Apparently there is war going on over this, Dior are the latest brand to have a scandal (Prada have had staff problems, MAC and Rodarte are being blasted for their recent Mexican collection, American Apparel have had sexual harassment lawsuits to name a few) but the new images for their campaign for the relaunch of their Shanghai store have come under attack for being racist.
According those upset, it portrays all Chinese people as 'looking the same'. Quentin Shih, the photographer behind the photographs stated : I wanted to show the power of Chinese people standing together and a kind of socialism in Chinese history (only in Chinese history not China now). The Chinese models are not people. They are symbols of Chinese history between the 1960s and 1980s.'
Although people are not too happy with the models being shown in Dior Couture alongside the Chinese women either. Interesting considering that he implies in this following statement that he was told to use the models from Dior's campaign for A/W but then states he was given '100% freedom' with the images. That is a bit of a contradiction in terms is it not?
"Dior provided me an opportunity to photograph the models they used for their haute couture show in Paris. I selected eight models according to how their wardrobes matched my uniform color palettes
Apparently people are unhappy with the suggestion that it is the Western woman (aka - the model used alongside the girls) who can afford Dior. Western superiority and all that. Bit odd. But there you go. The counter argument is that the photos are simply just art.
Art or not, it's a move which is dangerous when you consider that the company that owns Dior and other luxury brands, LVMH reported a 53% rise in profits this year. Not to mention that 21% of that was in the Asian market. In this day and age with customers becoming more shopping savvy it is maybe not such a good idea to annoy one section of your market with borderline photographs.
But that's just me. So what do you think? Art or Racist undertones? You like them or hate them? You slightly freaked out by the fact that the Dior model looks a little freaky? Because I am.
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