Romania accuses Louis Vuitton of copying the blouse

A dispute broke out over the blouse between the French luxury brand Louis Vuitton and Romania. The garment, designed by designer Nicolas Ghesquière, closely resembles the traditional “A” blouse. The La Blouse Roumaine collective, dedicated to the elaborately embroidered Roman blouse, complains about this. Two years ago, the Roman dress became part of UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. The blouse has now disappeared from the Louis Vuitton online store.

“We must protect our intangible cultural heritage. It is our cultural right to express our identity through these clothes, through these traditional costumes,” Andrea Diana Tanasescu, founder of La Blouse Roumaine, told the AP. “They are part of Romanian history. “

The group accused Louis Vuitton of “cultural appropriation” and called on it to remove the blouse from the collection and immediately request permission to use the pattern.

Even politicians are now involved. Romanian Culture Minister Raluca Turcan has announced that she will ask the luxury fashion house to acknowledge that the traditional Romanian blouse served as a direct inspiration. “We will ask Louis Vuitton to acknowledge the heritage and cultural value of the traditional tied blouse model,” she wrote. Facebook.

A fashion house has already been accused of using Roman styles. In 2017, La Blouse Roumaine rebuked American designer Tory Burch over similarities between a traditional Roman-style coat and a piece from her collection that it promoted as “African-inspired”. Burch later changed the description of the garment, explaining that she had missed “a reference to a beautiful Roman coat” that served as inspiration.