杜嘉班纳的溃败
昨天，家住上海的导演兼作家向凯烧掉了价值超过2万美元的杜嘉班纳(Dolce & Gabbana)产品，包括外套、背心和包。他以前是这个品牌的粉丝，他说自己还把这个品牌的鞋子和手表扔进了垃圾箱。
“The purpose of burning my clothes is to awaken the Chinese people and the Chinese nation,” said Mr. Xiang, who posted photos online of his products in flames. “Some people say you’ve wasted a lot of money. I’m willing to waste this money for the nation’s dignity.”
“我烧衣服的目的是引起中国人、中华民族的警醒，”向凯说道，他把焚烧的照片发到了网上。“有人说你浪费了不少钱，我愿意浪费，在民族的尊严面前，我可以浪费更多的钱。”
He was among an untold number of people who have revolted against the Italian fashion brand that built its reputation on the ability to make Sicilian widows’ weeds sexy. Earlier this week, the company released video clips widely seen as racist, pandering to old stereotypes (they featured a Chinese model being taught to eat spaghetti, pizza and a cannoli with chopsticks) in advance of a planned extravaganza of a show in Shanghai. Then Stefano Gabbana, a company co-founder and designer, appears to have engaged in a bout of insulting name-calling (including suggesting that the Chinese eat dogs) with a critic on Instagram. Mr. Gabbana said his account was hacked.
他是这个意大利时尚品牌无数抵制者中的一员。这个品牌出名靠的是它把西西里寡妇的丧服变得性感的能力。本周早些时候，这家公司为原定在上海举行的时装大秀提前发布了视频短片，人们普遍认为这些片子有种族主义色彩，迎合了刻板印象(视频中，有人教一个中国模特用筷子吃意大利面、披萨和奶油甜馅煎饼卷)。之后，公司联合创始人兼设计师斯蒂芬诺·加班纳(Stefano Gabbana)似乎在Instagram上与一名批评者展开了一场侮辱谩骂(包括暗示中国人吃狗肉)。加巴纳后来说，他的账户被黑了。
Someday this still escalating debacle may form the body of a new industry fable, one with a moral about the dangers of ill-considered direct communication, the swift retribution of the crowd and the hazards of cultural arrogance. But right now the story’s most striking revelation is what happens when a history of playground-bullying online meets the economic force of the fastest-growing, most important and very autocratic luxury market.
也许有一天，这场仍在不断升级的灾难会成为一套新的产业寓言故事中的一个，寓意包括欠考虑的直接沟通、群众的快速惩罚，以及文化傲慢危害的危险之处。但是，现在这个故事最引人注目的启示是，当一个学校操场霸凌的历史与增长最快、最重要且非常专制的奢侈品市场的经济力量在网上相遇时，会发生什么。
The dominoes begin to fall. The pigeons come home to roost. The rats abandon the sinking ship. You become a veritable paragon of clichés! And a cautionary tale. After all, in the four days since, the brand has, in no short order:
多米诺骨牌开始倒下。自作自受。老鼠逃离沉船。这件事成了各种陈腐套语的名副其实的化身!成了一个发人警醒的故事。毕竟在短短四天的时间里，下列事情已很快地在这个品牌上发生：
• Been forced to cancel the show;
• 被迫取消时装秀;
• Been excoriated by the Chinese celebrities and models slated to walk in the show;
• 遭到原定出席时装秀的中国名人和模特的痛斥;
• Been the subject of videos of consumers burning, destroying and otherwise renouncing their Dolce products;
• 成了消费者烧掉、销毁，或用其他方式放弃杜嘉班纳产品的视频主题;
• Had their physical locations altered, with the label’s storefronts plastered with “Not me” posters mocking Mr. Gabbana’s response to the scandal;
• 让实体店遭到改变：品牌店的门面被人贴上了“Not Me(不是我)”的海报，嘲笑加巴纳对丑闻的回应;
• Disappeared from the site of Chinese e-tail giant Alibaba’s TMall platform as well as jd.com, secoo.com, and department store Lane Crawford, which said customers had been returning the brand’s products;
• 让品牌从中国电商巨头阿里巴巴的淘宝商城平台，以及京东、寺库和百货商店连卡佛(Lane Crawford)消失，这些零售商说，客户已在退货该品牌的产品;
• Been excoriated in the fashion press and the fashion enthusiast communities, with particularly passionate coverage coming from fashion industry watchdog Diet Prada;
• 受到时尚媒体和时尚爱好者社区的痛斥，时尚业监察者Diet Prada的报道尤其怒不可遏;
• And increasingly been abandoned by its European and American supporters, including the influencers the brand has expensively wooed over the last few years.
• 正被越来越多的欧洲和美国支持者所抛弃，包括这个品牌在过去几年里不惜重金争取来的影响制造者。
Net-a-Porter, the luxury e-tailer headquartered in London and owned by Richemont, has removed all Dolce products from their Chinese website. Lucky Blue Smith, a model/influencer with 3.2 million followers on Instagram who has become a millennial Dolce staple, posted a note on his account explaining his decision to skip the show that read in part, “We are all gods children and we should all be treating EVERYONE, EVERY CULTURE with respect. I will be back to China soon — love you all so much.”
总部位于伦敦、历峰集团(Richemont)旗下的奢侈品电商Net-a-Porter已从其中国网站上下架了所有的D&G产品。在Instagram上有320万名粉丝的模特/影响制造者Lucky Blue Smith曾是杜嘉班纳在千禧一代当中的主要代言人，他在自己的账号发贴解释了他不参加时装秀的原因，帖子里有这样的话：“我们都是上帝的孩子，我们应该尊重对待每个人、每种文化。我很快会再去中国——非常爱你们所有的人。”
And apparently fearful of damage by association, fellow Italian brand MaxMara made a proactive statement Thursday on its WeChat account, stating “China, you’re the best! I love you, homeland!”
显然是害怕因牵连而受伤害，意大利品牌麦丝玛拉(MaxMara)周四在其微信账户主动发表声明称，“中国，你最棒!我爱你，祖国!”
Various fashion brands have been previously accused of cultural mistakes or insults. Australians took Chanel to task for its sale of a luxury boomerang. Zara was accused of using Nazi and alt-right hate symbolism on their products. Just this week Dior came under fire for ads featuring Jennifer Lawrence while purporting to celebrate Mexican heritage. Still, the Dolce incident is the first time this kind of misstep has had such global repercussions.
几个时尚品牌都曾因文化错误或侮辱行为而受到指责。澳大利亚人曾严厉斥责香奈儿销售豪华回力镖。Zara被指责在其产品上使用纳粹和另类右翼(alt-right)仇恨符号。就在本周，迪奥的一个由詹妮弗·劳伦斯(Jennifer Lawrence)主演的广告受到抨击，该广告号称要庆祝墨西哥文化遗产。不过，杜嘉班纳事件是此类错误首次具有如此大的全球性影响。
Spokespeople for Secoo and Net-a-Porter could not remember either company ever dropping a brand for such reasons before. As Angelica Cheung, the editor of Vogue China, wrote in an email, “This case is a wake-up call: a 1.4 billion population is for sure a huge consumption power, but if you don’t get it right, hundreds of millions of people voicing their outrage on social media is a powerful force, hard to ignore.”
寺库和Net-a-Porter的发言人都不记得各自的公司以前因这种原因下架过品牌。《Vogue》杂志的中国版主编张宇在一封电子邮件中写道，“这次事件给人们敲响了警钟：14亿人口肯定是一个巨大的消费力量，但是，如果你的做法不对的话，数亿人在社交媒体上表达他们的愤怒是一种很难忽视的强大力量。”
Dolce & Gabbana released three statements, first saying its accounts had been hacked, then offering words of support for the people who worked on the canceled show and declarations of love for China. But it wasn’t until the end of the week that the founders officially apologized in a video in Mandarin. They seemed to have underestimated the importance of Chinese national identity while also overestimating their place in the wider fashion ecosystem.
杜嘉班纳发表了三个声明，先是说其账户被黑，然后对参与已经取消的时装秀工作的人说了几句支持的话，再后来是声明爱中国。但是，直到一周结束时，品牌联合创始人才在视频中用普通话正式道歉。他们似乎低估了中国的民族认同的重要性，同时高估了他们在更广阔的时尚生态系统中的地位。
“The consumer is more selfish right now in feeling that China has a rich history and culture and is now a world power — that we know we are your most important customer base and you need to respect them,” said Ben Cavender, a senior analyst at China Market Research, a consultancy based in Shanghai. According to the Boston Consulting Group, Chinese consumers are currently responsible for 32 percent of luxury goods sales worldwide, a number expected to grow to 40 percent by 2024, at which point the Chinese will drive 75 percent of the growth of the global market.
“消费者觉得中国有悠久的历史和文化，如今中国是一个世界强国，他们现在更自私了，因为他们觉得——我们知道我们是你们最重要的客户，你需要尊重他们，”上海的咨询公司中国市场研究(China Market Research)的资深分析师本·卡文德(Ben Cavender)说。据波士顿咨询集团(Boston Consulting Group)的数字，中国消费者目前承担了全球奢侈品销售额的32%，到2024年，这个数字将达到40%，届时中国将推动全球市场75%的增长。
The hacking excuse, which could have been accepted at face value as a way for supporters to embrace the brand, has had almost no traction, in part because of Mr. Gabbana’s history of hitting back at any criticism of the brand on his Instagram feed. Though traditionally the brand has seemed impervious to such controversies — indeed, has seemed to thrive on being politically incorrect — this time is different.
黑客的借口原本可能会被支持者作为支持该品牌的表面理由接受，但这个借口已经几乎没有附着力，部分是因为加巴纳在自己的Instagram上回击任何批评品牌者的历史。虽然在历史上，该品牌似乎未受到过这些争议的影响——的确，这个品牌似乎曾因其政治不正确而繁荣——但这次不同了。
In the eyes of many in the international community, Mr. Gabbana has become the designer who cried wolf. You can’t take on everyone from Selena Gomez to gay parents with bluster and venom and then claim you were hacked and expect to be believed.
在国际社会很多人的眼里，加巴纳已成了那个喊狼来了的设计师。你不可能用咆哮和恶毒语言与从赛琳娜·戈麦斯(Selena Gomez)到同性恋双亲等众多对手打嘴仗，然后声称你被黑客攻击，同时指望人们相信你。
As Susie Bubble, a London-based critic, street style star and front-row regular, posted to her 440,000 Instagram followers, “this is yet another example of a misguided diva creative director in the upper echelons of the industry throwing his weight around and vomiting over social media in a reckless manner that impacts on a billion dollar company with thousands of employees as well as umpteen parts of the industry that would have been flown into Shanghai for what was supposed to be a media/celebrity fueled extravaganza.”
正如伦敦的评论人士、街头风格明星，以及秀场的前排常客苏茜·布波尔(Susie Bubble)对她的44万名Instagram粉丝所说的，“这是又一个行业上层的著名创意总监判断失误的例子，他自以为是，用鲁莽的方式在社交媒体上胡言乱语，不顾对一家有数千名员工的十亿美元公司影响，也不顾对本来会飞到上海去参加一个媒体/名人推动的盛会的无数公司的影响。”
Estelle Chen, the Victoria’s Secret model, had a similar reaction, writing: “saying your accounts (both personal and official: Dolce & Gabbana) were hacked shows how much of a coward you are. Could you please at least take responsibility for your behavior?”
维多利亚的秘密(Victoria’s Secret)模特儿陈瑜(Estelle Chen)也有类似的反应，她写道：“说你们的账户(包括个人和官方的：杜嘉班纳)都遭了攻击，表明你们是怎样的懦夫。请你们至少对自己的行为负责，行吗?”
The brand’s track record of insensitivity has not helped. Dolce has been called out in recent years for labeling a $2,395 pair of shoes “slave sandals” (in 2016; they later changed the name to the more innocuous “decorative flat sandal”) and including earrings that looked like they were made of blackamoor faces in a 2012 collection. They have also banned a number of critics from shows (The Times has not been invited to a Dolce show for over a decade; Women’s Wear Daily, W magazine, Italian Vogue and Vanity Fair have also been rejected at various times).
该品牌反应麻木的记录对此次事件没有帮助。近年来，杜嘉班纳多次引起争议，一次是给标价2395美元的鞋起名为“奴隶凉鞋”(那是在2016年;他们后来把鞋的名字改为不冒犯人的“装饰平底凉鞋”)，还有一次是他们在2012年推出的系列产品中有看似黑鬼脸的耳环。他们还禁止许多批评者出席时装秀(已经有十多年不邀请《纽约时报》参加杜嘉班纳时装秀了;《女装日报》[Women’s Wear Daily]、W杂志、意大利《Vogue》以及《名利场》[Vanity Fair]杂志都有过被拒绝出席的时候)。
Dolce & Gabbana is also the only major Italian brand that has refused to join the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiano, Italian fashion’s governing organization and lobbying group, and does not appear on the official Milan Fashion Week schedule. As a result, Carlo Capasa, the president of the Camera della Moda, which has always been fiercely protective of Italian brands and industry and which might have been expected to come to the brand’s defense, simply said he couldn’t make a statement about the situation because Dolce was not a member.
杜嘉班纳也是唯一拒绝加入意大利全国时装商会(Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiano)的主要意大利品牌，该商会是意大利时装行业的管理组织和游说团体;它也不参加官方的米兰时装周。意大利全国时装商会一直极力保护意大利的品牌和时装行业，本来也许能指望商会出面为品牌说句好话，结果时装商会主席卡洛·卡帕萨(Carlo Capasa)只表示，由于杜嘉班纳不是会员，他不能对事件发表声明。
The Chinese government, though, seems to be taking steps to try to tone down the reaction. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, when asked about the controversy, said: “The Chinese side does not want this matter to rise to a diplomatic issue.”
不过，中国政府似乎在采取措施试图缓和人们的反应。当被问及此次争议时，中国外交部发言人耿爽说：“我们也不希望它上升为外交问题。”
Chinese state media also sought to limit the fallout. Hu Xijin, the editor in chief of the Global Times, called on consumers to be “more open-minded.”
中国官方媒体也试图控制影响。《环球时报》总编胡锡进呼吁消费者“更宽容一点儿”。
“Dolce & Gabbana was undoubtedly wrong, but sins do not equate to death,” Mr. Hu wrote on Friday on his Weibo account.
“杜嘉班纳毫无疑问错了，但罪不当死，”胡锡进周五他的微博上写道。
Mr. Cavender, the analyst, was not so sure. “The reality is this is probably going to kill growth for them,” he said. The last time a consumer boycott erupted on this scale in China was in 2017 over South Korea’s embrace of an American missile defense system that China feared could be used to spy on its territory. Back then, protesters besieged branches of Lotte Mart, a South Korean supermarket chain. This year, it closed all of its stores in China.
分析师卡文德对此不敢肯定。“现实是，这可能会让他们的增长完蛋了，”他说。中国上一次爆发如此规模的消费者抵制行动是在2017年，针对的是美国在韩国部署导弹防御系统，中国担心该系统可以用来监视中国领土。那次，抗议者封锁了韩国连锁超市乐天的门店。今年，乐天关闭了其在中国的所有门店。
