Gucci's Alessandro Michele Responds to Plagiarism Charges

Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele has responded to claims that the label's new alien-inspired video series is plagiarised from the work of a Central Saint Martins BA student.

image: Billiga Festklanningar Sverige
The videos, shot by Glen Luchford during a casting session for Gucci's Autumn/Winter 2017 campaign, were released on Thursday via Instagram and show models styled to look like aliens. But the label was quickly accused of plagiarism by student Pierre-Louis Auvray, who wrote on his own Instagram feed: "Young creatives struggle enough without big companies shamelessly stealing from them."

Auvray's supporters flooded the comments beneath Gucci's posts, and fellow Central Saint Martins students also showed their support via the @bafcsm Instagram feed, which is managed by students at the famed fashion school.

Speaking exclusively to BoF yesterday, Michele refuted the accusations of plagiarism. "It's not true," he said, explaining that he only came across Auvray's work for the first time this weekend when the allegations surfaced. "It's something that makes me feel really sad. People build a story around nothing."

Michele added that he would be open to speaking personally with Auvray to straighten out any confusion. "I’m so sad, because I think it’s not a good idea for a teacher at a school like this to push a young guy to destroy, in a way, his creativity," he said. "Creativity [is] not about the fame. I mean, it could be possible that you are thinking something that is in the mind of someone else. The idea that I’m 45 doesn’t mean that I have no creativity. I’m like a student, it’s the same, it’s not a war!"
See More: Brudmode.se