South African Designer Under Fire For Plagiarism

Gavin Rajah

South African fashion designer Gavin Rajah is yet again under fire for allegedly stealing Asian-American designer Chelsea Liu’s designs.
According to Newsful, Rajah used Lui’s photographs and clothing designs for a feature article which was published in a magazine based in Qatar, Harayer Magazine.
Liu also published two posts on her Facebook page, accusing Rajah of copying her designs. In the first posts she states: “Oh my god. What a shame ! South Africa designer Gavin Rajah stole my pictures and my designs for his interview. I don't know why this magazine doesn't check their sources ! Feel free to sue me. I m ready to play. You are ready to play. Let s play.”



In a second post published yesterday Liu said: "This is really too far !!! South Africa designer Gavin Rajah privately threatened my family by saying his lawyers would try to take away my US green card !so complaining about Gavin Rajah stealing my designs means i am a cyberbully? This is what Gavin does when you cross him.He tried to break up your family! what exactly will the lawyers say ? " Chelsea is bullying Gavin ! cancel her green card and kick her out of the US!! "

This statement was made after Rajah allegedly sent a ‘courtesy email’ to Liu’s husband, informing him of the legal action he would take.
The email reads: "Hi Marc, I am writing this email only as a courtesy. In fact I write this out of respect for you. Should Chelsea not remove all her malicious posts on Facebook we intend sending an urgent application to the US Citizenship & Immigration Service via the US Consulate by our attorney today in SA illustrating our intent to pursue damages and a charge of cyber bullying. The implications for green card holders and individuals not naturalised in the US are dire, given this behaviour, I am sure you are aware of. She has until 14h00 SA time to remove this. There are other legal methods of recourse and or forms of discussion but as usual Chelsea would prefer her irrational behaviour."


According to Woman Online, Liu worked with Rajah in 2015 for an exclusive bridal line that dropped here in SA.
This is not the first time that Rajah is accused of plagiarism. In 2013, he was involved in the "pebble dress" controversy which was reported to be remarkably similar to South African couture designer Paul van Zyl’s fabric.
In 2014, Rajah was accused of copying Lebanese designer, Zuhair Murad’s, design.
In 2015, he was accused of showcasing an exact copy of UK designer Han Chong’s dress at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
At the beginning of this year, he was also at the centre of controversy following a tweet by socialite Morgan Deane who thought that her dress was originally made by Gavin Rajah when in fact it belonged to Three Floor Fashion. The fashion house also commented that Rajah was not even an authorized stockist.