Dolce & Gabbana Responds to Hong Kong Store Scandal
Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
A photo-worthy Dolce & Gabbana store window in London.
Anyone—tourist or otherwise—walking down a major shopping thoroughfare like Fifth Avenue or the Champs Elysees can expect to see plenty of people stopping to snap pics of their haute surroundings.
So when Dolce & Gabbana put the kibosh on this practice outside its Hong Kong store, though reportedly made exceptions for some, a backlash ensued.
Last week, the label banned the taking of storefront photos in an attempt to protect its “intellectual property.”
But when it allegedly changed its policy to allow foreign and mainland Chinese tourists to break the new rule—a move assumed to “[placate] high-rollers from China,” the Wall Street Journal reports—local area residents were none too pleased, and a massive protest took place outside the boutique on December 8.
Dolce & Gabbana, however, insists that they’re not at fault.
“Controversial statements reported in the Hong Kong press have not been made by Dolce & Gabbana nor its staff, and we strongly reject any racist or derogatory comments,” the company said in a statement sent to the press. “It is regrettable that Dolce & Gabbana has been brought into this matter, but we wish to underline that our company has not taken part in any action aiming at offending the Hong Kong public.”
Dolce & Gabbana hasn’t clarified further what caused the protest; if the offending exception to the company’s initial photo ban was a misstep or simply a misunderstanding remains to be seen.
But for now, it appears that people in Hong Kong aren’t ready to forgive.
Watch this space …
In related news, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana's tax evasion acquittal has been overturned.
