Global icon Kylie Jenner is being accused of committing a fashion felony.
Australian designer Jessica Johansen-Bell, the owner of a boutique fashion label, said she noticed that the designs from the latest release of Kylie’s fast-fashion label Khy are uncannily similar to her own designs.
Jessica shared a TikTok video with her 14.1k followers on the social media platform and accused Kylie of being a copycat. After mentioning that her brand has worked with Kylie in the past, Jessica explained that Khy’s designs were a rip-off of some of the dresses made and released by her brand, Johansen, about three or four years ago.
“Um, guys, am I tripping, or did Kylie Jenner just rip off my entire collection?” Jessica was quoted saying in a video posted on March 1.
“I have been dwelling on this for days now,” she added.
Australian designer Jessica Johansen-Bell has accused Kylie Jenner’s brand of ripping off designs from her brand Johansen
Image credits: kyliejenner
“My name is Jess. I own the brand Johansen, and I’ve had Johansen for like 10 years now. We launched a collection so similar to the collection (Kylie) launched, but we launched ours three or four years ago, and it’s been our signature range ever since,” she continued.
Jessica, who is no newbie to the sartorial world, is a well-established fashion designer and also a cast member of the Byron Baes Netflix series. She mentioned that she previously dressed Kylie in some of her off-the-shoulder styles.
Initially, when social media users started drawing parallels between her designs and the reality star’s clothing, she thought they were simply re-sharing “old stuff” from when her brand previously styled Kylie.
Jessica revealed that her brand has styled Kylie Jenner in the past
Image credits: kyliejenner
“I’ve been getting like so many DMs from customers, friends, and family, just being like, ‘Is this your dress? Oh my god, you collaborated with Kylie. Congratulations!’ and all of these messages,” Jessica said.
“We have dressed Kylie before, so I just thought it was old stuff. Eventually, after getting so many DMs, I started looking into it and took a dive, and I was so shocked. Look at this,” she went on to say.
Jessica then went on to compare her brand’s designs with those of Khy’s and allowed viewers to judge the resemblance.
The fashion designer compared products from Khy’s latest release to her own designs in a TikTok video she shared
Image credits: khy
The Australian designer eventually reached out to Khy’s team and shared her concerns about the swindling of designs. But the response she received was of no help.
“We developed these designs through our team’s hard work and innovation,” Jessica quoted the team’s response.
“If you look up the meaning of ‘innovation,’ it means ‘new idea,’” she added.
“You guys are an inspiration,” she said as she ended her video.
Jessica reached out to Khy’s team, who replied by saying the designs are an outcome of their team’s “hard work and innovation”
Image credits: jessicajohansenbell
Plenty of people rushed to Jessica’s support, with American television host Kamie Crawford commenting: “Wait bc when she posted it I immediately thought it was Johansen.”
“As soon as I saw her “designs” I immediately thought of your brand,” another comment agreed, to which Jessica replied, “I have received probably 2000 messages like this.”
“Hire a lawyer asap,” one TikToker said, while another added, “I wasn’t prepared for how identical they are.”
The controversy spilled over to the social media pages of Kylie and Khy as well. Several people accused the designs of being stolen and pointed out that the designs allegedly belong to Johansen.
Several people online have thrown their support behind the Johansen fashion label after Jessica’s recent video
Image credits: jessicajohansenbell
“Johansen Clothing is the original designer of this concept. Kylie and her team just stole the whole concept,” read one comment on a post shared by both Kylie and Khy.
“Looks stolen to meeeee,” one said on Kylie’s post.
Another added, “She’s over here acting like she’s invented a whole new style.”
Watch Jessica share her side of the fashion feud below
@jessicajohansenbellInnovation station♬ Circus Music – The Hit Crew Kids
Days after posting her first video, Jessica shared an update and assured her audience that she would keep them updated on how the fashion feud unravels.
“Hey guys, I wanted to keep this video short and sweet. But everyone wants an update. Unfortunately, I don’t have one just yet, but I will 100% keep you guys in the loop,” she said.
The fashion designer noted that she was trying to get Kylie’s legal team to correct the situation. She also advocated against big companies like these manipulating smaller enterprises like her own.
“Right now, I’m trying to put pressure on Kylie’s team to reach out to me and rectify the situation. I find this whole situation so morally corrupt and so typical of these big companies to take concepts of smaller companies, monetize it, and sell it for a fraction of the price. It has got to stop. It is not okay. People like myself put their blood, sweat, and tears into creating a brand, a concept. And to have it just kind of taken away from you is so disheartening and unfair,” she said.
Jessica then went on to talk about her own brand and the effort she has poured into nourishing it.
“I put 10 years into this business, and I have this great audience in front of me right now that’s supporting me. So I wanted to do a little trial called ‘show you my pieces,’” she said.
Jessica argued that it’s unjust for large companies to appropriate ideas from smaller ones and then profit from them
Image credits: johansenofficial
As she introduced her brand to her viewers, Jessica asserted that her brand is not fast-fashion and that Johansen “doesn’t order hundreds of thousands of units.”
“Johansen is such a quality brand. It’s not just going to last one wash,” she said. “These fast-fashion [garments], they last one wash, and then they’re ruined. You spill coffee on them and they’re ruined. My fabrics are good quality fabrics, and therefore, they last forever. I have customers from 10 years ago when I first started, and I have my original pieces.”
After speaking to her team, Jessica said she’s come up with an offer of selling her products at lower prices in the hope of encouraging more people to find dresses from Johansen instead.
When Jessica shared an update, she revealed that her brand is not into fast fashion
Image credits: johansenofficial
She then went on to show her audience the many dresses that are part of her current collection.
“Use code THANKYOU30 I appreciate you all so much xx Go to johansenofficial.com,” she wrote in the caption.
Netizens commented on her video and assured her that they would be heading to her brand’s website and adding dresses to their cart soon.
“Get a lawyer,” many told Jessica as they accused Kylie Jenner of being a copycat
