Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Vivienne Westwood Apologises Over T-Shirt Plagiarism

Vivienne Westwood has issued an apology to designers Louise Grayand Rottingdean Bazaar after using their graphics without permission.

The T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan, "We do big sizes! 2XL 2XL 4XL 5XL!!!! We do very small sizes!!", was shown as part of the Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood autumn/winter 2018 collection, which was presented at Paris Fashion Week on March 3rd.

The brand addressed the matter on Instagram after industry insiders, including Lulu Kennedy, called out Vivienne Westwood for its misuse of the design. "Dear @louisegray__and @rottingdeanbazaar," the post read. "We are sorry. The use of your graphics on our T-shirt was only ever meant to be a celebration of your work. We got caught up in a last-minute frenzy and did not contact you to ask for your permission. We are truly sorry about this mistake and want to make it up to you."


Neither Louise Gray and Rottingdean Bazaar have responded to the apology, which has since garnered almost 20,000 likes on Instagram.

The line between copying a designer's work and creating an homage to it continues to be raised. In 2012, the London-based house took Anthony Knight to court for trademark and copyright infringement for allegedly copying some of Westwood's orb logos and rebellious slogans, including "Let It Rock" and "Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die."

In the past year, Balenciaga has also been accused of copying the work of music producer Swizz Beatz, and Gucci faced criticism for using Dapper Dan's designs outside of the contracted cruise 2018 collection.

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