Suhani Parekh: I was accused of knocking off my design

Lack of redressal for ideas copyright infringement in fashion means watchdog Instagram handles yield immense power. Celebrated jewellery designer Suhani Parekh, taken down for 'copying', says she won't cower

On October 3, a gaggle of India's fashion stakeholders were obsessively staring at their phones. Instagram handle of High Heel Confidential (228K followers) posted two images of textured hoops—one by Indian jewellery brand Misho, and the other stamped as a design by historic French brand Céline. The hashtag was #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmm. The caption read: When you spot a vintage Céline on Etsy and it looks very familiar.

The post tagged Diet Sabya (184K followers), a faceless site that calls out brands, designers and stylists for fashion knockoffs. They headlined it, Scandal. Suhani Parekh, 28, is creative director of three-and-a-half year cult brand Misho, who has among others, Kendal Jenner and Sonam Kapoor for clients. A student of art history and culture at Goldsmiths, University of London, Parekh used her training in sculpture to eventually work with sterling silver. The young designer who made it to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the fashion category in 2018, had ironically told a fashion magazine in an interview in January: [Instagram is] definitely a game-changing platform.

When the controversy broke, Parekh argued that the design was in fact, a knock-off of her own creation and available under her label at London's Selfridges and MatchesFashion. She reached out to her 44.8K Instagram followers for support, demanding an apology. This paper contacted both Diet Sabya (DS), who didn't respond, and High Heel Confidential (HHC), who directed us to their Instagram comments, one of which said: [we are] more than happy to cover every sighting that comes our way on the blog. But some context always helps, and us pausing over these earrings was natural given all else.

Edited excerpts from the interview.

You claim the contentious design is actually your own.
HHC is familiar with our work. In fact, Payal [co-owner] is a customer. She has my number. They could have made a courtesy call to verify the story before hitting post. Over the last year, we have reached out to DS on more than one occasion to bring to their attention that our textured hoops were spawning imitations. One of their responses, which I have, reads: Haha you've arrived!! It means it's good design". When you pose as industry watchdog, a vigilante, you need to do research before accusing a young designer.

You've been criticised for rallying fashion editors, Bollywood actors, stylists and storeowners to support you in your demand for a retraction and apology.
I would've preferred a direct discussion, and so, wrote to them with proof of design. I also shared a clip of our textured hoops being part of a Vogue Paris article titled, 15 Graphic Designers Who Stole Our Hearts in 2017. Would Vogue Paris feature our earrings if they were Céline knockoffs? While DS is yet to respond, HHC posted a 10-page commentary five days later. Instead of focusing on the issue, they debated on the price of the earrings. Both used Instagram stories [unlike posts, this format allows only its user to access public comments], and so, in the absence of an open forum, I had no choice but to take up the issue on my page.

Was it ethical to publicly offer a gift to those who would call out the sites and ask them to apologise?
We offered a little thank-you present to everyone who supported us through the ordeal. And for that gesture, I have been called a bully. The real bullies are DS and HHC, and their giant following that trolled us. Incidentally, Etsy [the site that posted the earrings for sale] removed the earrings from their site after we sent them a legal notice.

Do you see a problem with social media playing jury?
It takes years to build a brand's reputation. Misinformed posts mess with client perception. We made enough noise on social media to set the record straight, but several young designers don't have the means, the access or the following to make their voices heard.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!