Original or copied?
After Rohit Bal, Rahul Mishra and others calling out alleged copies of their creations, designer JJ Valaya shared his account.
“And it continues, the unflinching audacity to create “inspired” design! On the left is the JJ Valaya Couture Original (created in 2016) and on the right, an evidently ‘inspired’ version by someone called neeru. What makes it worse for me personally is that it’s worn by my unsuspecting friend Sonam Kapoor, who I consider one of India’s biggest fashion influencers and who I also know will whack this person on the head when she sees this! We all go through this constantly, months of research put into a collection which goes on ramp for 20 minutes, only to be cloned in days. A pity especially when you’re in a country like India which is blessed with endless bank of inspiration itself (sic),” Valaya wrote on Facebook.
Speaking to HT City, he added: “This menace is being targeted as a major focus area from legal aspect. Whilst it’s difficult to stop this completely in a country as large as ours, selective yet very effective legal action will be taken to curb it as much as possible.”
Meanwhile, Neeru’s denied the allegations. “We at the design label completely deny the claim. This is an original creation and not copied from any designer,” the official statement said.
Whilst it’s difficult to stop this in a country as large, selective yet effective legal action will be taken to curb it
JJ VALAYA DESIGNER
The design label completely denies the claim. This is an original creation, not copied from anyone
STATEMENT BY NEERU’S