Dior credits Chinese culture for Spanish-inspired design, gets called out for it

As the old saying goes, when it rains, it pours. That has certainly been the case for French luxury fashion house Dior when it comes to its relationship with Chinese consumers. 

Following a series of cultural and political faux pas in the recent past that has made the brand notorious among Chinese shoppers, Dior found itself under fire again last week for making what many critics called “a forced connection” between Chinese culture and garments seemingly influenced by European military aesthetics.

At issue are several women’s jackets from Dior’s 2023 cruise collection, which were first shown at an extravagant runway show in Spain back in April. Featuring a fitted silhouette and an officer collar, the items of clothing are described on Dior’s website as tributes “to the elegant equestrian world, a central theme of the collection.” 

One of the key features of the jackets, according to the website, is a “Brandenburg closure,” which comprises spindle-shaped buttons and braided loops. Known as “frogging” in the language of fashion, this design derived from European military uniforms from the 17th to 19th centuries, and is commonly used as a decorative detail in contemporary clothes.  

According to a house statement about the April display, the collection was to “showcase the excellence of Andalusian craftsmanship and culture” and honor the brand’s decades-long ties to Spain. In an interview with fashion magazine i-D, Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri said the clothes — including the jackets — were “used as an expression of Spanish culture, almost like a part of the country’s history.”

But on the Chinese internet, these Spanish-influenced garments were described in a different way. In several social media posts by Dior’s official accounts last week, there’s no mention of Spanish culture as the source of inspiration for the collection. Instead, the brand wrote on Chinese lifestyle app Xiaohongshu that the designs were a “tribute to Chinese culture,” with the “frog fasteners” on the jackets being directly inspired by Chinese pankou (盘扣 pánkòu), the type of button you see on the qipao.

“The new collection celebrates craftsmanship across the world,” the post reads. “Using Chinese pankou as an element in several designs is our way to pay homage to China’s centuries-old culture.:

The new interpretation of the design perplexed some Chinese fashionistas. @喵娘叫做徐小喵 (miāo niáng jiàozuò xú xiǎo miāo, “Ms. Cat Named Xu Little Cat”), a fashion blogger with more than 430,000 followers on Weibo, wrote a post explaining the jackets’ European roots, while @Mars业余时装评论 (yèyú shízhuāng pínglùn, “Mars Amateur Fashion Critic”), who has more than 480,000 followers on Weibo, said that although he liked the collection a lot, it “had nothing to do with Chinese pankou.” 

Many believed that the “special” description for Chinese customers was Dior’s preemptive attempt to avoid allegations of cultural appropriation, which landed the brand in trouble only a few months ago for a pleated skirt that critics said resembled a piece of ancient Chinese clothing. “It feels like a bit of an overcompensation for the mistakes it made in the past,” a Weibo user wrote, while another person said, “Dior seems really scared of offending Chinese customers again.” 

In China, consumers are increasingly sensitive and vocal about actions by Western companies they deem disrespectful to Chinese culture or people. In 2019, Dior issued an apology after one of its staff members used a map of China that did not include the island of Taiwan in a university recruitment event. And last year, it drew ire after an exhibition in Shanghai featured a photo of a stern-looking Asian woman wearing a traditional dress and holding the brand’s iconic Lady Dior handbag, which was criticized by many for looking “sinister” and “perpetuating Western stereotypes of Asian faces.”