Appropriation can be a force for good, creating a cultural exchange and enriching the available vocabulary for creatives of all types. In the age of social media, criticism can quickly spiral into a virtual lynch mob: a digital judge, jury and executioner all wrapped into one. A Chanel boomerang, you say? Burn 31 Rue Cambon to the ground! An accusation of mistreatment from a model on Instagram and Facebook? Send death threats to the children of the casting director! Gucci’s reference to Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day, the man who himself bootlegged the Italian brand in the 1980s? How dare they! Death to Alessandro Michele! It’s fashion’s Nazi party! Following the Italian brand’s Cruise 2018 show in Florence on Monday night, the digi-sphere picked up on a look that is quite clearly a Gucci-fied nod to one of Dapper Dan’s designs, a jacket with puffball sleeves of monogrammed Louis Vuitton leather and a brown mink bodice. Some have called Gucci’s take on the look “shameful” while others have characterised it as the latest instance of a major brand pilfering from black creatives.

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