Virgil Abloh Gets Accused By Designer Of Ripping Him Off To Create LV Collection
Image via Ovidiu Hrubaru / Shutterstock.com
Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck has called out Virgil Abloh and Louis Vuitton for ripping off his old designs.
Beirendonck, who leads the fashion department at Antwerp’s prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts, took to Instagram to raise possible plagiarism seen in several elements of his LV’s Spring/Summer 2021 menswear collection.
Beirendonck stated that the color combinations and silhouettes of the collection bore resemblance to his designs. He also pointed out that the stuffed animal-like figures stitched to Abloh’s outerwear range called Zooom With Friends looked just like the playful plushes in Beirendonck’s Fall/Winter 2016 collection.
Fans of Beirendonck also noticed that Abloh’s asymmetric sunglasses looked just like the LIGHTNING sunglasses created for Beirendonck’s FW18 show. Instagram account @aestheticterrorist also noted the similarity between Abloh’s inflatable outerwear to Beirendonck’s pool toy muscle jacket from 1996.
“Virgil did it again!” Beirendonck told HYPEBEAST. Beirendonck claimed that Abloh wasn’t just blatantly copying, but he also used Beirendock’s colors, cuts, shapes and whole moodboard he had worked on since 1985.
“He could have asked me for a collaboration,” Beirendonck concluded his statement.
Virgil Abloh of Louis Vuitton has copied Belgian designer Water Van Beirendonck for Spring 2021.
— The Artémis Magazine (@theartemismag) August 7, 2020
Has virgil gone too far this time?
For comparison, left images are Walter's work and right images are LV spring 2021. There are also other designs that have been copied.. pic.twitter.com/DSsJHbW5Pr
Virgil Abloh also copied Walter van Beirendonck SS16 line with his LV SS21 line, really pathetic from Virgil
— PRADA (@thenewjoey1) August 8, 2020
IP theft is bad.
— KillingMyCareer (@MelaynaLokosky) August 8, 2020
So is Walter Van Beirendonck's 2016 collection.
Worse is S 21 Louis Vuitton Virgil Abloh's clone collection. #TheSociopathicBusinessModel#FraudFormula #Fashion pic.twitter.com/usF8CYpNjG
I have been comparing these Walter Van Beirendonck’s looks from the past and Virgil Abloh’s LV spring 2021 menswear. Obviously seeing some similarities. pic.twitter.com/Lol5vXlWIR
— Bernard Dayo (@BernardDayo) August 8, 2020
[via HYPEBEAST, opening image via Ovidiu Hrubaru / Shutterstock.com]
