Dolce&Gabbana

has filed a defamation suit in an Italian court seeking over US$600 million in

damages from two US fashion bloggers who reposted anti-Asian comments

attributed to one of the designers that led to a boycott by Asian consumers.

The suit was filed

in Milan civil court in 2019 but only became public this week when the bloggers

posted about it on their Instagram account, Diet Prada. Their feed is widely

followed in the fashion world for its cutting commentary on unoriginality in designs

and on social issues.

“This whole case is

a way of trying to silence Diet Prada, and to silence Tony (Liu) and Lindsay

(Schuyler) personally,” said Susan Scafidi, director of the Fashion Law

Institute at Fordham Law School, which is coordinating the bloggers’ defense.

Lawyers for

Dolce&Gabbana reached by the AP declined to comment on the case.

The case dates back to November 2018, whenDolce&Gabbana faced a boycott in Asia after outrage over what were seen asculturally insensitive videos promoting a major runway show in Shanghai andsubsequent posts of insulting comments in a private Instagram chat.

The show was cancelled

in the backlash, which included retailers pulling Dolce&Gabbana merchandise

and Asian VIPs disavowing the brand.

Designers Domenico

Dolce and Stefano Gabbana initially said that Gabbana’s account had been

hacked. The two later appeared in a video apologising to the Chinese people.

“A public apology

and a quiet lawsuit really cancel each other out in my mind,” Scafidi told The

Associated Press on Saturday.

Italian defense

attorneys filed a brief this week in Milan civil court, arguing that Italy is

not the correct venue for the case, given that the blog is produced in the

United States and the alleged damages occurred in Asia.

The fashion house

is seeking damages totalling more than half a billion euros, Scafidi said.

She said 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 remarks 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-March 2019.

Since going public,

Diet Prada, which has over 2.5 million Instagram followers, has raised more

than $38,000 for its defense.

In a statement, Liu

and Schuyler both said they would not allow their platform, which has also been

vocal about the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter and recent attacks on

Asians in the United States, to be silenced by lawsuits.

“Diet Prada will

continue to be a platform to elevate these crucial issues,” Liu said.

Schuyler called on

“public figures and brands to respond to public opinion and media critiques

with progressive action, not lawsuits.”