Edited & Revised By Ariana Meyers
The Italian fashion label Dolce & Gabbana filed a defamation lawsuit claiming $780 million in damages from Diet Prada owners Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler. Diet Prada – an Instagram account that exposes companies and brands – called out Dolce & Gabbana’s founder Stefano Gabbana after he supposedly made Anti-Asian remarks on the company’s Instagram – which resulted in a wide-spread boycott of the brand by the Asian community.
Five days ago, Diet Prada posted an update on the lawsuit to their Instagram page:
According to Diet Prada – the lawsuit argues that Diet Prada should be held liable for “lost revenue and other harm to Dolce & Gabbana and [to] its co-founder Stefano Gabbana” after the popular Instagram page criticized the brands 2018 Weibo ad campaign for “stereotypical and sexist depictions” of Chinese women and “anti-Asian remarks” from the brand’s Instagram account.
Diet Prada’s criticism allegedly resulted in the cancellation of a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show in Shanghai after a plethora of Chinese guests and models withdrew their attendance. Shortly after its founders issued a public apology video – Dolce & Gabbana filed for defamation against Diet Prada in 2019 – with the brand seeking €3 million for itself and €1 million for its founder Stefano Gabbana.
Recent updates to the defamation lawsuit include Diet Prada’s Instagram post 2 days ago – which features their Associated Press’ interview detailing the inner workings of the lawsuit:
Diet Prada shared: “The Fashion House [Dolce & Gabbana] is seeking damages totaling more than half a billion Euros…The Fashion House is seeking 450 million euros spent to restore brand image since 2018 and damages of 3 million euros for the company and 1 million for Gabbana, to whom the marks were attributed. The suit also seeks more than 8.6 million euros for the cancellation of the Shanghai show, another 8.6 million euros for staff expenditures and 89.6 million euros for lost Asian sales from November 2018 to March 2019”.
Diet Prada’s defense case has been taken up by the nonprofit Fashion Law Institute in collaboration with Italian law firm AMSL Avvocati . To pay its legal fees, Diet Prada has created a GoFundMe Page – which it has shared with its 2.5 million Instagram followers. $48,000 has already been donated.
Dolce & Gabbana’s lawsuit against Diet Prada demonstrates the destructive power that an Instagram account can have against large brands. With the lawsuit still slowly dragging on – who do you think will win the case?