Major Fashion Faux Pas

Singer and actress Yang Mi cancelled her endorsement contract with Versace

Fashion brands in Europe and the United States, who depend a lot on the mainland market for sales really don't know their customers, in particular the geographical area where they come from.

Versace, Givenchy, and Coach somehow all had the same brilliant idea of printing T-shirts with cities on the back, much like tour concert T-shirts. How did they all come up with the same idea that turned out to be a really bad one?

Coach and Versace T-shirts listing Hong Kong and Taiwan

In the case of the Versace T-shirt, they probably thought sales would go through the roof because they listed so many different cities like "Milan, Italy", "Beverly Hills, USA", and "Shanghai, China".

But when it comes to the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, they printed "Hong Kong, Hong Kong", and "Macau, Macao" as if they were countries.  In the case of Givenchy, Taipei was listed as "Taipei, Taiwan".

While Taiwan is separate from China (considered a democratic state, but a renegade province to China), how about not wading into the sovereignty issue at all and just print the names of the cities?

The result left 1.4 billion Chinese upset for sure and their Chinese brand ambassadors quickly quit these brands.

Model Liu Wen severed her ties with Coach

Donatella Versace, the brand's artistic director, apologized on Sunday for the "unfortunate error".

"Never have I wanted to disrespect China's national sovereignty, and this is why I wanted to personally apologize for such inaccuracy and for any distress that it might have caused," she said in a statement.

Wanting to distance herself from the fiasco, Chinese actress and singer Yang Mi terminated her contract with the Italian fashion brand.

In the case of Coach, Model Liu Wen was the New York fashion label's brand ambassador, and on Monday cancelled her endorsement deal.

"I apologize to everyone for the damage I have caused as a result of my less-careful choice of brand!" she exclaimed in a Weibo post that was 'liked' hundreds of thousands of times. "I love my motherland, and steadfastly safeguard China's sovereignty."

Boy band singer Jackson Yee quit his contract with Givenchy

Liu took the proactive step of apologizing before the government could step in and embark on a hate propaganda campaign on her.

Meanwhile, Chinese boy band idol Jackson Yee also stated on Weibo that he had severed ties with LVMH's Givenchy, after pictures of one of the brand's T-shirts listed Hong Kong and Taiwan as countries.

Why is this still happening after the gaffes made by Dolce & Gabbana, when they made commercial of a Chinese model look silly trying to eat a pizza with chopsticks?

These brands have hardly any understanding of their Asian market and the subtleties between the different countries and territories. It just proves they are making whatever they think the Chinese market wants without much thought of the implications of their design choices.

This model had to eat pizza with chopsticks for an ad

And they are putting Chinese models, singers, and actors/actresses in a difficult position, as most of the time they don't know what they are going to model until they arrive at the studio.

If international fashion brands want to continue catering to the Chinese market, they must have a crash course on contemporary Chinese history. Infuriating their biggest customer base is just not worth the risk.

Freckles Challenge Chinese Beauty

Model Li Jingwen with a natural freckled face showing off Zara's makeup

The Chinese can be a sensitive lot, especially when it comes to their perception of beauty.

The latest fashion label to be on the hot seat following Dolce and Gabbana is Spanish fast-fashion brand Zara. It released a post on its Weibo account, showing model Li Jingwen wearing a new lipstick and lip glaze, though her freckles were very visible which sparked immediate controversy.

Some Chinese netizens took it to mean Zara was being racist towards Chinese people, saying the brand was "uglifying China" as they don't see freckles as a sign of beauty.

"Does it mean that us Asian women all have dull eyes and have faces full covered by freckles?" asked one netizen.

"Sorry that we Asian women don't have freckles -- or only a small proportion of us have," said another. "You spent such an effort finding a model with freckles, just like searching for a needle in the sea. How hard you've been working on this!"

A third netizen remarked, "Selling products in China had better respect Chinese people's aesthetic taste. I don't understand why Zara showed this face with a lot of freckles?"

Zara clarified the photos didn't make Li look ugly

Others felt the photos were realistic and one news platform called The Paper said: "It's common for international fashion brands to use freckled models, and some freckles are even welcomed by the public from foreign countries."

The fact that this needs to be spelled out in this day and age is a sad commentary on some Chinese people's tunnel vision definition of beauty.

Nevertheless, some appraised the photos as authentic and felt the public should be more open to different aesthetics and tolerant of imperfect facial features instead of just accepting edited pictures.

Zara had to clarify that the new makeup line was not solely targeting the Chinese market, and that the appointment of Li the model was determined by the headquarters in Spain, showing her in a natural state without any final touch-ups.

"Spanish people have different beauty standards and they did not intend to make this model look ugly," a Zara spokeswoman said. "They usually don't modify the photos of models. That's what the model looks like."

Does this mean the Chinese are going to hate on Li for her freckles? Or will they begin boycotting Zara?

Maybe they have to learn to accept that beauty is not one with a completely made-up face that looks impossibly perfect -- natural beauty is real beauty, and that includes freckles.

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.

Dolce & Gabbana Strike Out

Chinese model in D&G dress struggles to eat pizza and pasta with chopsticks

The Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana was supposed to hold its star-studded fashion show tonight in Shanghai, but it was cancelled following racist remarks by one of its co-founders, Stefano Gabbana.

He apparently had an online conversation with an Instagram user named "diet prada", where Gabbana described China as "a country of s***."

Stefano Gabbana's thoughts on China...

The texted conversation on Gabbana's Instagram account was in response to complaints about the fashion label's latest campaign "DG Loves China", where a Chinese model in a red D&G dress is seen struggling with chopsticks, trying to eat Italian foods like pizza, spaghetti and a cannoli, or cylindrical pastry filled with cream.

In the cannoli video, a male voice can be heard asking the model, "Is it too big for you?"

Others complain about how cliched the ad looked, with Chinese lanterns and couplets that were deemed "outdated and stereotypical".

As for Gabbana's outburst on social media, he claimed his account was hacked, and his legal office is working on the security breach.

Meanwhile reaction was swift in China -- when word got round about the spat, a number of celebrities who were invited to the show, including movie star Chen Kun and actress Dilireba, who was named D&G's brand ambassador in February said she would not attend, while fellow actress Zhang Ziyi said the brand was "inviting humiliation".

Indeed.

Domenico Dolce (left) and Stefano Gabbana (right)

Even a number of models who were booked for the show refused to turn up before the event was cancelled. Modeling agency Dongfang Binli said all of its 24 models had pulled out of the show and put a "Not Me" tag on their online profile photos in protest.

Supermodel Jin Dachuan said he would not take part in any show or any event staged by the brand in the future.

The brand has incensed Hongkongers in the past. In January 2012, at a Dolce & Gabbana's store in Harbour City on Canton Road, a security guard reportedly told locals that only mainlanders and foreigners were allowed to take pictures in the store. He apparently threatened to smash a local resident's camera if they continued to take photographs.

Remember these protests at Harbour City in 2012?

A series of protests at the store ensured until Dolce & Gabbana eventually apologized days later, though it wasn't enough to assuage people's anger.

The Italian design duo seems to love to court controversy, and some believe the latest ad campaign and subsequent online spat were deliberately done to stir up reaction -- but at the risk of being shunned?

It's a huge gamble, and perhaps this time the Chinese will protest the brand with their wallets and shop elsewhere.

Surely this is not a risk worth taking?

Having just visited Italy, it's obvious the government is taking tourism very seriously by having security personnel at major landmarks, while fashion brands are very keen on serving Chinese customers.

But it seems that Dolce & Gabbana really don't care about the consequences of fanning the flames of Chinese nationalist anger. 

Maybe the massive drop in sales will persuade them to keep their mouths shut?