Slavik is in fashion in any weather: how the Vetements brand copies the images of a homeless man from Lviv

The French brand Vetements was suspected of stealing images of the Lviv homeless Slavik. He gained his fame as a street fashionista when in 2011-2013 he was photographed by photographer Yuri Dyachishin. He also published comparisons of outfits from the VTMNTS 2022 lookbook and images of his model without a specific place of residence.

Photographer Yuri Dyachishin accused the fashion brand Vetements of plagiarism. The company allegedly copied the images of a homeless man from Lviv named Slavik.

"Fashion Slavik" is a series of photos by Yuri Dyachishin, which demonstrates an unusual collection of street fashion by the eccentric Slavik — the most fashionable homeless man in the world. The author took more than 100 portraits — they were taken during random meetings on the streets of Lviv in 2011-2013.

Yuri Dyachishin says that in 2013, Slavik disappeared. Now nothing is known about his fate.

The French brand Vetements, which presented the VTMNTS 2022 lookbook last week, obviously used Slavik's images in its men's clothing collection.

The founder of the brand previously admitted that during the creation of the first men's collection, he was inspired by the images of Slavik. However, the photographer sees this as blatant plagiarism. The fashion connoisseur believes that the homeless man influenced the work of many fashion designers, but they do not admit it.

Now the designer does not mention the name of this homeless man in any way, as well as the photographer who discovered him to the world. However, judging by the pictures posted by Yuri for comparison on Instagram, some of the images of the fashion brand really almost one-on-one repeat those created by the stylish Slavik.