Armani Plagiarism

By Frédéric Forest, from his series "Waiting"  (via his website)

What was going to be a post about Giorgio Armani's piece above, will now be a quick feature of his plagiarism.

I skated past the top image as I was scrolling through my Tumblr feed one night (via). I really like it! I don't usually pay attention to Armani's work because there isn't a ton of appeal there for me. I am sort-of frightened of his 'cigarette-girl / bellhop turned into objects donning ridiculous opulence and luxury' thing, but this jacket really thrilled me!

The caption on the post stated that it was from the 2018 Fall Couture collection, so I went to find the look in the runway presentation. I wanted to see what the other pieces were like. The jacket had such a strong and appealing Schiaparelli influence! Oddly, the piece was conspicuously missing from the Vogue Runway re-cap.

As it turns out, there was more "influence" to this piece than I originally imagined.

I compared the background of the runway set to establish that this look was indeed from that season. A Google reverse-image search showed a few results to Twitter posts that had been deleted - and one article from the Dutch publication of Harpers Bazaar by Door Willemijn Schilten that I translated. (Original version here).

The author's research shows that Armani's piece was directly copied from a drawing by French artist Frédéric Forest! They present a screenshot of the Instagram fashion-law account @thefashionlaw which has also since been deleted from their feed.

Mamma Mia, Gio! This is exactly the sort of crap that I hate about massive fashion threshing machines that plow through fields of cultural sanctity and art - while shitting out bricks of appropriated luxury garbage for the uber wealthy.

I will compliment the hands and minds of those who were tasked with the construction and assembly of this jacket. The work is exquisite!

Why did they not simply approach Frédéric Forest to collaborate? What a headache for him to have to recon with this. As I continue to study pattern-making, sewing and design, I need also be looking into fashion law case studies to fuel my fire and know my rights as an illustrator and creator.

Concerning the fashion industry: why isn't there a common decency and respect for one another, and a reverence to observe and appreciate the sacred dress of other cultures without appropriating it for your own capitalist agenda.

Concerning my creation of clothing: I refuse to participate in these rampant practices.

Concerning resources and exploitation of people: Will my participation in this industry harm anyone? It's taken me so long to get started because I've pondered this for years and years. The sped-up seasonal presentations of high-fashion trickle down into the consumerism of classes who cannot afford such luxuries, but can spend their cash at massive retail giants with truly diabolical labor and ecological practices.

If I am not able to make it doing things my way, than I refuse to make it at all. I am shrewd at being poor and responsible. I can stay this way forever if I need to.