But that was before local authorities opened a criminal investigation against her on charges of aggravated fraud, and before an Italian consumer rights organization subsequently filed a class action lawsuit. In the end, Ms. Ferragni was fined a hefty sum for what she called a “miscommunication” by donating money to host the annual Sanremo music festival, Italy’s most popular television broadcast. agreed to pay. But despite her show of contrition, she found herself abandoned by major sponsors such as Coca-Cola and eyewear giant Safilo, as well as by her hundreds of thousands of supporters.
When Ms. Ferragni finally reappeared on Instagram after the Christmas break, it was with a decidedly low-key self-deprecating joke. In it, the social media star, looking terribly unkempt, with light make-up and a dull gray shirt resembling a prison uniform, apologized in public and was admitted to Turin’s Regina Margherita Hospital. announced a genuine private donation of 1 million euros. ,Italy.
Still, it didn’t take long for critics to realize their misconceptions. Her status is no longer exalted, with shirts she wore selling for 600 euros and memes pointing out that she’s in cashmere and making fun of her wardrobe choices proliferating. No longer. One half of a charming couple known as “Felañes” and even their dog.
“Unfortunately, she was surrounded by bad people and got everything wrong,” Raffaello Napoleone, chief executive of Italy’s fashion design trade group Pitti Immagine, said before Saturday’s Neil Barrett menswear show. He must have made a choice.” She said: “When she apologizes, she has to represent herself as she is. She came out as a nun, but she is not a nun.”
It didn’t help Mr. Ferragni’s cause that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attacked him in a fiery speech as an affront to decency, integrity and the very heart of “Italianness.” And some of that includes not only political opportunism (Fedes has been a vocal critic of right-wing leaders) but also, as one fashion critic opined anonymously at a Dsquared show, “just a woman. Some people saw it as “more than contempt.” Along with her publication employment guidelines.
“Yes, she probably went too far in the same way that all influencers go too far in terms of becoming gurus,” the critic added. “But women-on-women attacks play into the pervasive anti-feminist rhetoric.”