Beautiful shot of Karnaya headdress, worn by Alicia Vigil, shot by Liquid Star Photography/Jaime Lim for AVANT GARDE Magazine, #giveitback
UPDATE – A lot of people shared our outrage at this situation. They told “For the Stars” their feelings in messages across the interwebs and beyond. It got their attention! They finally responded last night in a tweet and today we had a phone conversation. The owner said he would have the pieces ready to hand over to our friend by Monday at 5pm. I sure hope so. Will keep you updated.
Thank you all SOOOOO much for the outpouring! We love you 🙂
I’m going to rant a little about people who exploit artists. Then I’m going to ask for your help on something:
When photographers and magazines use original artwork without crediting the artist, it is not right. Sometimes it’s because they don’t know.
I know that the person who posted this image last night on Instagram (without the hashtag) knows who made that headdress. We’ve had conversations about it. This sucks but it’s not that big of a deal. It happens all the time. The next part IS a big deal.
What REALLY pisses me off is when our work is outright physically stolen. This headdress was sent to For the Stars Fashion House in Los Angeles a year and a half ago, along with several other beautiful pieces that took weeks of work to make. It was sent on consignment for a “big fashion show”. You can read my blog post about it from the time here.
This “fashion house” likes to talk about their celebrity and industry clients. They are the epitome of Hollywood hype and I am embarrassed to have fallen for it. The nice way to say it is that we were not a good fit for each other.
Nothing ever came of our arrangement, the work wasn’t even shown in the fashion show and after 6 months of empty promises I asked for the work back (last March). I have been asking ever since. These pieces (plus 3 others sent earlier) represent thousands of dollars of work, a lot of money for our small studio. We’ve written many letters, made endless phone calls, had friends go in and try to sweet talk them and strong arm them. We’ve gotten nothing but lame excuses and the brush off. To sue them from out of state will cost more than what they owe us (about 4K).
Can you believe they have the gall to use the work in their photo shoots?!
If any of you are moved to tell “For the Stars” to return what they stole, I would appreciate it. Maybe some nudging from our community will make them #dotherightthing…
FOR THE STARS Fashion House
7558 Melrose Ave Los Angeles CA 90046
(323)655-2657
@forthestarsUS twitter
@forthestarsfashionhouse instagram
forthestarsfashionhouse@gmail.com
See the headdress in the magazine here.