The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Dolce & Gabbana and Narratives of Heritage and National Identity

National identity is a powerful tool often used in the marketing and communication strategies of brands, especially in the luxury fashion industry. This chapter will focus on the case of Dolce & Gabbana and examine the strategies it employs in this sense with regards to its digital storytelling practices. It will be discussed how the label emphasizes elements linked the most virtuous facets of Italian national identity, and in particular craftsmanship, to support the prestige and aura of the brand, linking it to a long-established workshop tradition that transcend from the actual origin of the label. Moreover, the chapter will also examine the risks in using traits of national identity, and discuss how that was the case for the controversy which emerged in 2018 with regards to the depiction of China in a series of promotional videos posted by Dolce & Gabbana. It will also be observed how, in order to recover from the scandal, Dolce & Gabbana has strengthened and focused even more, in their digital narratives, on traits of Italian national identity with regards to craftsmanship and tradition.