Forget global, Indian fashion industry is expanding by the day. While fashion’s table is kind enough to welcome all sorts of original explorations and creativity, copycats sit on the same table. Sometimes it’s international designers who copy Indian creators and sometimes Indian designs are closely “inspired” by the west with missing credits. It’s certainly not easy to track the copycat-designs until you’re are regular at fashion weeks and are updated with trends as well as familiar with old brand archives.
So a while back some international fashion experts started a no-mercy Instagram account named Diet Prada. Appreciated by many including Naomi Campbell, the open handle has been calling out the global copycats. The moment a post by Karuna Ezara Parikh, an Indian television presenter, about Christian Dior copying Indian designers from People Tree got viral, we could feel that we might need an Indian version of Diet Prada but didn’t know it would happen so soon.
Yes, say hello to DietSabya! It’s a new Instagram handle that has popped up in the midst of FDCI Presents Amazon India Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2018 and is calling out Indian fashion copycats. The account describes itself as the Indian sister of Diet Prada. DietSabya, so far, is following the footsteps of Diet Prada and their first call out is the well-known couture designer Adarsh Gill. Known for her luxurious taste, the designer has seemed to have created a piece that’s very similar Alaïa’s iconic bondage-inspired number from 1991. If you remember, recently designer, Nikhil Thampi created a similar dress for Esha Gupta’s red carpet appearance. But in Thampi’s case, he made it amply clear that the dress was an ode to Azzedine Alaïa thereby dismissing copycat questions.
Although just started, the Instagram handle is being followed by editors, fashion insiders and designers. DietSabya is using a sarcastic voice to convey the truth, which is impressive. Also, did we mention another account called Diet Malhotra in the vicinity? Looks like the easiest way to call out on copycats is to create a copycat account yourself. Either way, we look forward to this daily dose of fashion drama!
We‘re also hoping that much like Diet Prada, these copycat accounts are planning to comment on the larger issues as well.