Appropriation in fashion is - unfortunately - very common, but at times it is accompanied also by geographical ignorance as proved by a recent case involving Tory Burch and a Portuguese sweater.
A few weeks ago a woman contacted Ricardo Silva, president of the Junta in Póvoa de Varzim, a coastal resort half an hour north of Porto, to point out the similarities between a sweater from Tory Burch's S/S 21 collection and their traditional embroidered camisola poveira.
Originally made 150 years ago, the camisola poveira is a sweater made of thick white wool from the Serra da Estrela area, decorated with black and red cross stitched motifs. Traditional embroideries included assorted naval symbols such as boats, anchors and oars, and coats of arms like the Portuguese national shield.
Besides, the sweaters featured rune-like symbols that were also painted on boats (in the same way the "guernsey" sweaters incorporated patterns that varied from village to village and from family to family and that allowed to identify the fisherman in case of shipwreck and death).
Knitted in a nearby town, the sweaters were embroidered by retired fishermen from Póvoa de Varzim who told their stories in stitches; mothers, wives and brides of fishermen then continued embroidering the sweaters throughout the decades.
Protecting fishermen from the cold, but also employed in festive occasions, the camisola went out of fashion after the tragic shipwreck of February 27, 1892, which killed more than a hundred fishermen. Putting away their white sweaters, fishermen opted for mourning black.
The camisola was rediscovered and relaunched by ethnologist and journalist António dos Santos Graça who, in 1936, also founded the group Rancho Folclórico Poveiro, that allowed the camisola to find a new life as a folk costume. The style became popular again also thanks to the romantic docufilm "Ala-Arriba!" (1942) by Leitão de Barros.
Included in several ethnographic museums in Portugal, the camisola was also featured on stamps about regional costumes in 2007.
As the decade passed, artisans added more symbols to the embroidered elements available and, in 2006, designer Nuno Gama used motifs from the camisola poveira in his collection, made in collaboration with local embroiderers.
Tory Burch's sweater, on sale for around 700 euros, looks identical to the camisola, from the white coarse wool to the embroidered motifs, including crabs and the coat of arms of the Portuguese monarchy.
So Ricardo Silva, who has been promoting the local culture and the artisanal traditions for quite a few years, decided to write Burch. At first he didn't get any answer, even though the description of the sweater defined as "Baja inspired" (Baja California is in Mexico) and showing ome geographical and cultural confusion, was changed into "Sweater Tunic".
Eventually the brand acknowledged the error in a post on its official Twitter and Facebook accounts that stated, "We sincerely apologize to the people of Portugal - it was brought to our attention that we mis-attributed a Spring 2021 sweater as Baja-inspired. It was a misstep that we did not reference the beautiful, traditional fisherman's sweaters as represented by the city of Póvoa de Varzim. We are correcting this error immediately and will note and honor that this sweater was inspired by Portuguese traditions. We want to further acknowledge this important tradition and are working with the municipality of Póvoa de Varzim on how best we can support local artisans. Tory Burch stands for inclusivity and celebrating diverse cultures, and we will strive to do better in the future. Please take a moment to visit www.cm-pvarzim.pt. "
The Mayor of Póvoa de Varzim confirmed he was contacted by representative of the company Tory Burch who, on behalf of the brand, acknowledged the seriousness of the episode and the damage caused to the local community by this act of cultural appropriation and apologised.
Yet an apology doesn't seem to be enough as Aires Pereira, chairman of the Municipal Chamber of Póvoa de Varzim, demands the recognition of intellectual property.
The Municipality of Póvoa de Varzim has indeed stated on its site with a document entitled "Camisola poveira é nossa!" (The Camisola poveira is ours!) that a fair reparation to the local community and the local artisans who have elevated this garment using time-honoured and handcrafted techniques, is due. The Municipality of Póvoa de Varzim therefore first asked the Tory Burch company to establish direct contact with the artisans of Póvoa de Varzim to promote joint initiatives in the future, sharing good practices and building an institutional relationship between the municipality and the company.
The Municipality also asked that a new model or version of the sweater or any other item or piece of clothing with symbols, references or inspirations in the local culture which the company Tory Burch intends to sell in the future, to be made in Portugal, by local artisans based in Póvoa de Varzim.
Among other requests there is also the financing of a handicraft training center dedicated to the professional manufacture of the camisola poveira and the continuation of the disclosure of origin, historical importance, cultural contextualization and direct link to the hyperlink on the CMPV website in the description of the sweater by Tory Burch marketed with the reference of camisola poveira.
In case such requests will not be met and an agreement will not be reached, the Municipality stated it will proceed with a legal action.
But while we wait for updates, there may be new worries for Tory Burch as Portuguese ceramic manufacturer Bordallo Pinheiro also accused Burch of copying some of its trademark pieces like their signature lettuce crockery sets.
Comments of Portuguese Facebook users on the Tory Burch pages showing the interior design pieces aren't very positive and go from "This is really embarassing, you should be ashamed for copy paste work" to "The Portuguese Mr Bordallo Pinheiro must be turning around in his grave with such theft of intellectual propriety and plagiarism. I don't know where you've studied or how long you've been in the field but by this time you should be aware that this is an issue to that any creative professional should respect!! Did you at least pay for the rights to reapropreate and modify his creations?"
Maybe Tory Burch really likes Portugal, but you just wish the company would be more respectful. It seems indeed that fashion designers often borrow and copy designs from other countries thinking they may have the right to do so, as if nobody would notice or as if the heritage of another country was just there to be exploited and turned into profit for somebody else. In the case of the camisola the confusion with Baja in Mexico also proved that, quite often, we describe something that looks "traditional" to us in a careless way, without even bothering to check if what we are saying is correct.
It will be interesting to see what the brand will do regarding the requests of the Póvoa de Varzim Municipality. Until then let's just hope that the Fair Island sweaters by Tory Burch do integrate patterns in public domain rather than exclusive arrangements of patterns by other designers, otherwise the fashion company will have to deal with several copyright infringement cases this year.
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