BIGGEST BUZZ: Top Designers Caught In 'Cobweb' Of Controversy

CEBU, Philippines - The past week saw Philippine fashion insiders, who were divided into “Team Arcy” and “Team Rajo”, engaged in an online slugfest over speculations of plagiarism from the former, and a backlash of “crab mentality” from the latter.

Renowned Cebuana fashion designer Arcy Gayatin was caught in the fray of a controversy that began when “Designer to the Stars” Rajo Laurel made it to the February 9 cover of international fashion bible “Women’s Wear Daily” (WWD). The cover featured Laurel’s “cobweb” body-con dress which was part of a Fall 2010 collection dubbed in his blog as “Cobweb.”

After news broke of Laurel’s work landing on the prestigious glossy, Gayatin posted on her Facebook account a collection of photos and old newspaper clippings, which she titled “my 6-year-old cobweb collection.” Immediately, fellow fashion designers posted praise for her previous design, followed by numerous remarks that insinuated plagiarism.

Gayatin’s Facebook wall used to be available for public viewing, with a national daily’s Lifestyle article publishing excerpts of the exchange (“That should be on the cover of WWD with your name on it!”, “I want one for myself Arcy...then I can wear it in front of the copy cats!”) between Gayatin and her designer friends. As of this writing, it has already been made private.

Laurel’s supporters were quick to defend the Manila-based designer.

“I can understand the frustration of Gayatin when a supposed derivative of her style is given more recognition,” one blogger said.

Rhett Eala, in the same national daily interview, said: “It’s crab mentality. I don’t think Arcy would’ve been able to put it on WWD, and Rajo did. Six years ago, Gayatin’s collection wasn’t picked up by WWD.”

Eala is the original designer of the shirt with the Philippine islands logo, which has been quickly copied by other brands.

Two days after Gayatin’s post, Laurel issued a denial of the allegations through his blog, where he wrote: “For those who are not familiar with the ‘cobweb’ or, to be technical about it, ‘shredding’ technique, this has been in existence for as long as creators of fashion have been playing, experimenting and manipulating fabric. I remember this technique being used back in the ‘80s, when deconstruction was all the rage.”

To further emphasize his point, he also posted photos and links showing the technique used by designers, adding, “I hope and pray that the members of our Philippine fashion industry would just all get along. We should concentrate on supporting each other and being happy for each others’ success.”

Sought for an interview, Gayatin replied through a text message to The Freeman: “I’m sorry but I really don’t want to talk about it anymore. It has become so controversial and it’s scaring me.”

Earlier, Gayatin sent her statement to spot.ph:

“First of all, let me point out that I was not even aware of Rajo’s cobweb dress until my designer friends (both from Cebu and Manila) pointed it out to me. It was they who insinuated that the cobweb dress was a copy of a collection I presented back in May of 2003. To them, Rajo’s cobweb dress called to mind my previous collection. It would have been one thing had I been the one making these claims, it’s quite another to have a jury of your peers stand up for you and by you. The latter has to count for something. And I wouldn’t label it crab mentality because those who have been empathizing with me have nothing to gain from this.”

“Secondly, please allow me to explain how my cobweb collection came to be. My inspiration was really quite literal—a photo of a cobweb from House and Garden magazine. I found the image beautiful and thought about translating it to clothing. I just used the shredding (I call it degraining) technique as an accent then. I started using it as a cobweb- like pattern on a black top. I then discovered that I could use the same technique on an entire garment, essentially using the degrained material as a fabric and not just an accent on a dress.”

“Mr. Laurel makes the claim that this is a technique that other designers have employed back in the ‘80s. I cannot dispute that claim, so I can only offer my personal experience. As you can gather from the story above, the concept behind my degrained pieces was very organic. I swear to God that, in my case, my source of inspiration was not other designers but an image that simply struck me. This speaks about my design process as a whole. As someone who just discovered the internet barely a month ago, I have never been an avid follower of trends and it is not my style to design based on other existing designs. I take inspiration from things other than fashion. It would be arrogant to think of myself as completely independent of influence and purely original, but what I do know and am certain of is that, as a designer, I’m very much an individual.”

In a February 16 survey at spot.ph titled “Rajo Laurel-Arcy Gayatin Cobweb Issue: Imitation or Inspiration?”, fashion insiders weighed in on the issue on “what constitutes imitation versus mere inspiration”.

Fashion designer Vittorio Barba quipped: “If you follow the very first step in the process of making a garment down to the end result, i.e., from the fabric, technique, down to the overall effect, then that’s copying. If, for example, I make a white t-shirt, that’s not copying because the white t-shirt is everywhere. But if I use the same fabric of a particular shirt, say jersey, then I apply the same technique, say shredding, then come up with the same effect, say a cobweb, then that’s copying.”

“When you cannot tell the difference between two garments, then one of them has been copied. To avoid inadvertent imitation, use your imagination. I’m afraid though that that kind of designing cannot keep pace with the consumer’s demand for fashion today. Today, women dress to express their personal style and most designers begin the design process with a mood board—which is a collage of inspirations from different sources. When you design using this process, you are simply doing a re-mix, not creating something original,” said Pauline Suaco-Juan, editor-in-chief of Preview magazine and Stylebible.ph.

Lulu Tan Gan, past FDCP president and veteran knitwear designer, said that it wasn’t the first time that a known, “irked” designer has accused another known designer of copying. “The difference is that it is all over Facebook. Success stories like that of Arcy Gayatin, who is recognized to be original through material manipulation, and Rajo Laurel, whose strength is in marketing and sales, never mind if it is clothes or cake fashion, and Rhett Eala, a conceptual designer who sets a major trend every decade and who must now be hurting as bigger brands have hijacked his Philippine islands logo—where do we go from here?”

Will the issue prod our Filipino designers (who have proven many times that they have what it takes to make it to the global fashion scene) rethink their design process, reassess their attitude towards a similar design by another designer, or put (widen?) a gap between the Manila fashion circle and Cebu’s own?