BEIJING: Versace on Sunday apologised after a batch of its clothes on shelves in China drew the ire of locals for referring to the Chinese special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau as separate states.
This is largely seen as a disruption of Beijing's territorial integrity, according to Sputnik.
"I am deeply sorry for the unfortunate recent error that was made by our Company and that is being currently discussed on various social media channels. Never have I wanted to disrespect China's National Sovereignty and this is why I wanted to personally apologize for such inaccuracy and for any distress that it might have caused," Donatella Versace, the company's current chief creative officer said in a post shared on social media platform Instagram.
"Versace reiterates that we love China deeply, and resolutely respect China's territory and national sovereignty," the fashion brand said.
Images of the said shirt went viral on the internet. They sported a list of "city-country" and "capital/country" pairs, like Beijing-China or New York-USA. When it came to Hong Kong and Macau, the following pairing could be seen on the shirt which read, "Hong Kong-Hong Kong" or "Macau-Macau".
China's brand studio representative for Versace, Yang Mi, severed her ties with the fashion house in the wake of the shirt controversy. This news garnered over 640 million views on Weibo.