Njideka Akabogu
The recently held #AMAA2017 saw actress and model Beverly Osu in an all-blue look by Nigerian designer, Magnetic Elegance. The look banged alright but there was one problem – it was a blatant copy of a Brandon Maxwell look worn by Lady Gaga in 2014.
I was prepared to let it slip (isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery?) but for a high-handed explanation by her stylist, Moses Ebite of Moashy Styling who tried to defend the rather unimaginative styling by pointing out other international designers who have stolen designs in the past.
In 2007, OscarDe La Renta made a collection that he showed during Paris fashion week that was entirely filled with solid hues but in designs looked like what John Galiano designed for house of Dior a year ago. It created a lot of talkability in the fashion industry that year. So when it comes to copying designs, it didn’t start with Nigerian designers and will never end… it continues and that way new designs will come up… Palazzo’s use to be a 90s fave and are we seeing the come back? It’s just a chic fabulous recycling spin! Oh TBH, it looked better on Beverly. She looked like the perfect silhouette Brandon Maxwell had in mind when he was creating the piece. Trust that your having a good Sunday! Know your fashion kids,” he wrote.
For the life of me, I can’t see how any of this makes sense to Moashy. How does Oscar De La Renta making a collection similar to Dior’s explain your copying an entire look – every stitch, every cut and every slit? What happened to creativity?
I mean, it’s okay to draw inspiration from a design, re-work it and give it your own touch. But doing it the exact same way? That is a big FAIL! No matter how exquisitely made a copy is, it will always be just that – a copy.
Many people might have done it and will continue to do it, but that doesn’t make it right.
If you think it’s even remotely okay to steal someone’s work and pass it off as your own, then you have no business calling yourself a creative. *mic drop*
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