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

They Stole It Part 1

Teacher Resources

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

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Quiz — They Stole It Part 1

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?

B) Nsibidi.

Students should be able to identify Nsibidi as the specific symbol system referenced in this lesson. Nsibidi is an ideographic writing system comprising over a thousand symbols, developed and used for centuries by the Ekpe Secret Society and related peoples of southeastern Nigeria and Cameroon. It's important students understand this is a separate claim from Louis Vuitton's own official design history, which credits neo-Gothic ornament, art nouveau, and the Japanese mon tradition — both can be true and documented at once without one erasing the other. Students who answer A, C, or D are naming real African or Ethiopian writing systems, but not the one specifically connected to this critique.

2. In what year was the Damier pattern designed, and by whom?

A) 1888, by Georges Vuitton.

Students should know the Damier predates the more famous LV Monogram by eight years — the Monogram came in 1896. Louis Vuitton's own brand materials credit the Damier's design to a Japanese "Ichimatsu" checkered pattern as its stated influence. Students who answer B, C, or D are either assigning the wrong date or the wrong family member, both of which matter for accurately sequencing Louis Vuitton's pattern history against the Kuba Kingdom's much older checkerboard textile tradition.

3. Which African kingdom produced checkerboard-patterned raffia textiles roughly two centuries before the Damier was designed?

B) The Kuba Kingdom.

Students should connect the Kuba Kingdom of the Congo — a Bantu state that flourished from the 17th to early 20th centuries — to its documented tradition of raffia textiles featuring elaborate geometric checkerboard designs, held in museum collections including the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art. Students who answer A, C, or D are naming real and significant African kingdoms, but not the one whose textile tradition is specifically tied to the checkerboard pattern discussed in this lesson.

4. What event did Gaston Vuitton display his collected African masks at in 1931?

B) The Colonial Exposition.

Students should know that Gaston Vuitton, grandson of founder Louis Vuitton, personally collected African masks — including from the Kwele people of the Gabon-Cameroon-Congo border region — during the 1930s, and displayed them at the 1931 Colonial Exposition in Paris, an exhibition France used to justify and promote its occupation of Africa. Students who answer A, C, or D are naming other real historical exhibitions, but not the one tied directly to this colonial-era display of African material culture.

5. Which designer's Spring/Summer 1967 collection is identified as an early example of "ethnic chic" drawing on African aesthetics?

C) Yves Saint Laurent.

Students should be able to name Yves Saint Laurent and his 1967 African-inspired collection, documented by the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris itself, which featured beadwork, raffia, and a dress paying tribute to Bambara sculptural traditions of Mali, presented primarily on light-skinned models. Students who answer A, B, or D are naming other major fashion figures, but not the one whose 1967 collection set the precedent discussed in this lesson.

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.

Students should connect Matthew Williamson's Spring/Summer 2008 London Fashion Week collection directly to the Habesha Kemis, the traditional ceremonial dress worn by Ethiopian and Eritrean women, featuring centuries-old tibeb embroidery. Ethiopia's Intellectual Property Office formally requested royalties from Williamson over the resemblance. Students who answer B, C, or D are naming other real traditional African garments referenced elsewhere in the "They Stole It" series, but not the one tied to this specific 2007 controversy.

7. Approximately how much more expensive was the Louis Vuitton Basotho-pattern silk shirt than an authentic Basotho blanket sold locally in Lesotho?

C) Over 30 times more.

Students should be able to state the actual price gap: the Louis Vuitton silk shirt sold for roughly R33,000 (about $2,553), while a genuine Basotho blanket sold locally for under R1,000 (about $77) — over 30 times the price, with no Basotho designers, weavers, or manufacturers involved in the Louis Vuitton collection. Students who answer A, B, or D are significantly understating the scale of the markup, which matters for understanding exactly how much commercial value was extracted without compensation to the originating community.

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PART B — SHORT ANSWER KEY POINTS

Question 8. 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.

A strong answer should include:

• At least two specific details: Louis Vuitton's official history attributes the 1896 Monogram's design 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 used by the Ekpe Secret Society of Nigeria and Cameroon
• Why the distinction matters: students should recognize that a company's official origin story and an outside cultural critique can both be documented and real without one automatically disproving the other — the lesson presents both honestly rather than asserting the Nsibidi connection as a confirmed, brand-acknowledged fact
• What this teaches about evaluating claims: students should practice distinguishing between an official corporate narrative and independent critical analysis, and understand why a brand might omit influences that complicate a curated origin story
• Strong answers will connect: this distinction to the broader pattern in the lesson, where documented facts (Gaston Vuitton's mask collecting, the Kuba Kingdom's textile precedent) stand on their own regardless of how Louis Vuitton's official materials frame the Monogram's design influences

Question 9. Using details from the lesson, explain why Ethiopia's government formally requesting royalties from Matthew Williamson in 2007 is significant.

A strong answer should include:

• At least two specific details: Ethiopia's Intellectual Property Office in Addis Ababa formally requested royalties from Williamson after his Spring/Summer 2008 collection closely mirrored the Habesha Kemis; spokesperson Abdurazak Omer stated, "These are the dresses of our mothers and grandmothers... Nobody has the right to claim these designs as their own"
• Why this matters: a formal government request, rather than informal public criticism alone, signals that the claim was treated as a serious cultural and economic issue worth official intervention
• What it reveals about gaps in protection: it shows there was no existing legal mechanism that automatically protected the Habesha Kemis design, requiring Ethiopia's government to advocate after the fact rather than there being built-in international recognition of traditional cultural designs
• Strong answers will note: the price disparity — Williamson's pieces retailed around £800 versus roughly £30 for a locally produced Habesha Kemis — as part of why the financial stakes of the request mattered

Question 10. 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.

A strong answer should include:

• At least one detail about the Basotho blanket: in 2017, Louis Vuitton's silk shirt featuring the Basotho pattern sold for roughly R33,000, over 30 times the price of an authentic Basotho blanket sold locally for under R1,000, with no Basotho designers involved
• At least one detail from another case: for example, Yves Saint Laurent's 1967 African collection presented African-inspired design primarily through light-skinned models, or Louis Vuitton's Damier pattern trademarked and legally protected despite the Kuba Kingdom producing a near-identical checkerboard textile tradition roughly two centuries earlier
• The shared pattern: in each case, a traditional African design or aesthetic is used commercially by a Western fashion brand at a significant markup, while the originating community receives no design credit, no creative involvement, and no direct financial compensation
• Strong answers will note: this pattern repeats across more than fifty years and multiple brands, suggesting it reflects an industry-wide practice rather than an isolated incident

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