Bella Hadid has publicly called out iconic designer Dolce and Gabbana for ‘years of racism, sexism, bigotry and xenophobia’ after the brand was called out for their model casting at Milan Fashion Week.
The fashion star, 29, shared her thoughts on the brand after it came under fire for casting only white models for its latest show on Saturday.
Bella made her feelings known in a comment under a post by fashion commentator and social media star Lyas, where she said she was ‘shocked’ some stars still publicly support D&G.
It’s the latest in a long line of controversies for the brand, after its co-founders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were convicted of tax evasion in 2013, before coming under fire for their comments about IVF.
The video where Bella shared her comments showed Lyas’ furious reaction to the realisation that ‘not one single Asian or dark-skinned model’ walked the runway for D&G’s show.
Sharing snaps of the model line-up, he told his followers: ‘No one single asian, not one single dark skinned model, I believe not a single arab or blond guy.’
Bella Hadidhas publicly called out iconic designer Dolce and Gabbana for ‘years of racism, sexism, bigotry and xenophobia’ after the brand was called out for their model casting in Milan
The fashion star shared her thoughts on the brand after it came under fire for casting ‘only white’ models for its latest show on Saturday (pictured on the runway in 2022)
‘And they have the audacity to say in the promotional video for the show ‘the portrait of man. The singular identity of every man.” I’m sorry what?’
Bella, who has never walked in a runway show for D&G, then made her feelings known in the comments, writing: ‘Shocked people actually support this company still it’s embarrassing. Models/stylists/casting the whole damn thing.’
She then added: ‘@bellahadid beeeeen cancelled… years of racism, sexism, bigotry, zenophobia.. how are we shocked still?’
Her words are a stark contrast to fashion favourites including Kylie Jenner, who previously served as a D&G brand ambassador in 2023, and Hailey Bieber, who sporting a piece from the band when she was last seen with Bella last year.
Daily Mail has contacted a representative for Dolce and Gabbana for comment.
Since founding their famous fashion house in 1985, designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabban have endured a string of controversies.
Their back catalogue of blunders had begun with an advert in which models attacked each other with knives and escalated to Dolce’s slur on IVF children and reached fever pitch when he called actress Selena Gomez ‘ugly’.
In 2007 the Advertising Standards Authority banned a campaign showing male models waving knives and one man lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head, after 160 complaints.
Bella made her feelings known in a comment under a post by fashion commentator and social media star Lyas, where she said she was ‘shocked’ some stars still publicly support D&G
The video showed Lyas’ furious reaction to the realisation that ‘not one single Asian or dark-skinned model’ walked the runway for D&G (models pictured from the sow)
In 2012, D&G was strongly criticised for the ‘offensive’ earrings with colonial-style imagery of black women it featured on models for a catwalk show.
After Elton John’s outrage, Dolce apologised, blaming his strict Catholic upbringing for his ‘inappropriate’ words, prompting Elton to accept the apology and announce he looked ‘forward to wearing their designs once again’.
In 2013, both Stefano and Domeneco were given a suspended sentence of 18 months in jail for failing to declare millions of euros the company earned through a subsidy based in Luxembourg.
However, the following year, when the Supreme Court of Cassation was asked to confirm the sentence, it acquitted the pair saying there was no case to answer.
Nonetheless, the label – 40 per cent is thought to be owned by Gabbana and the rest by Dolce and his family – blundered again by marketing £1,740 ‘slave sandals’ in 2016, causing an outcry.
In 2015, Sicilian-born Dolce criticised fertility treatment and same-sex parenting, describing IVF babies as ‘synthetic’.
He said: ‘You are born and you have a father and a mother. At least it should be like that.
‘That’s why I’m not convinced by what I call chemical children, synthetic babies.
‘They are wombs for hire, semen chosen from a catalogue. And then you have to explain to these children who their mother is.’
It’s the latest in a long line of controversies for the brand and its co-founders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana (pictured in 2019)
The comments led to furious backlash from stars including Sir Elton John, who launched an online #BoycottDolceGabanna campaign after the comments were published in Italian magazine Panorama and condemned the designer for ‘wagging your judgmental little fingers at IVF.’
The designers, under growing social media pressure, then issued a statement saying their comments supporting traditional families with a mother and a father weren’t intended to judge the choices made by others.
In 2018, celebrities and social media users called for a boycott of D&G over an advertising campaign which showed a Chinese model eating pizza, spaghetti and a cannoli with chopsticks that many deemed culturally insensitive.
As its products began to be pulled from shelves in the lucrative Chinese market, Stefano and Domeneco issued an apology where they asked for China’s ‘forgiveness.’
Bloggers for Diet Prada, a fashion watchdog group, Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler also exposed racist messages attributed to founder Stefano Gabbana’s Instagram account in 2018.
‘If the Chinese feel offended by a girl who spells pizza or pasta with chopsticks means that those Chinese feel inferior … and then it’s a problem not ours!’ Gabbana allegedly said in a message.
‘The whole world knows that the Chinese eat with chopsticks and that the Westerners with a fork and knife!!! Is this racism?? Hahahah you are not comfortable with the brain.’
Further in the conversation with Tranova, Gabbana allegedly said: ‘So you are racist because you eat dogs?’
‘All the worldwide know your attitude for excemple with the dogs!!!!! So at this point you are more racist than our. We celebrate the dogs we can not eat but we love and we live with,’ Gabbana allegedly said.
Other messages read: ‘The country of [five poop emojis] is China’ and ‘China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia.’
Bella has also been vocal in opposition to Israel’s occupation of Gaza, after her father Mohamed Hadid was born in Palestine.
She has even gone as far to say she’s ‘not afraid to lose modelling jobs’ due to her stance – but she then sparked backlash from fans who accused her of ‘hypocrisy,’ as she walked in the Victoria’s Secret runway show, despite its ties to Israel.
Some Palestinian group encourage a boycott of the brand in its entirety – although it’s not on the official BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) list, written by a coalition of Palestinian organisations.
Delta Galil, which is worth more than $1billion, was also included in a 2023 report by the UN Israeli business enterprises working on ‘Occupied Palestinian Territory’.
