French label Christian Dior has been slammed in China over a series of images clicked to adorn its Shanghai flagship store. The photographs, shot by Quentin Shih, show white models in haute couture in front of Chinese extras in work gear which has caused a storm. It’s been said that the label has commissioned a series of portraits called ‘Shanghai Dreamers’ which shows one Caucasian model standing tall over rows and rows of identical Chinese.
Groups of Chinese people are also dressed in the same uniform, which makes the photos even more disconcerting, while also making the model decked in tight Dior clothing stand out even more. The message of the shots is (according to many) conveys that Chinese all look the same and there’s really no way of telling them apart unless if you dress them in Dior. It’s also been said that the images also reflects that the Chinese are still stuck in the past (all their clothes in the photos date back to the ‘70s), while Dior comes to bring innovation, class and timeless elegance.
Faced with accusations of racism, Shih is speaking up to take full responsibility, “This is a personal project that only represents my point of view. An ad campaign represents the point of view of Dior,” Shih was quoted in the media, explaining how this is not a campaign in the truest sense, but only a series of photos.
“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,” the photographer was caught saying in the online version of the British DailyMail.
When we tried contacting Kalyani Chawla about her take on this controversy, she remained unavailable. The only thing we can say is that controversy whether it’s good or bad always grabs attention (Though Christian Dior never requires such things) and this news surely grabbed many eyeballs.
Even with that, critics are not happy. Granted, big fashion houses will always court controversy because that’s the best manner to attract attention onto themselves, but using “old-school racism” (as the Guardian calls it) to do so is outrageous, especially for a house as prestigious as Dior is.