Nobody Wore Dolce & Gabbana At the 2019 Oscars
After a lengthy litany of indiscretions for the brand, the call-outs might finally be working.
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On the 91st annual Academy Awards red carpet there was Prada and Vuitton, Rodarte and McQueen, Dior and Valentino. But one design house that was noticeably absent: Dolce & Gabbana. Not a single nominee or prominent celebrity opted to wear the Italian luxury brand on one of fashion's biggest night's worldwide. (This was the case last month at the Golden Globes as well.)
This comes less than a week after the South China Morning Post reported that the Asian media section at the brand's Milan Fashion Week show was "less than a third its usual size." If you're just tuning in, this friction between Dolce and the largest nation in the world began in November when the brand was accused of releasing a racist advertising campaign advertising their show in China. (The show was soon after canceled; an ~apology~ was made.)
This follows a lengthy litany of indiscretions for the brand, mostly at the tongue of Stefano Gabbana. The brand, and by proxy its founders, have come under fire for selling “slave sandals,” openly opposing gay adoption as well as mocking folks boycotting their brand for dressing the Trump family. Gabbana has claimed sexual harassment is “not violence,” called Selena Gomez “so ugly,” Miley Cyrus “ignorant” and critics of the brand’s “I’m thin and gorgeous” sneakers “fat and full of cholesterol.”
“I don’t fuck with Stefano Gabbana or D&G after their Trump nonsense," Pyer Moss's Kerby Jean-Raymond told me in 2018, one of the rare forces within the industry willing to outwardly oppose the brand at the time. In the years since, other prominent voices have come forward condemning the brand.
Despite their misdeeds, Dolce has remained a dominant force on red carpets, seen on A-listers from Lady Gaga to Cardi B. But has might have turned to had if Sunday's award show is any indication. Could this be proof positive that designer call-outs are effective? It would seem that way, considering Dolce's repeated hall pass being finally revoked after the November brouhaha in China. How slowly, but inevitably, the tide has begun to turn.
