French Designer Isabel Marant Accused of Plagarism by Oaxaca Indigenous Women Sara Spruch-Feiner - StyleCaster
go to original June 22, 2015

In January this year, Oaxacan singer Susana Harp tweeted a picture of a blouse from Marant’s Etoile collection beside a picture of the 600-year-old design for the traditional Tlahuitoltepec blouse produced in the south. An image of the two designs went viral with #miblusadetlahui trending on Twitter, and prompted national debate surrounding the issue of cultural appropriation in the fashion industry. (@susanaharp/Twitter)

French designer Isabel Marant has made a career of translating her signature aesthetic - bohemian meets Parisian It-girl - into covetable, often ethnically-inspired items for which the fashion crowd is more than willing to shell out serious cash. However, according to the indigenous Mixe Women of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec in Oaxaca, Mexico, a recent blouse from Marant’s Spring 2015 lower-priced Etoile collection is way too similar to the traditional garb they’ve worn for centuries.

At a press conference last week, the women stated: “Isabel Marant is committing a plagiarism because the Etoile spring-summer 2015 collection contains the graphical elements specific to the Tlahuitoltepec blouse, a design which has transcended borders, and is not a novel creation as is affirmed by the designer.”

Read the rest at StyleCaster

Related: Inspiration or Plagiarism? Mexicans Seek Reparations for French Designer’s Look-Alike Blouse (The Guardian)

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