Designer Ash Forde Claims La La Anthony Copied Her Cut-Out Dress PLT Collab

Say it ain’t so…

Source: Jesse Grant / Getty

A young Black female clothing designer is extremely disappointed in La La Anthony and is alleging that the star had her stylist reach out to her to receive one of her dresses to merely mirror the item for her profit.

Ash Forde, the small business owner of MaisonAshforde blasted La La and her stylist Jeremy “No IG Jeremy” Haynes on IG last night, sharing some “receipts” to back up her claim. Ash started by expressing how upset she felt that another Black woman would seemingly mimic her work.

I can’t express the amount of disbelief I’m experiencing right now. For another black woman to mirror the designs of another black woman, pure hurt. We’ve seen this narrative so many times from different cultures, but girl — OURS?

Ash continued, sharing why she drew the conclusion that La La allegedly copied her and it boils down to Ash literally handing the original dress over to her stylist Jeremy in good faith so the actress would wear it.

Before I launched Lala’s stylist @therealnoigjeremy reached out to pull from my first collection for @maisonashforde. We met in NYC where I personally delivered the dress with excitement. MY DESIGNS, NO TEAM, NO SUPPORT, MY FUNDING, AND FOR FREE. Only to find out that the design of my dress would be duplicated by a larger fast fashion brand for La La collab with @prettylittlething prettylittlething and it’s sad because we’ve seen this happen with small black businesses too many times.

We know that La La had to approve these designs. The level of respect is at an all time low. Being an influencer and new designer, I’ve never counted out small businesses. My rates are fair. I always give recognition and ALL OF MY DESIGNS are original. Just thought I’d share my story so it puts a dent into the cycle stopping in this industry.

Support poured in for Ash in the comments of her post, commending her for putting the situation on blast. However, a few folks in comments believe that the cut-out concept is too common for the woman to be drawing conclusions of copying.

“‘I’ve honestly seen this same design on shein and fashion nova,” one skeptic commented.

Another pointed out, “it’s just a cutout dress. I’ve seen plenty.”

Yiiikes! Do YOU believe La La intentionally copied this woman’s design? So far she’s yet to respond but Jeremy Haynes has released a statement and “receipts” his own. According to Haynes he stands on his integrity and he wat not involved in the PLT creative proceess.

“Anyone who knows me knows that I am one who stands on integrity and honesty,” wrote the stylist. “More importantly I have always and will continue to support Black business.”

He also shared a copy of text message between him and Ash Forde noting that LaLa’s designs for PrettyLittleThing were completed prior to the actress ever seeing the designer’s dress.