Former Miss SA contestant Lethabo Shai allegedly stole the design of the viral pink dress she wore at the Barbie movie premier last week from another designer.
According to the designer, Shai logged onto their social media page, screenshot their signature Kaia dress, and took the picture to her own designer to recreate.
To top it off, when the dress was a hit on social media, she did not tag the original designer on any of her social media pages for credit, and her designer went as far as selling the dress on her own social pages as her own original work.
In a scathing statement by Ghanian fashion designer Edzi of Bloom By Dzi, Shai and her designer La Jaqueta copied her dress design exactly as it is and did not credit her.
“I respect your hustle, however, copying my work and claiming it to be yours is not a great thing to do as a creator and a designer,” she said.
“Copying something exactly from another designer is a little bit sterile and uninventive, and it jeopardizes my work.
“This is not the best thing to do as a designer and creative if we want to grow the Africa fashion industry.”
She added that she put on a lot of effort to create the kaia dress, which was inspired by the magnolia blouse that was part of their summer collection launched in March.
“It’s the fact that she’s claiming it to [be] hers and putting a price on it … I mean, as a designer people bring you other people’s styles to make for them, but to post and put a price on it claiming to be yours, come on now,” Edzi said.
Shai was the talk of the town and hailed as one of the best dressed media personalities at the premier of the movie, which was also attended by other public figures including Faith Nketsi, Khanya Mkangisa and Pamela Mtanga.
Shai said Edzi just wanted to use her name to trend, noting that the dress was not her original idea.
“The dress isn’t her original design. [The] dress was recreated from OddMuseLondon. She retracted her statement on a blog yesterday that I’m no longer involved,” she said.
“I’m going to assume she wanted to use my name to promote her business.”
Shai is former Miss SA contestant 2023. She is also former Miss Mpumalanga runner-up and Miss Mamelodi Sundowns Mpumalanga 2018.
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