says is now almost completely ruined.

Zuo is a young model hoping to break out with this commercial, but she was unwittingly swept up in the racist ad. She said she was only told she was going to shoot a "fun video" involving Italian cuisine and the email briefing didn't give much more information.

During the three-hour shoot in a Chinese restaurant in Milan, everyone on set spoke Italian except the director, who instructed Zuo in English to show surprise, bewilderment and appreciation of the food, even though she felt awkward.

She said she questioned the use of chopsticks in the video, but was just told to follow instructions.

"I couldn't do it in the first try [picking up the cannoli with the chopsticks] and I asked, 'Are you kidding me? With chopsticks?' The director said, 'Yes! I know it's hard. Just try to do that'."

After two months' silence, Zuo apologized

"I felt awkward when using chopsticks for food that was larger than the normal size. I seldom laugh in my daily life but the shooting required a lot of extravagant acting and I felt very uncomfortable too," Zuo wrote.

She said as an ordinary model she was not allowed to give feedback on the commercial's content nor was she able to watch the final product.

However, many people online still weren't happy with her apology. "I still think your explanation was useless and your video disgusting. You can only blame yourself for having no distinguishing capability. No point whitewashing your wrongdoing," one internet user wrote.

Other sympathized with her, saying, "Blame a model? Why not blame the chopsticks while we're at it."

Zuo obviously wants to put this terrible incident behind her so she can move on in her career, but being dogged by those who cannot empathize with her situation doesn't help at all. At least she was brave enough to explain her side of the story, though it will take time for the fiasco to go away.