Imitation isn’t always the sincerest form of flattery.
Givenchy’s new creative director Matthew M. Williams debuted his first collection this week and Bronx designer K. Tyson Perez is accusing Williams of ripping off one of his designs: a black leather bucket hat with zipper motif.
“I saw that he posted it [on Instagram], and saw all the comments calling it, ‘Genius. What a brilliant idea.’ And he was responding to people, so I chimed in and said, ‘This looks very familiar. At least you could’ve done a better job in the construction of my design if you weren’t going to give me credit. He didn’t respond, but he’s been looking at my [social media] stories, so he’s aware of what he’s done,” Perez told Page Six.
Perez, who has styled Eva Marcille and Chanel Iman, launched his HardWear Style hat line in 2013. “No one before me was doing this aesthetic. Kanye had one of the HardWear pieces. Kim [Kardashian] had one of the pieces. I’d met with multiple people at Barneys, who were interested in carrying the brand… we’ve been in the stratosphere for years now,” he claims.
The brand has since expanded to include a small capsule collection of clothing like joggers, sweatshirts, jeans and jackets in addition to the signature hats. Flying Solo, which took over Karl Lagerfeld’s Soho space, is also carrying it. “My hats have been pulled for [shows like] ‘Emily In Paris’ and different magazines. It’s not as if I’m some kid doing it in the kitchen of my apartment… As soon as we started to expand, here’s this big brand coming to squash us and take all the energy out of the brand from an idea that’s not their own, but is original to my own,” Perez said.
Williams’ post of his version of the hat has already received likes from Kris Jenner and Theophilus London, who commented: “Need this” with fire emojis. Perez shot back: “Then cop it from the original!”
“I don’t care if Matthew Williams gets a pass from [Black] culture because of his association with Kanye, PlayBoi Carti and Kid Cudi — the mere fact that he is using a design that I’ve developed, perfected and promoted since 2013 is an example of the systemic oppression black & brown creative have been dealing with in the fashion industry since forever,” he told us.
Perez told us he is looking into pursuing legal action, but his ultimate goal is to raise awareness. “It’s not only about me. It’s for all the Black artists who have had this happen to them in the past… It’s not right and it’s not going to be tolerated. It’s not business as usual. You need to give Black creatives their credit, cut them a check for their work. It’s not enough to be invited to a show or a table. I don’t want the homage. Compensate me. The same way everything with them is about commerce. I need a check as well,” he said.
A rep for Givenchy did not return our request for comment.