Australian News Today

‘Am I tripping?’: Kylie Jenner accused of ‘ripping off’ Aussie label

‘Am I tripping?’: Kylie Jenner accused of ‘ripping off’ Aussie label

An Australian designer has taken aim at Kylie Jenner for what she claims was “ripping off her entire collection” in an explosive series of allegations.

The owner of boutique fashion label Johansen, Jessica Johansen-Bell, shared a video to TikTok accusing Kylie of copying her designs after she noticed what she claimed was an eerie similarity between her products and the latest release from Kylie’s fast-fashion line Khy.

“Um guys am I tripping or did Kylie Jenner just rip off my entire collection?” Ms Johansen-Bell posted to TikTok on March 1.

“I have been dwelling on this for days now.

“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,” the video continued.

At first, Ms Johansen-Bell said she initially thought Kylie was wearing her old designs as she had worked with the reality star in the past and dressed her in the same off-the-shoulder styles.

“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,” she said in the video.

“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.”

The Byron Baes star then displayed a number of side-to-side photos comparing her designs with the latest Khy release – labelled Drop 004 – to the sound of circus music.

The Aussie designer allegedly reached out to the Khy team to raise her concerns and quickly received a reply, which read: “We developed these designs through our team’s hard work and innovation.”

“If you look up the meaning of ‘innovation’ it means ‘new idea’,” Ms Johansen-Bell said in response to the Khy team.

“You guys are an inspiration.”

Fans and critics in the comments argued whether Ms Johansen-Bell had the right to consider the Khy release a direct copy of her designs.

“I legit thought it was Johansen when I first saw it,” one critic said.

“You’re tripping! Johansen’s has extremely generic designs. There are even dupes that have been around for ages,” a Khy supporter added.

“They look nothing alike,” a Khy supporter wrote.

Ms Johansen-Bell told news.com.au she made the difficult decision to go public with her allegations after she felt 10 years of work was at stake.

“I reached out to the Khy team but did not even receive an apology or an acknowledgment. It was really disheartening so I decided to go public to put pressure on their team and rectify the situation,” she said.

“Kylie has worn my styles multiple time and we know she’s aware of the brand.

“She is confusing my customers, they are misled and they think we are doing a collaboration.”

Ms Johansen-Bell said the outpouring of support over the past few days has shown the public is also “sick of seeing this happen to smaller companies”.

“I have never received this many messages of support, when I put that video up I was so nervous I was losing sleep. But my DMs are blowing up with top attorneys from the US saying ‘we will do this for free’ and top actresses saying ‘you have my support’,” she added in a follow-up video to TikTok.

“This has just got to stop. It is not OK. 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.”

It comes after Kylie Jenner launched the clothing line on November 1 with the help of Jens and Emma Grede, the same husband-and-wife duo behind Kim Kardashian’s Skims and Khloe Kardashian’s Good American.

However, the social media mogul’s latest business venture has come with a controversial twist.

Each Khy collection involves a collaboration with a different guest designer from around the world, with the debut collection featuring faux-leather outfits from Berlin-based brand Namilia.

The decision immediately came under fire online with critics labelling the idea as a way for Kylie to “put her name” on other creative’s ideas.

Ms Johansen-Bell’s allegations are only the latest to emerge against Khy after designer Betsy Johnson slammed the former E! star over claims she took her ideas with the Namilia range.

“We emailed Kylie and all her team @products.ltd concept and language and a line sheet 6 MONTHS AGO,” the designer wrote in an Instagram story.

“INTERESTING CONCEPT KYLIE: … INTERESTING.

“Thanks for the co-sign. F**k your support.”

The TV personality has not responded to Johnson’s accusations.

News.com.au reached out to Kylie Jenner and the Khy team and was told they would not comment on Ms Johansen-Bell’s accusations.