They Stole It Part 1: The Fashion Houses That Stole African Design

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They Stole It Part 1

Europe Had Fashion. Africa Had Culture. The World's Most Powerful Fashion Houses Have Been Stealing It For Over Fifty Years.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • Identify the historical and cultural origins of symbols and patterns used by major luxury fashion brands, including Nsibidi symbols and Kuba Kingdom textile traditions
  • Explain how Louis Vuitton's LV monogram and Damier checkerboard pattern have been connected by critics to African artistic traditions that predate the brand
  • Describe the role of colonial-era exhibitions, such as the 1931 Paris Colonial Exposition, in shaping European display and consumption of African art and material culture
  • Analyze how Yves Saint Laurent's 1967 "Africaine" collection set a precedent for Western luxury fashion's use of African aesthetics without compensation or credit to African artisans
  • Evaluate specific case studies of cultural appropriation in fashion, including the Habesha Kemis and Basotho blanket controversies, and the economic outcomes for the originating communities
  • Discuss the broader pattern connecting the historical use of African cultural property to ongoing practices in the global luxury fashion industry

Key Vocabulary

  • Nsibidi — An ideographic writing system comprising over a thousand symbols, developed and used by the Ekpe Secret Society and related peoples of southeastern Nigeria and Cameroon. Scholars agree it predates its 1904 European discovery. [1]
  • Ekpe Secret Society — Also known as the Leopard Society, a long-standing men's institution of southeastern Nigeria and Cameroon historically tied to governance, justice, and the use of Nsibidi symbols. [1]
  • LV Monogram — The interlocking "L" and "V" pattern with quatrefoils and concave diamonds, designed in 1896 by Georges Vuitton, son of founder Louis Vuitton, as an anti-counterfeiting measure. [2][3]
  • Damier — French for "checkerboard." A two-tone checkered pattern designed by Georges Vuitton in 1888, predating the LV Monogram by eight years. [4][5]
  • Kuba Kingdom — A Bantu kingdom that flourished from the 17th to early 20th centuries in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, renowned for raffia textiles featuring elaborate geometric checkerboard designs. [6][7][8]
  • 1931 Colonial Exposition — A major exhibition held in Paris in 1931 that displayed art, artifacts, and people from France's colonies, used by the French government to justify and promote its colonial occupation of Africa and other regions. [9]
  • Cultural Appropriation — The adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of another culture, particularly when a dominant group borrows from a marginalized group without permission, credit, or compensation. [10][11]
  • Habesha Kemis — The traditional ankle-length dress worn by Habesha women of Ethiopia and Eritrea, featuring intricate hand embroidery called tibeb, worn for formal occasions, religious festivals, and other celebrations. [12][13]
  • Basotho Blanket (Seanamarena) — A culturally significant blanket worn by the Basotho people of Lesotho, used in ceremonies including coming-of-age, marriage, and chieftaincy, and regarded as a national symbol. [14][15]
  • Trademark — A legally registered symbol, word, or design that identifies a specific product or company, granting the holder exclusive rights to use it and the legal ability to sue others for unauthorized use. [5]

The Full Lesson

Part 1 — The Logo Built On Borrowed Symbols

The LV Monogram is the most recognized luxury logo in the world. Officially, Louis Vuitton credits its 1896 design — interlocking L and V initials surrounded by quatrefoil shapes and concave diamonds — to neo-Gothic ornament, art nouveau, and the Japanese mon family-crest tradition. Cultural critics and fashion historians have separately pointed out that the same quatrefoil and concave-diamond shapes are structurally similar to Nsibidi symbols, the sacred ideographic writing system used for centuries by the Ekpe Secret Society of Nigeria and Cameroon. [1][2][3]

What is well documented is this: while the monogram was being built into a global symbol, Gaston Vuitton — grandson of founder Louis Vuitton — personally collected African masks during the 1930s, a period when the Vuitton company was associated with a colonialist public image. These masks, sourced from communities including the Kwele people of the Gabon-Cameroon-Congo border region, were displayed at the 1931 Colonial Exposition in Paris — an exhibition France used to promote and justify its occupation of Africa. [9][16]

Part 2 — The Checkerboard That Predates The Brand

The Damier — the checkerboard pattern found on some of Louis Vuitton's most iconic bags — was designed by Georges Vuitton in 1888. Louis Vuitton's own materials note the pattern draws on the Japanese "Ichimatsu" checkered design. [4][17]

Two centuries earlier, the Kuba Kingdom of the Congo — a Bantu state that flourished from the 17th to early 20th centuries — was already producing raffia textiles featuring elaborate geometric checkerboard patterns, documented in museum collections including the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art. [6][7][8]

"LV calls it the Damier. Trademarks it. Sues anyone who copies it. The Kuba people received nothing."

Part 3 — Yves Saint Laurent Opens The Door

In his Spring/Summer 1967 haute couture collection, Yves Saint Laurent presented a series of gowns made from wooden beads, raffia, straw, and golden thread, with the most noted dress paying tribute to Bambara sculptural traditions of Mali. The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris documents that Saint Laurent chose primarily light-skinned models for the runway presentation of this African-inspired work. Contemporary press coverage at the time, including Women's Wear Daily, described the collection in language framing Saint Laurent as having "stalked the jungle" and "hunted down the primitive." [18][19]

Fashion law scholarship identifies this collection as one of the earliest and most influential examples of what became known as "ethnic chic" — the practice, which expanded through the 1970s and 1980s, of European designers drawing on African, Asian, and Native American motifs while receiving the credit and commercial benefit themselves. [20]

Part 4 — The Habesha Kemis

In 2007, British designer Matthew Williamson presented two outfits at his Spring/Summer 2008 London Fashion Week show widely reported as closely mirroring the Habesha Kemis, the traditional ceremonial dress worn by Ethiopian and Eritrean women, featuring centuries-old tibeb embroidery patterns. [12][21][22]

Ethiopia's Intellectual Property Office in Addis Ababa formally requested royalties from Williamson. Spokesperson Abdurazak Omer stated: "We are very unhappy with the actions of Mr. Williamson. These are the dresses of our mothers and grandmothers. They symbolise our identity, faith and national pride. Nobody has the right to claim these designs as their own." [21][23]

Williamson's Ethiopian-inspired pieces retailed for roughly £800, compared to around £30 for a locally produced Habesha Kemis in Ethiopia. [24]

Part 5 — The Basotho Blanket Becomes A $33,000 Silk Shirt

In 2017, Louis Vuitton's Spring/Summer menswear collection featured designs drawn directly from the Basotho blanket, a sacred garment from Lesotho used in coming-of-age, marriage, and chieftaincy ceremonies. The collection included a cashmere blanket and a silk shirt featuring the traditional Seanamarena pattern. [14][15][25]

The Louis Vuitton silk shirt sold for roughly R33,000 (about $2,553 at the time). A genuine Basotho blanket sold locally in Lesotho for under R1,000 (about $77). No Basotho designers, weavers, or manufacturers were involved in the collection. [25][26]

"No credit. No compensation. No African designers in the room. Pure profit. Zero credit."

Part 6 — This Is The Pattern

The logo. The checkerboard. The fabrics. The patterns. Across more than fifty years — from Yves Saint Laurent's 1967 African collection, through Louis Vuitton's Damier and Monogram, to Matthew Williamson's Habesha Kemis and Louis Vuitton's Basotho blanket shirt — the pattern repeats: African cultural and artistic traditions are taken, profited from, and rarely credited or compensated at the source. [1][4][12][14][18][21][25]

Critical Thinking Discussion Questions

  1. The LV Monogram's quatrefoil and concave-diamond shapes have been compared by critics to Nsibidi symbols, while Louis Vuitton's official history cites different design influences. [1][2][3] Why might a company's official origin story differ from outside cultural criticism, and how should students weigh both?
  2. The Kuba Kingdom's checkerboard textile patterns predate Louis Vuitton's Damier by roughly two centuries. [4][6][7] Why do you think a pattern this old can still be trademarked and legally protected by a modern company today?
  3. Ethiopia's Intellectual Property Office formally requested royalties from Matthew Williamson in 2007. [21] What does it mean that a government had to formally intervene to protect a traditional design?
  4. A Louis Vuitton Basotho-pattern silk shirt sold for over 30 times the price of an authentic Basotho blanket, with no Basotho designers involved. [25][26] Who should benefit financially when a luxury brand profits from a traditional design?
  5. This lesson traces a pattern across more than fifty years of fashion history. Can you think of a more recent example, in fashion or another industry, where this same pattern might be repeating?

Quiz — They Stole It Part 1

Part A: Circle the best answer. Part B: Write in complete sentences.

Part A — Multiple Choice

  1. What writing system, used by the Ekpe Secret Society, has been compared by critics to the shapes in the LV Monogram?
    A) Adinkra
    B) Nsibidi
    C) Vai script
    D) Ge'ez
  2. In what year was the Damier pattern designed, and by whom?
    A) 1888, by Georges Vuitton
    B) 1896, by Louis Vuitton
    C) 1931, by Gaston Vuitton
    D) 1967, by Georges Vuitton
  3. Which African kingdom produced checkerboard-patterned raffia textiles roughly two centuries before the Damier was designed?
    A) The Ashanti Kingdom
    B) The Kuba Kingdom
    C) The Kingdom of Benin
    D) The Zulu Kingdom
  4. What event did Gaston Vuitton display his collected African masks at in 1931?
    A) The Paris World's Fair
    B) The Colonial Exposition
    C) The Venice Biennale
    D) The Great Exhibition
  5. Which designer's Spring/Summer 1967 collection is identified as an early example of "ethnic chic" drawing on African aesthetics?
    A) Coco Chanel
    B) Christian Dior
    C) Yves Saint Laurent
    D) Matthew Williamson
  6. Which traditional garment did Matthew Williamson's 2007 collection closely mirror, prompting a formal royalty request from Ethiopia's Intellectual Property Office?
    A) Habesha Kemis
    B) Basotho blanket
    C) Maasai shuka
    D) Ankara print
  7. Approximately how much more expensive was the Louis Vuitton Basotho-pattern silk shirt than an authentic Basotho blanket sold locally in Lesotho?
    A) About 2 times more
    B) About 5 times more
    C) Over 30 times more
    D) There was no price difference

Part B — Short Answer

  1. Explain the difference between Louis Vuitton's official explanation for the Monogram's design and the critique raised by cultural critics regarding Nsibidi. Use at least two specific details from the lesson.
  2. Using details from the lesson, explain why Ethiopia's government formally requesting royalties from Matthew Williamson in 2007 is significant.
  3. Using at least two specific details from the lesson — one about the Basotho blanket and one about another case in this lesson — explain what this pattern of cultural appropriation in the fashion industry has in common across different decades and brands.

Extension Activity

Trace the Origin: Choose one pattern, garment, or design element currently sold by a major fashion brand today. Research where that design historically originated, who created or wore it traditionally, and whether the originating community has received credit or compensation. Write 1 to 2 paragraphs presenting your findings, then write one sentence explaining what "giving credit" should look like in that specific case.

Sources & Footnotes

  1. [1] "Decoding Nsibidi: The Visual Writing System of the Ekpe Secret Society." Africa Rebirth.
  2. [2] "The World's Most Famous Monogram Logo." Tresor Design.
  3. [3] "From Maasai to Monograms: The Louis Vuitton Cultural Controversy." Medium, by Jasmine, August 2023.
  4. [4] "Louis Vuitton Damier 'Checkerboard.'" LouisVuitton.com, official brand history.
  5. [5] "Louis Vuitton's Damier Mark is Not Inherently Distinctive, Per EU Court." The Fashion Law, July 2020.
  6. [6] "The Kuba Textiles from the DRC." The Ethnic Home.
  7. [7] "Kuba Textiles." Wikipedia, citing geometric checkerboard designs documented by the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.
  8. [8] "A Great African Kingdom Tells Its History In Fabulous Royal Clothes." NPR Goats and Soda, October 2018.
  9. [9] "From Maasai to Monograms: The Louis Vuitton Cultural Controversy." Medium, by Jasmine, August 2023.
  10. [10] "Fashion and Cultural Appropriation: Legal and Ethical Considerations." Fashion Law Journal.
  11. [11] Twigg, J. "Ethnic chic: The case of Yves Saint Laurent." Journal of Consumer Culture, 4(1), 35–50.
  12. [12] "Habesha kemis." Wikipedia.
  13. [13] "Habesha Kemis – Hashing the Shared Mystery of the Famed Royalty Gown." Ekinken.
  14. [14] "Basotho blanket." Wikipedia.
  15. [15] "Lesotho and The Basotho Blanket Connection." Thula Tula.
  16. [16] "From Maasai to Monograms: The Louis Vuitton Cultural Controversy." Medium, by Jasmine, August 2023.
  17. [17] "Louis Vuitton Damier — Vintage Louis Vuitton Catalog," citing the Japanese Ichimatsu checkered pattern as a design influence.
  18. [18] "The Spring-Summer African Collection." Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, official museum archive.
  19. [19] "The Use of Maasai Culture for the Gain of Louis Vuitton & [Designers]." Lindenwood University digital commons thesis, citing Women's Wear Daily, 1967.
  20. [20] "Fashion and Cultural Appropriation: Legal and Ethical Considerations." Fashion Law Journal, citing Twigg (2004), Journal of Consumer Culture.
  21. [21] "Matthew Williamson in Ethiopian controversy." Fashion United, December 2007.
  22. [22] "8 Recent Times Luxury Fashion Brands Used African Designs Without Including Africans." OkayAfrica, October 2017.
  23. [23] "Fashion between Inspiration and Appropriation." MDPI, peer-reviewed journal article.
  24. [24] "Blog: Matthew Williamson in trouble over Ethiopian designs." Drapers, March 2020.
  25. [25] "Borrow do not steal: Louis Vuitton strikes again this time leaving behind the Maasai shuka for the Basotho blanket." This Is Africa, July 2017.
  26. [26] "BASOTHO BLANKET: All you Need to know about Lesotho Blanket of Life." The African Lane.

Real history. Real evidence.

Hotep Creations | hotepcreations.com — Real history. Real evidence.