Brooklyn magazine this week published a profile on 24-year-old Leah Kirsch based on her apparel line Millionieress , an apparel line she started reflective of her modern take on feminism. As described on the brand’s Instagram account, “Millionieress is streetwear created to empower girls to be independent and unapologetically themselves.”
After coming under fire for the profile, today the magazine issued an editor’s note that now sits atop the article and reads as follows:
“Editor’s note: We see and hear the multiple responses to our profile on Millionieress, all of which are valid and demand attention.
“First, to address the issue of brand reprinting without credit or permission: This is not acceptable. Artists’ work is often propagated without credit, leaving them to see no profit or recognition. This is not something that we condone or support, and understand that this is harmful, detrimental, and unacceptable treatment of artists in our community. We were not aware of these claims (outside of Jay Z lyrics) prior to publishing the work, and that is our fault. We are sorry for the oversight.
“The other conversation around this piece is that of cultural appropriation, most specifically that of white feminism. Cultural appropriation might not be approached with the intent to harm, but it does, especially when oppressed people’s cultures are appropriated for the use of profit. We are guilty for publishing a piece that perpetuated this, and apologize. Moving forward, it is our priority to highlight the incredible people of color working, living, and creating in our community. We hear your criticism, we apologize for our mistake, and take ownership of it. Thank you for the conversation, please continue to reach out to us. We know we have much to learn and pledge to do so.”
Kirsch’s line like all female streetwear labels is build on tees and other apparel items brandished with pro-female words and statements, often viewed through the lens of rap music and its vernacular. For instance, there’s a “Sheezus” shirt that riffs off of Kanye West’s Yeezus album and also a Supreme-esque red box logo shirt that reads “Ladies Is Pimps Too.”
It’s all very run of the mill stuff that has been commonly reproduced by just about every retailer and brand catering to a youthful customer. However, when Brooklyn magazine Tweeted the article, Kirsch immediately came under attack for being white and appropriating ideas and language popularized within black culture.
It didn’t help that she resides in Brooklyn and as such was viewed as a symbol of gentrification i.e. the cool, middle class white person pushing out the poor and working class minorities who created the culture she was borrowing from.
Things took a more serious turn when an artist named Foie accused Kirsch of stealing a design idea from her, alleging that the label copied both her wolf-head-on-woman-body graphic and the tag phrase, “Not yours never was.”
@LITERALPORNXXX @brooklynmag left: my design made in 2013
Right: her shitty rip pic.twitter.com/VEwtLTrhgH— Foien (@foie) December 12, 2016
Foie sells the graphic on Society 6 and has also written about thievery of her work on Medium, in an article titled “Not Yours Never Was.” In the article Foie explained she created the graphic in 2013 and discovered it was being copied by Millionieress the following year.
When Foie contacted the company, she received a letter of apology (below) that included an offer to remove all items with the graphic. Foie said she didn’t respond to the letter in part because the company at the time removed the product. However it appears it was added back, as Millionieress’s latest offerings (as shown in image above) include denim jackets hand painted with the phrase “Not Yours Never Was.”
Not only Millionieress liked the graphic, Foie wrote about and showed images of the same graphic as reproduced by Nasty Gal, Dolls Kill and Omweekend, which blocked her and anyone who tried to defend her.
Putting aside blatant theft of a graphic, that Brooklyn magazine chose to acknowledge and act on charges of appropriation is a reflection of just how hot this topic has become and opens up a lot of room for debate on who is allowed to be inspired by and profit from ideas that arise within minority communities. Definitely we have entered into a new era where individuals and companies need to be much more mindful of where they take their ideas from.
We have reached out to both Kirsch and Foie for comment.
