Quote:
Originally Posted by chickadee
I find it dismissive and diminishing whenever people say somebody is being "hyper-sensitive" as if they shouldn't feel what they're feeling. It seems to me decidedly insensitive to reduce an involuntary emotional response to illegitimacy because you personally don't find it offensive or because it's culturally acceptable in one place. Don't misunderstand, I'm not calling you as a person insensitive Tiancouture, but maybe consider the other side's perspective just a little bit more. This may be alright in Sicily, but I have a hard time finding the pictures on this model's shirt totally innocuous.
*Do not quote images, please*
colorlines.com
The exaggerated lips and nose? Come on. The bottom line is this theme was a bad idea. They knew, they had to know--unless D&G has begun hiring five-year-olds to work for them--that some people would not respond well to this and might provoke some type of controversy. I almost wonder if they wanted controversy. I just find it hard to believe it never crossed their mind with all their American clients. Sicilian-inspired or not, somebody had to at least wonder, if only briefly, that this might not go over well particularly in regions with a history of slavery or black oppression, even beyond America. The Dominican Republic, Haiti, hell, what about Britain with all its African immigrants? My point is they are not blameless. I just don't buy this as some honest mistake that people are blowing out of proportion.
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Again, my opinion is that society has become hypersensitive in regard to minor issues that really shouldn’t be given much attention. This would be one of those times, noted yet again, based on my opinion. There are significantly more important things going on in the world that people should be hypersensitive about. The fact that there was Blackamoor art in a Dolce and Gabbana collection doesn’t seem to qualify as something to get up in arms about. Google image “Blackamoor” and you see gobs of jewelry and art, some modern, some not. Does that mean it should be destroyed and discredited as a form of expression, art and culture? Of course not. So why such flack for D&G?
People are “entitled” to feel however they want, as are you and I. I really don’t think there is a message behind this. I find it hard to imagine that D&G thought to themselves, “You know what, we don’t like Blackamoor culture. Let’s toss it in our collection and piss some people off.” I’m sorry, I just don’t believe that. Could their PR team have perhaps been a little tighter, a little stricter? Possibly…but any press is good press, as cliché and untrue as that is…
And as I side note, I fully acknowledge that fact that people are offended by this and potentially by what I have said. That is my intent. Fashion is objective. I believe we can all agree to disagree, even if there is more disagreement. Discord is a good thing…