Chief Creative Officer of Burberry, Riccardo Tisci, has turned Burberry on its heels offering more trendy pieces marketed towards Gen Z than ever before. Although Burberry has been thriving (even more than the brand has been over the last 160+ years), it’s looking like Tisci’s designs aren’t a hundred percent original and authentic. Yes, brands do take inspiration from other brands, art, and music. This is nothing that hasn’t been seen before, but what Tisci failed to realize is that there is a fine line between taking inspiration and flat out copying a design.
On August 31st, Burberry posted an image to their Instagram page featuring a silk white blouse with oversized oyster prints, embroidered faux pearls, and shell detailing. Many people in the Boston community were quick to notice that this shirt almost identically resembled a textile made by Boston designer and Project Runway season 15 winner, Erin Robertson, along with her friend and fellow artist, Jordan Piantedosi.
The textile was a part of their 2017 collaborative collection, Sexual Helix. There was no credit given to either artist, but the Boston community made their voices heard in the comment section quickly calling out the copycat.
“Looks like @an_erin x @jordanpiantedosi was on the moodboard…….”, one user commented. Another added, “This is a BLATANT rip off of @an_erin s oyster print. Shame.”
Diet Prada, an Instagram page with a following of over 1.5 million people dedicated to calling brands out for ripping each other off, posted on their story calling out Burberry and giving credit to the designers. There’s no comment from Burberry yet on the matter, but with their comment section filled to the brim calling out the brand. Hopefully, soon they’ll realize the mistake.
On the bright side, Robertson is using this drama to promote her oyster print shirts on her website and is offering 20% off for a limited time using the code shuckitBURBERRY.