Cape Town fashion designer Gavin Rajah is again linked to claims of plagiarism, this time over a dress worn by Reese Witherspoon and designed by Han Chong, writes Sandiso Ngubane.
“Our creativity doesn’t come from within, it comes from without. We are not self-made. We are dependent on one other. Admitting this to ourselves is not an embrace of mediocrity or derivativeness, it’s a liberation from our misconceptions,” says Kirby Ferguson, the filmmaker behind the “Everything is a Remix” video series in a TED talk about the appropriation of ideas.
Ferguson resolutely declares that nothing, in these times, is original. Everything is simply a new or different take on something that already exists.
I am reminded of this talk as I ponder the latest copycat scandal surrounding designer Gavin Rajah.
Depending on where you sit on this, Rajah is either innocently accused or guilty of stealing another designer’s idea, making a dress that is strikingly similar to designer Han Chong of Self Portrait’s earlier creation.
Chong’s blue and grey collared broderie anglaise dress with mesh panels was first seen last year worn by Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon. Rajah’s version debuted at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Jo’burg a fortnight ago.
Asked for comment Rajah told City Press that allegations that he is a copycat designer were “old news. Have a party with it.”
Read full report by Sandiso Ngunbane in Mail & Guardian
