Nigerian designer, Bfyne, has accused Brazilian fashion designer Silvia Ulson of copying her works after Ulson showcased her latest swimwear collection at Miami Swim Week on July 12.
In a statement shared with HuffPost, a rep for Bfyne told of how shocked they were by the striking resemblance of Ulson’s collection to their own 2017 “Sahara” collection, which was inspired by Nigeria’s dashiki culture.
“That was extremely important for us to execute properly. We wanted to bring sexy to dashiki print and change the way the print was being looked at, ultimately transforming it into something no one has ever seen before,” Bfyne’s rep said. Adding, “We live and breathe our culture, and we made it our mission to showcase that through our designs and the dashiki print.”
“It came to us as a complete surprise how another designer is allowed to showcase replicas and claim it as her work during Miami Swim Week,” Bfyne’s rep continuing, noting how they were “completely flabbergasted”, that they Ulson include the accessories to the copies to ”[deceive] people to think the print and design were Native American-inspired.”
When HuffPost reached out to Ulson for comment, the designer did not speak at all.
Bfyne’s rep added that they flew to Miami to meet with Ulson, who claimed the designs were her own original work and did not apologise.
Check out Bfyne’s suits on the left and Ulson’s (which she combined with feathered headdresses) on the right:
