Very good point.
Unfortunately, many people like to look for a “reason” for a person getting cancer or some other illness. It is a form of whistling in the dark, IMHO. Sometimes you just lose the genetic lottery or something bad just happens. People want to think it won’t happen to THEM.
" I’d suggest not trying to discern any underlying meaning in the final design."
I don’t think you got the message. The point was that is not weird to see a brand’s namesake “portrait” to be depicted on the merchandise. Of course the abovementioned designers do not do the work - ha. Kate likely did choose what went on her new designs, but she did not draw her portrait - it was done by an artist named Matt Grenby, according to the description of the bag. I totally would buy that D&G bag with the guys and their pets and walk around with it, but that Kate’s tote would bring out too much sadness, so it would stay in the closet forever.
The link to “our founders” on that page doesn’t work. Her bio was probably deleted.
I think the image IS disturbing. She didn’t draw it, but I assumed she approved it and it’s just not the image you want representing your brand, IMO.
In retrospect if she was an alcoholic it is very odd…at the moment probably just thought of as “cute.”
Wow, this is one of the coldest things I have ever read on this site. If you have no personal knowledge of how debilitating depression and anxiety can be, consider yourself extremely lucky.
For me, it’s several things. One, a person with a known drinking problem is depicted drinking a martini. Two, part of her face is “missing” as if she is being erased. Since I have apotemnophobia (fear of people with amputated limbs), people with missing body parts in general are alarming to me. And the sense that she can’t speak. The outfit she is wearing, but it isn’t clear if the stripes are part of the outfit or not, they seem almost like prison bars or the prison uniforms worn by Jews in Buchenwald. All this might not have been “intended” by the artist, but it’s creepy to me nonetheless.