Shanghai – Dior has sparked controversy on the Chinese Internet for a medium-length skirt that online viewers claimed resembled traditional Chinese clothing from the Ming dynasty.
Chinese online users criticized the French luxury home for not acknowledging its possible Chinese origins. The hashtag “Dior plagiarism” made it to Weibo’s hot search list on Saturday and garnered 13.7 million clicks on the Chinese social media platform.
However, when the skirt was previewed by WWD in December and shown on the runway in Seoul in April, at the same time it became available in stores, artistic director of women’s show Maria Grazia Chiuri said the purpose of the collection was It is intended to pay tribute to Catherine, Christian Dior’s sister, and the uniform, in particular, was inspired by the school uniform. “Maria Grazia Chiuri became interested in school costumes and, above all, the way students dusted, improvised and updated these clothing tropes, personalizing them with distinctive details, working on punk overtones, of freedom before venturing through the urban landscape in search of spaces,” read the notes of the show.
The $3,800 black pleated skirt sparked controversy among China’s Hanfu enthusiasts, a popular subculture group who enjoy traditional Chinese clothing worn by the people of the Han dynasty. He alleged that the black wool and mohair wraparound skirt was similar to a ma mian skirt, or horse face skirt, which was popular in the Ming dynasty.
The skirt is marked “sold out” on the Hong Kong site and cannot be found on Dior’s mainland China website.
Dyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some Chinese online users thought Dior’s product descriptor wasn’t misleading, saying the A-line skirt harkens back to the brand’s New Look silhouette.
But despite Dior’s explanation that the inspiration was school uniforms—which have included pleated skirts for decades—Chinese netizens argued that the construction of the one-piece skirt is similar to that of the Ma Mian skirt, which initially had front and rear openings and There are side pleating. Horse riding for women is designed to be easy. The only difference is the length. A conservative Ma Mian skirt is floor-length, while the Dior version sits below the knee.
The op-ed section of state media People’s Daily Online responded with a post requesting Dyer to comment on the subject.
“Without disclosing trade secrets, Dior needs to be as clear as possible about the skirt design process,” the post read. “Industry insiders and copyright experts have joined the discussion. It can be a chance to explore the boundary between plagiarism, design reference, and paying homage to something. ,
This is not the first time that Dior has been embroiled in controversy in China. In November 2021, Chinese netizens accused the brand of showing photographs of famous Chinese fashion photographer Chen Man at an art exhibition in Shanghai. The show featured one of Chen’s earlier works, shot in 2012. The image captured a young Chinese woman wearing traditional Chinese clothing while holding a Lady Dior bag. Chen was accused of perpetuating Western stereotypes of Asian faces, such as slanted eyes.
State-owned media Global Times also criticized Chen’s “Young Pioneer” series for “sharing on child pornography and insulting Young Pioneers,” a series shot in the same period for the youth wing of the Chinese Communist Party.
Chen issued a formal apology a week later, stating that “early artistic ideas were not yet fully formed,” leading to earlier works “lacking thinking”. Dior removed the photo from the exhibition, saying the brand “takes online sentiment very seriously” and “respects the Chinese people.”
For more, see
Bringing China’s Traditional Hanfu to the World Stage
Dior withdraws Valentino’s demand for compensation, say sources
Originally published at Pen 18
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