Senegalese luxury fashion brand, Tongoro has accused creative director, Olivier Rousteing’s Balmain of stealing their face jewellery designs during Paris Fashion Week on Saturday, 20 January.
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TONGORO ACCUSES BALMAIN OF STEELING JEWELLERY DESIGNS
After seeing the visible similarities between the Balmain face jewels and the “Cairo” face piece, Tongoro founder, Sarah Diouf took to social media to express her disappointment. She also shared how frustrating it is when “Western brands claim African creativity” without any recognition.
“The visible similarity of the piece presented by @olivier_rousteing for his Balmain FW24 Men’s collection to ours, is a challenging and painful event”, Sarah notes.
The fashion designer also questioned when bigger brands will stop being “inspired” and instead actually give credit to smaller scaled African luxury brands.
Saraf Diouf continued: “…questioning yet again the actual regards Western brands claim to have towards African creativity while openly saying being « inspired » by it… How long?”.
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PAYING HOMAGE TO AFRICAN COMMUNITIES
Apart from voicing out her disappointment and pain, Sarah also shared the significance of her brand, Tongoro as well as sharing the inspiration behind her iconic face jewellery that has been previously worn by the likes of Naomi Campbell, Alicia Keys and Beyoncé.
“In May 2019, we were introducing our jewellery line, featuring the ‘Cairo’ face jewellery piece. Inspired by the Woodabe tribe men’s makeup, the face piece was first presented in our « Tongoro Tribe » collection runway show in Dakar, paying homage to African nomadic communities”, the Tongoro fashion designer explained.
“Straight off the runway, we’ve adorned model Naomi Campbell and singer Alicia Keys with it”, she added.
Sarah continues: “The piece quickly became a hit and a staple of Tongoro’s line when fiercely styled by Zerina Akers on #Beyoncé for the Lion King’s « Spirit » video, which became one of the many memorable cultural moments we’ve managed to create with the brand”.
Balmain is yet to comment on their allegations.
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