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It’s common practice for designers and artists to draw inspiration from the work of someone else, but there’s a fine line between inspiration and copy-pasting.
French fashion house, Saint Laurent Paris has recently found itself in hot water over a clutch bag spotted in their Fall 2017 runway show at Paris Fashion Week. It seems to be a mirror image of the Mburu bag designed by Senegalese brand, Tongoro collection, launched by Sarah Diouf.
Diouf explained to Jezebel her shock after seeing a bag uncannily resembling her design clutched in the hands of Saint Laurent models.
"I’ve never seen a 65cm long bag before. The first thing that came to my mind was, Oh wow, this is not happening. ’Cause my bag has been on the market a year and I’ve never seen anything elsewhere."
But Sarah Diouf is, sadly, not the first designer to highlight this issue.
In 2016 fast-fashion brand Zara was accused of blatantly copying the pin designs of Los Angeles illustrator, Tuesday Bassen. The accusation put the spotlight on how big companies often exploit the work of young designers who still have very little agency within the industry.
Jeremy Scott of Moschino has also been accused of stealing design ideas. Remember the matching graffiti print outfits him and Katy Perry wore to the Met Gala in 2015? Well, apparently, that graffiti print was the work of Brooklyn artist, Joseph Tierney.
What made this even worse was that Jeremy Scott branded his and the Moschino name on the artist’s logo to give the appearance of a collaborative effort.
Back here at home Gavin Rajah has also been accused of coping designs. In 2016 a New York-based designer, Chelsea Liu said that Rajah stole not only her pictures, but her designs for a feature in English-Arab magazine, Harayer.
Read more: Gavin Rajah allegedly threatens designer who accused him of stealing her designs
We understand creative block is a thing, but copyright infringement is not to be taken lightly. It’s an offense and we would rather see major fashion brands utilise upcoming designers by collaborating with them rather than simply biting their swag.
