Imitation might be said to be the highest form of flattery but that will be small comfort to creatives who believe that their designs have been ripped off. In part thanks to the Instagram account Diet Prada, self-appointed watchdog of the fashion industry whose 2 million followers include Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton and model Alek Wek, allegations of copying in fashion seem to be increasingly coming to the fore.
The latest is a post in which the lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret is accused of selling designs with “distinct signature elements from black-owned lingerie brand” Edge O’ Beyond.
“The pieces are so similar,” says Naomi De Haan, founder of the London-based Edge O’ Beyond. She notes that “two orders direct from our website stood out to us as very suspicious. One was from someone with the same name as someone who works in the creative team at Victoria’s Secret in the US.”
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The Diet Prada post also highlights that Destiney Bleu, founder and designer of LA-based d.bleu.dazzled, a brand worn by Beyoncé in Black is King, said she found orders for her lingerie by a customer with the same name as Victoria’s Secret VP of design and a billing address that matched the company’s headquarters.
“I think it is terrible that huge corporations like Victoria’s Secret are stealing from small independent businesses like mine,” says De Haan, “especially during the era of Black Lives Matter, preying on an independent black business when they have a huge team of designers to hand; they have acted so unethically and immorally.” Victoria’s Secret had not responded to the Guardian’s request for comment at the time of writing.
The accusations come as another big name in the fashion industry, Louis Vuitton menswear designer Virgil Abloh, has been accused on Instagram by the Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck of cribbing his designs.
Many designers have faced accusations of plagiarism in recent years, including Zara, Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters. This week Diet Prada also called out the fast fashion brand Shein, alleging that it had copied a design by French sustainable mother-and-daughter brand Maison Cléo.
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