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MILAN (AP) – Milan-based fashion house Dolce & Gabbana has filed a libel suit in an Italian court seeking more than $ 600 million in damages from two American fashion bloggers who reposted anti-Asian comments attributed to one of the creators who led to the boycott of Asian consumers.
The complaint was filed in Milan Civil Court in 2019 but only became public this week when bloggers posted it on their Instagram, Diet Prada. Their feed is widely followed in the fashion world for its cutting-edge comments on the lack of originality in designs and on social issues.
“This whole thing is a way of trying to silence Diet Prada and silence Tony (Liu) and Lindsay (Schuyler) personally,” said Susan Scafidi, director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School, which coordinates the bloggers. defense.
Dolce & Gabbana lawyers contacted 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 being outraged by what were considered culturally insensitive videos promoting a large fashion show in Shanghai and subsequent posts of insulting comments in a private Instagram chat.
The show was canceled in the backlash, which included retailers removing Dolce & Gabbana merchandise and Asian VIPs disavowing the brand.
Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana first said Gabbana’s account was hacked. The two later appeared in a video apologizing to the Chinese people.
“A public apology and a low-profile trial really cancel each other out in my mind,” Safidi told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Italian defense lawyers filed a brief this week in Milan Civil Court, claiming that Italy was not the appropriate venue for the case, given that the blog is produced in the United States and that alleged damage occurred in Asia.
The fashion house is claiming more than half a billion euros in damages, Scafidi said.
She said the fashion house is asking for 450 million euros spent on restoring the brand image since 2018 and damages of 3 million euros for the company and 1 million for Gabbana, to whom the comments have been made. been awarded. The lawsuit also demands more than 8.6 million euros for the cancellation of the Shanghai show, an additional 8.6 million euros for personnel costs and 89.6 million euros for the lost Asian sales in November. 2018 to March 2019.
Since its IPO, Diet Prada, which has more than 2.5 million Instagram followers, has raised more than $ 38,000 in its defense.
In a statement, Liu and Schuyler both said they would not allow their platform, which also spoke about the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter and the recent attacks on Asians in the United States, to be silenced by legal proceedings.
“Diet Prada will continue to be a platform for raising these critical issues,” Liu said.
Schuyler called on “public figures and brands to respond to criticism in public opinion and the media with progressive actions, not legal action.”
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