KNITS BY CHEL (creative knitting project from Chelyabinsk): 2019

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Gucci, the Thieves of Ideas

Since the novel creative director of GUCCI (mister Alessandro Michele) took the helm, the GUCCI's inclination to unauthorized "borrowing" (of other designers' ideas) is my "evil fate", beyond all manner of doubt...

And I'm not alone. With regular periodicity in the press there are headlines of the such type:

''Two More Designers Have Called out Gucci for Plagiarism''

''TWO SEPARATE DESIGNERS CLAIM GUCCI STOLE THEIR LOGOS FOR ITS CRUISE 2018 COLLECTION''

''Gucci Stole from Black Fashion Icon Dapper Dan For Their 2018 Cruise Collection''

''Black Designer Nicholas Mayfield Accuses Gucci Of Copying His Designs. Is Gucci giving Black people ANOTHER reason to cancel them?''

''Milan Chagoury, who currently designs for Australian label Stay Bold, believes that Gucci copied a logo he made for the White Tiger Tattoo Co.''

''Less than a month after Gucci was accused of ripping off iconic Harlem couturier Dapper Dan, the Italian fashion house has been hit with another plagiarism controversy — this time by two separate designers''

Etc.

("Birds" by me, 1995, published on the Internet since 1998)

(The knit top by GUCCI, 2016th)

("Birds" by me (right), 1995, published on the Internet since 1998)

("Birds" by GUCCI, 2016th)

This precedent is not the only one...

(Knit dress by me, 1996, published on the Internet since 1998)

(Knit dress by me, 1998, published on the Internet since 1998)

(Knit sweater by GUCCI, 2018)

(Sketches by me, 2001, published on the Internet since 2001)

(By GUCCI, 2017)

(Sketches and photos of knitted "Serpents" by me, 1998-2003, published on the Internet no later than in 2003)

(Set by Gucci, 2019)

("Serpents" by Gucci, 2018)

(Knit top by me, 1998, published on the Internet since 1998)

By Gucci, 2016.

Of course, they (the Gucci) do not agree with my accusations. I repeatedly corresponded with Mr. Alessio Vannetti, the GUCCI's WW Communications Director. It was mostly concerning two design ideas "borrowed" from me. Correspondence did not lead to anything. Mr. Vannetti argued to me that Gucci did not steal my ideas, reinforcing his assertion with for instance such arguments: "The creative concept of designing birds and winged animals in a symmetrical way origins from the Indian Madhubani paintings, created in the province of Mithila, India. Throughout the centuries, many designs have been taking inspiration from these prints and have been featured on garments blending with folkloristic elements from both Asia and Europe". (Hm-m-m... Great argument... I.e., in other words, GUCCI steals ideas not from concrete modern designers but from nameless ancient artists! :))

"The creative concept of designing birds " - was about this knit top:

The "simple" Europeans, however, do not completely agree with the arguments of GUCCI and they often write me: "Alexander, it definitely looks like they did some serious ~inspiration borrowing~, the idea seems too similar to have come from anywhere other than yo ur work. What I can't tell you, though, is if it actually counts as theft, or if it is simply an example of art inspiring art. It could be both. (Though, you'd think that at such a prestigious level, they wouldn't need to go rummaging through Pinterest and internet archives for ideas, and then mimic them so closely...) It's little comfort, but yours are far more interesting to look at!"

(Alexander Seraphim's knits, 1995)

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

«Like It's Jacquard»...

This theme emerged in my head in 1994 as a parody of 'traditional' jacquard - i. e. a classic design concept that is over a hundred years old and still going strong, decorating jumpers and dresses with crosses, rhomboid shapes, snowflakes and reindeers galloping mainly from right sweater's shoulder to left.

Very few ideas were brought to life, remaining on the sketches and into my head...

"Hot Heart", 1994

Moscow, 1995...

Alexandra & Alexander Seraphim's knitted aberrations:

https://knitsbychel.blogspot.com/2020/06/haute-couture-from-russia.html

Friday, March 8, 2019

Alexander Seraphim

My photo-biography...

Grandma, grandpa and their daughter Zoya, my aunt, 1929

My great-uncle Alexander, he did not return from fronts of the Second World War...

My uncle Pavel, WWII hero, 1945

My aunt Olga. She studied brilliantly at a school with an in-depth study of the German language. When the war against Germany began, she voluntarily came to the military commissariat and offered her services. She was sent to an intelligence school, and upon completion of training, she was transported by plane to the enemy's rear as part of an amphibious reconnaissance group. The whole group went missing... After the war, my uncle Pavel repeatedly tried to find out Olga's fate, even went to Moscow, to the archive of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR. But he did not find out any addition information about the fate of Olga's intelligence group. The group went missing... The photo was taken at the intelligence school in 1941, Olga sent it to her mother by mail, and when mother received the envelope with the photo, most likely Olga was no longer alive...