You may remember the H&M x Balmain collection that launched last year? Well, Bidisha was at Lakme India Fashion Week recently (and last year) and has the chance to see some of the shows. It was all gorgeous of course but there was something even more interesting to see. The close similarities between Sabyasachi’s collection and the H&M x Balmain collection. The three of us have exchanged a lot of Watsapp messages about this so lets discuss!
This is the dress that caught Bidisha’s attention.
Compare it against this dress from the Balmain x H&M collection.
Then this feathered / fur jacket against the maroon and green jackets form the H&M x Balmain collection.
The dress of the extreme left was the one that caught my attention…
…especially compared to this one.
My opinion is that I definitely see a similarity but not think this is necessarily copied. If you see one Sabya piece against the similar piece in the H&M collection – its similar but not really the same. The design on the dress is different even thought the concept is the same. What I find a little problematic is the number of pieces I saw that reminded me of the H&M x Balmain collection. Any lay person would not have spotted the similarity – I only did so because I did an extensive post on the H&M x Balmain collection and therefore remembered the pieces. Bidisha is hardly a fashion lay person so no wonder she spotted it.
However, at the same time I want to acknowledge and remind readers of my limitations. These are the pictures I culled out from the Instagram account for Sabyasachi. He doesn’t have a website with his collections online. Which I can only presume is ironically to prevent his designs from being copied. So I haven’t seen the clothes in person nor have I seen the best pictures of the clothes. I have also not seen the Balmain collection in person. All I can say if I am sure the equality in Sabya’s collection is superior to anything manufactured under the H&M name. Therefore, I don’t want to conclude and say anything definite but want you to make up your own mind.
So what do you think? Am I being paranoid or am I right on track? Would you see this as a copy? And if you want to check out our Instagram have a look and give us a follow! Don’t forget to check out our Instagram stories!
– Anisha
I feel like nowadays it’s really hard to create something original, something that has never been done before (especially in fashion). Trends keep coming back, they just get a makeover once in a while 🙂 I think every designer is inspired by something/someone to create their pieces. This is just a very obvious inspiration (or is it just plain copying?). Great article, XO
https://vogue-ish.com/
Hey! I agree – there is so much out there it is almost impossible to keep things completely new. Trends just come and go in the cycle (I just pulled out a suede dress from a hundred years ago!). I think if we are really particular you will find something copied in everything! Thanks for reading!
I think there is a fine line between inspiration and copying nowadays. What one sees as inspiration, others see as copying. The 2 lines do look very similar!! A bit too similar in fact.. But well it gives us something to talk about right 😀
Definitely! My husband doesn’t think its similar at all while I think it is. I am actually quite curious to see the other pieces in his collection – thats the only way you can make a real judgement. But yeah – definitely interesting to talk about it!