Kim Kardashian West took to Twitter to shoot down a fast-fashion conspiracy theory on Tuesday.
On Sunday, Kardashian West wore a vintage gown from Thierry Mugler's Spring/Summer '98 collection to the 5th Annual Hollywood Beauty Awards. And, as is often the case with Kardashian West's outfits, it did not take long for knock-offs to appear on fast-fashion brands' websites.
On Monday, Fashion Nova launched advertising for a very similar dress, under the name "Winning Beauty Cut Out Gown."
However, according to @DietPrada — an Instagram dedicated to calling out fashion references and knock offs — a model posted a photo of herself wearing the dress even before Fashion Nova announced the dress's launch. The photo posted by Fashion Nova model Yodit Yemane appears to show her wearing the gown in a file labeled "Kim Dress" with the date 02-14-19 — days before Kardashian West was spotted in the original vintage gown.
"This begs the question: Did Fashion Nova whip up the dress overnight in their Los Angeles atelier after seeing Kim in it or is she peddling her vintage finds to mass retailers ahead of debuting them for a calculated, timely release?" @DietPrada posted.
On Tuesday, Kardashian West took to Twitter to shoot down the theory that she may have told Fashion Nova about her plans to wear the dress prior to her public debut on Sunday evening.
"Only two days ago, I was privileged enough to wear a one-of-a-kind vintage Mugler dress and in less than 24 hours it was knocked off and thrown up on a site - but it's not for sale," Kardashian West tweeted. "You have to sign up for a waitlist because the dress hasn’t even been made to sell yet."
"This is a way to get people to sign up for their mailing list and make people believe there is some kind of relationship between me and this fashion site. There is not," Kardashian West continued in a follow-up tweet.
In a final tweet, Kardashian West said: "So, as always, don’t believe everything you read and see online. I don’t have any relationships with these sites. I’m not leaking my looks to anyone, and I don’t support what these companies are doing."
So, as always, don’t believe everything you read and see online. I don’t have any relationships with these sites. I’m not leaking my looks to anyone, and I don’t support what these companies are doing.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) February 19, 2019
Fashion Nova also denied working directly with Kardashian West. In a statement to Business Insider, the fashion brand said it "is capable of executing design within hours and believes in fairness in pricing."
"Kim Kardashian-West is one of the top fashion icons in the world that our customers draw inspiration from," a Fashion Nova representative said in a statement. "However, we have not worked with Kim Kardashian-West directly on any of her projects but have been driven by her influential style."
This isn't the first time that Kardashian West has tangled with fast-fashion brands in recent weeks. Earlier in February, she posted a photo of herself in a golden outfit with the caption: "fast fashion brands, can you please wait until I wear this in real life before you knock it off?"
In less than three hours, fast-fashion brand Missguided had posted a now-deleted Instagram photo of a design that appeared to be a direct knockoff of the outfit.
"The devil works hard but Missguided works harder," Missguided captioned the photos.
Fashion does not have the same level of protection as things such as art, literature, and film, Christiane Campbell, a partner at the Duane Morris law firm, previously told Business Insider. This allows fast-fashion brands such as Fashion Nova, Zara, and Forever 21 to quickly churn out similar, less-expensive items.
Fashion Nova releases more than 1,000 new clothing items every week. CEO Richard Saghian told WWD that it takes the company just 48 hours to design and manufacture a product.
