Following the launch of Louis Vuitton SS21 collection designed by Virgil Abloh, the Belgian designer, Royal Academy of Fine Arts professor and member of the Antwerp Six, Walter Van Beirendonck saw some similarities to his designs in Abloh’s designs for this new collection. He immediately went to Instagram to address the situation, posting an image of one of his designs in which a t-shirt reads: “I HATE COPYCATS”
“This is not just copying, this is using my world, ideas, colors, signature, cuts, shapes as his collection moodboard. A world and signature [I’ve been] working on since 1985. He is paid a huge amount of money to be an [‘artistic director’] and he has unlimited possibilities to work with anybody in the world — he could have asked me for a collaboration.” Van Beirendonck told HYPEBEAST.
Walter Van Beirendonck FW16 Louis Vuitton SS21 Walter Van Beirendonck FW16 Louis Vuitton SS21 Louis Vuitton SS21 Walter Van Beirendonck FW18
Introducing the “Zoooom With Friends” mascots, this new collection has a lot of similarities to Van Beirendonck’s designs, from the silhouettes to the color palette and the mascots stitched to various jackets and suits.
“It’s very clear that Virgil Abloh is not a designer. He has no language of his own, no vision. He can’t create something of his own season after season and that is painful. As for me, throughout all these years in fashion, I have patiently built up a signature language. That language is mine. It’s me. And he takes it, makes a copy of it. You can reinterpret things, do them in a different way. But this is just embarrassing. Meanwhile, Abloh gets a lot of money. He’s the one who cashes in.” Van Beirendonck told to Belgian publication Knack Weekend.
“More than ever, spread the word and let this dirty practice stop. Tell Vuitton to contact the REAL THING.”
