Brands have been impersonating Kim Kardashian and her family's style for YEARS (have you seen Boohoo and Fashion Nova's websites?) but now Kim's had enough.
Fast-fashion companies have been stealing original designers from "true designers", and the KK Beauty mogul has finally commented on the Instagram-type brand lookalikes.
She wrote a host of tweets addressing the issue, and has officially filed a lawsuit against Missguided for $10 million;
"It’s devastating to see these fashion companies rip off designs that have taken the blood, sweat and tears of true designers who have put their all into their own original ideas."
She addressed the Yeezy controversy, airing out her annoyance that fashion organisations have been blatantly copying her husband Kanye West's designs;
"I’ve watched these companies profit off my husband’s work for years and now that it’s also affecting designers who have been so generous to give me access to their beautiful works, I can no longer sit silent," she said.
She continued, referencing the Thierry Mugler dress she recently wore;
"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. You have to sign up for a waitlist because the dress hasn’t even been made to sell yet."
"My relationships with designers are very important to me. It's taken me over a decade to build them and I have a huge amount of respect for the amount of work that they put into bringing their ideas to life."
"I often plan for weeks, sometimes months, and even a year in advance, and I’m grateful for every fashion moment those designers and their dresses have helped me create," she tweeted.
While Kim didn't actually name any fashion brands, she filed a $10 million lawsuit against Missguided for using her trademarked name and likeness to promote it's product online, according to E! News.
E! News obtained the documents detailing the lawsuit against the UK-based company. In the suit, Kim writes that their actions are a "blatant and willful violation of her statutory and common law rights of publicity."
The document states that "companies have sought out ways to leverage Kim's celebrity status and social media following without seeking her consent," and have purposefully allowed her to be "an unwitting and unwilling spokesperson of their products."
The lawsuit also states that Missguided has used Kim's likeness for their "marketing and sales strategy" without the TV personality's consent.
"Like other 'fast fashion' companies, Missguided, which sells clothing throughout the world on its website (among others), has become notorious for 'knocking off' the clothing worn by celebrities like Kardashian," the suit continues.
"Missguided does not merely replicate the looks of these celebrities as seen on red carpets, in paparazzi photos, and in social media posts. Missguided systematically uses the names and images of Kardashian and other celebrities to advertise and spark interest in its website and clothing."
Missguided issued the following statement to E! News.
"We haven't received any notification of legal action, but in any event any action based on online banter would be meritless," the statement read. "Missguided shoppers know the score- We're about the celeb look, for people without their bucks. For the record, as much as we love her style, we're not working with Kim on anything."
Last February, the reality TV star posed in an unreleased gold dress her husband Kanye West made for her last summer, and wrote on Instagram;
"P.S. fast fashion brands, can you please wait until I wear this in real life before you knock it off," she captioned her post. Fashion Nova created basically the same dress not long afterwards.
"Hey @KimKardashian, We just couldn't help ourselves," they wrote on Instagram. Cheeky bunch they are…
As far as we know, Kim has yet to file a lawsuit against Fashion Nova. Missguided also copied the exact same dress.
They're fairly shameless, we have to admit. Time will tell if the Kardashian manages to quench the copycats.
Feature image: @kimkardashian/Instagram
