Rohit Bal calls out ‘copycat’ behaviour
Plagiarism is hardly new to fashion — be it in India or on the global stage — but th thanksha to social media, it has becb become easier to spot. Recently,RRe designer Rohit Bal, camecaam across a copy of his creationcrec on Facebook. Model Amit Dahiya’s profilerpr picture, a shot from ded designer Seema Mehta’s co collection,o had him wearing a velvetvve mandarin-collared jacketjaa with distinctive floral embroiderymem — a creation strikingly similar to Bal’s design that he showcased for his summer/resort 2016 collection in Mumbai.
Incidentally, Bal’s design was also worn by Dahiya on the runway. Bal posted a strongly-worded status update on Facebook: “The original by Rohit Bal on the ramp. The fake by some parasitical designer. ...Just the height of blatant shamelessness and utter disrespect for this profession. Feeling disgusted and appalled.”
When contacted, Bal insisted on not naming the designer, but said that the issue of plagiarism was larger, and that he intended to tackle it.
“I don’t really wish to harm her. She just needs to get the message. However, there are much bigger fish in the ocean, who need to be exposed. I am compiling a list of my originals and the copies of our designs. They even sell them as our designs blatantly. [I] will expose them soon,” he said.
We tried to contact Mumbaibased designer Seema Mehta, but her phone was switched off.