Versace is suing Fashion Nova, alleging that it copied its iconic green dress worn by Jennifer Lopez
- Versace is suing Fashion Nova alleging copyright infringement.
- The Italian luxury house accused Fashion Nova in a lawsuit filed Tuesday of "brazenly" copying several of its most iconic prints and designs, including its "jungle print" green dress worn by Jennifer Lopez.
- A spokesperson for Fashion Nova declined to comment on the allegations.
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Versace is going after Fashion Nova.
The Italian luxury brand filed a lawsuit against the fast-fashion store alleging copyright infringement on Monday, accusing it of "brazenly" copying several of its most iconic prints and designs.
These designs included its green "jungle print" dress that was famously worn by Jennifer Lopez to the 2000 Grammy Awards. Lopez donned the dress again this September at a Versace fashion show to celebrate 20 years since its first appearance, sending social media into a meltdown.
"Fashion Nova's infringing apparel is plainly a deliberate effort to exploit the popularity and renown of Versace's signature designs, and to trade on Versace's valuable goodwill and business reputation in order to drive profits and sales to line Fashion Nova's pockets," Versace's lawyers wrote in a lawsuit filed in the central district court of California on Tuesday.
The court documents included a series of side-by-side photos, which they used to highlight the alleged copyright issues.
This isn't the first time that Fashion Nova has been served with a lawsuit of this kind. According to these court documents, it has been sued at least eight times over copyright-related matters previously.
A spokesperson for Fashion Nova declined to comment on the lawsuit and its allegations. Versace was not immediately available for comment.
Fashion Nova initially started off as a mall-based store but kicked off its online business in 2013. The premise from the start has been to offer ultra-fast, ultra-cheap, and ultra-trendy clothes to its customers. To do so, it has a speedy supply chain in place with many of its manufacturers being located close to the Los Angeles area, where its headquarters are. Items can be bought from the design floor to production in as little as 48 hours, enabling it to roll out more than 1,000 new items each week.
Many of these items are quickly photographed and posted on Instagram, where its millions of followers can scroll through its latest designs.
But Versace said that this ultra-fast fashion model comes at a price for other designers.
Its "ability to churn out new clothing so quickly is due in large part to its willingness to copy the copyrighted designs, trademarks and trade dress elements of well-known designers such as Versace, and trade on their creative efforts in order to bolster Fashion Nova's bottom line," the lawsuit said.
It continued: "Versace seeks to bring an end to Fashion Nova's latest brazen attempt at copying the work of yet another famous and world-renowned designer."