Counterfeit culture’s not a new syndrome that’s permeated fashion in 2017. Ever since luxury houses decided they weren’t just selling clothes but a pedestaled lifestyle it was easy to price their clothing at extortionist values of money. Those who craved symbols of that status either scraped their savings for an icon of those brands or resorted to buy “inspired” versions mass produced with low-quality fabrics and horrifically mangled iterations of the original designs.
You could look to Seoul’s rising market for replica streetwear, the multitude of high-low collaborations from last year or Gucci’s Cruise 18 collection for as a sign that wearing obnoxious fakes are a growing trend to pull off… or is it?
Diet Prada‘s argument is straight-up no. Disrupting fashion in a major way is their Instagram account that talks directly to the shopper by putting images of two garments side by side and slamming companies for appropriating other creatives’ works. It’s one thing to reference and credit, but clearly this dress from Maria Grazia’s debut collection at Dior’s been mistreated by unknown-Australian rental-service-that-doesn’t-deserve-a-mention.
Fashion sites have been picking on this newsworthy hotcake, and for an online presence that’s shot into the stratosphere so quickly it’s certainly without an impact on other players. After posting this devastatingly stark comparison between Kim Kardashian’s The Kids Supply line jacket with other designers’ work including Rei Kawakubo of Comme Des Garçons and Demna Gvasalia of Vetements, Kim Kardashian actually announced in a video how much she respected original work and swore to donate all proceeds from the sale of her Comme-lookalike jacket to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
Way to go! We’re not so sure producing “Kim Des Garçons” merchandise helps or hurts their brand though…
In other Diet Prada happenings, Hypebae recently also wrote an article based off this newsflash courtesy of Diet Prada, which reported that Gucci and Stella McCartney were releasing a best-hits shoe come SS18. If the off-trend skinny jeans weren’t enough of a hint, this was actually fake news which got perpetuated by one of the leading voices of modern fashion. The article’s since been removed, but what’s stayed is the notch on Diet Prada’s belt signalling their potential influence on others alike.
But fashion items aren’t the only fakes Diet Prada’s vehemently exposing. For a month now the vigilante has been calling out Bruce Webber, an esteemed fashion photographer, for accusations of sexual assault that’ve been reported against him. It seems like taking down a powerhouse in the industry takes more than just a photo and angry text in a caption, but good on them for setting a new agenda for appropriateness.
Header image: Diet Prada, Public Domain Pictures
