TALKING TO DIET SABYA, THE FASHION WATCHDOG
Diet Sabya calls out on copycats, and is followed by Alia Bhatt, Sonam Kapoor and more
Sanya Panwar
Diet Sabya is an anonymous Instagram account dedicated to exposing imitations or appropriations, even blatant copies, in fashion. Committed to calling out the fakes and the rampant copycat culture, the sassy watchdog racked up an impressive 18k followers within a month of its first post on March 15, 2018.
Demanding the fashion industry right its wrongs, the creators of Diet Sabya, in an exclusive email interview with Hindustan Times, explained their reasons for bluntly naming and shaming established and emerging designers, stylists and photographers for knocking others off, be it in designs, cuts or patterns.
“Copying isn’t cool and we will make sure the online universe knows that... About time serial offenders, influential or upcoming — be called out for their mediocrity,” they told HT over email, their preferred channel of communication to maintain anonymity. In one of its early posts, Diet Sabya pointed out the similarities between actor Kriti Sanon’s twirl-worthy canary yellow fringe maxi from Deme By Gabriella and model Heidi Klum’s bespoke royal blue fringed dress by Project Runway-winner Sean Kelly, which she wore in 2014. In another fairly subtle yet cutting-edge-as-ever dig, Deme By Gabriella again found itself at Diet Sabya’s crosshairs, this time accusing the Mumbaibased label of ripping off established luxury brand Monse.In another post, the account called out well-known label Falguni Shane Peacock India for referencing US designer Alexander Wang a little too much.
In a latest burn, the account stuck to its razor-sharp tone as it uncovered yet another moment of fashion déjà vu: Their post featured a Hazoorilal by Sandeep Narang necklace that looked fairly similar to a piece designed by ace couturist Sabyasachi Mukherjee, whom they call “the country’s most copied couturier”.