It’s the most wonderful time of the year, EUROVISION SEASON!
Unfortunately, Iceland’s National Broadcaster, RÚV, is in some hot water after dressing the hostess for the Icelandic Eurovision Finals in a jumpsuit that looks suspiciously similar to one made by Balmain (pictured above).
Vísir reports that several prominent figures in the design community have called RÚV out for the jumpsuit after the seamstress for the show claimed no one had designed the jumpsuit and that she’d only been “inspired” by Balmain.
“I think it’s sad that a state-run institution like RÚV need to work in this way and steal other people’s designs,” said Halla Helgadóttir, Managing Director of the Iceland Design Centre. “Instead of just working with a great Icelandic designer, we have loads of them. To steal is always bad and RÚV clearly doesn’t respect design work or the creative process. To work in this way when you could instead be supporting Icelandic designers and Icelandic culture.”
Halla then added that she suspected that RÚV simply underestimated how closely people pay attention to clothes and probably assumed no one would notice.
In response to the controversy, RÚV seamstress Elma Bjarney Guðmundsdóttir confirmed that she made the jumpsuit for hostess Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir but that she was only inspired by Balmain.
“None of us, neither me or Ragnhildur designed this outfit. We knew that it looked similar [to the Balmain jumpsuit], but it is made from a different fabric and the belt looks a little different though it is similar. The cape is a bit different. None of us have claimed to be the designers of this garment.”
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