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It is a tale as old as time, maybe not as old as time but given our collection attention spans it is long. Things were the same, every summer women thronged to buy fresh floral designs of lawn especially the designer ones since they were expensive, exclusive and most importantly original.
My mom, sister and female friends were no different, but one fine day I found out that the most celebrated and sought-after designer brand was literally lifting designs from foreign clothing brands just putting them up. It was Sana Safinaz 2011 Lawn lifting things off from Emilio Pucci’s print shown on the runway just 5 months before.
I as a novice and a media-nobody messaged every big fashion editor and newspaper journalist to take it up, little did I know those frivolous friendships, free joras, PR relations and most importantly advertising revenue rules it all. Hence I started aamiriat a free WordPress blog to rant it all (without renting it out)
Fast forward to 2017, things haven’t changed at all. Just this February when I came across a Sana Safinaz catalog for their much-anticipated lawn, one of the key designs numbered MAR17-04B has the exact same print from Spanish brand Pronovias’ bridesmaid dress from 2015. Old habits die hard.
You find uncanny similarities with Dior’s an Exceptional Christmas shoot from 2012. The Sana Safinaz shoot was done by Guddu Shani with whom they have had a long association with, while Dior’s was by Koto Bolofo.
One could cite similar inspiration but even the accompanying fashion video you must have seen playing everywhere from YouTube to Facebook bears an uncanny similarity to Dior’s ‘Secret Garden Versailles’ from 2012 shot by Inez and Vinoodh.
Christian Dior – Secret Garden – Versailles from Inez & Vinoodh on Vimeo.
Check out Sana Safinaz video.
Rewind just a month back the layout from their prêt collection catalog was Xerox copy of Magazine editorial
While naysayers might say that getting inspired from international sources or lifting things off ain’t illegal are citing no copyright laws to police. It is strange that the brands like Sana Safinaz continue to charge premium prices for things that should ideally be dirt cheap fast fashion. To add insult to injury they are also quick to threaten counterfeits via legal notices in the press.
But to single out the designer duo won’t be fair, clothing brands left and right continue to lift things off the internet and call it their own. My blog Aamiriat’s has flourished over past 5-6 years solely because of them and I am utterly grateful. But plagiarism shouldn’t go unfettered if you want to use things off the internet pay the artists, don’t just copy and paste.
To find out about more brands copying prints, shoes to who photo shoots and everything under the sun, go on to the blog https://aamiriat.wordpress.com/category/copycat/
