‘C*ck-juggling thunder c*nts’: Sydney PR firm unleashes expletive-laden tirade on Melbourne designer

A SYDNEY PR firm has unleashed a tirade on a Melbourne fashion label, calling them “wet sh*ts” and accusing them of copying one of their client’s dresses.

Mother & Father PR unleash on Zian Couture in an Instagram post.

A SYDNEY PR firm has unleashed on a Melbourne fashion label, calling them “c*ck-juggling thunder c*nts” and accusing them of copying one of their client’s dresses.

Mother & Father PR posted a split image on Instagram on Tuesday afternoon, showing a dress by their client — luxury fashion label Zhivago — next to a similar looking dress.

While the Zhivago dress, which retails for $440, was labelled “the real deal”, the other dress was labelled “the sh*tty fake”.

In the accompanying post, the PR firm went on an expletive-laden tirade, slamming the other dress’ designer, Zian Couture, as one of many “shifty ar**holes who are squeezing the lifeblood” from Australia’s fashion industry.

“NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! As an agency, MFPR is at the coalface of Australian fashion, everyday we counsel clients who are battling to keep their dreams and their businesses alive,” the firm wrote. “We witness a never-ending conga-line of shifty ars**oles who are squeezing the lifeblood from the Australian design community. So when we see sh*t like this, it begs the question, how much more blood can be drawn (from independent designers) before we have no industry left? All it would take is a few minor changes to IP laws and independent Australian designers would have greater protection.”

After slamming the wider issue of garment replication in the local industry, the firm took a more direct swipe at Zian Couture.

“Zian Couture you are trying to pass yourselves off as designers, when are in fact, you are nothing more than a wet sh*t and no matter how hard you wipe, you’ll be never clean,” the post continued.

“So to all the c*ck-juggling thunder c*nts like #ZianCouture, consider this your notice. MFPR is about to summon forth a sh*tstorm of biblical pain and suffering on your swamp asses!”

The post was hashtagged “#ProtectAustralianDesign” and “#DontBuyFakes”.

When Zian Couture was contacted by news.com.au, Zian, who did not wish to disclose his surname, said his dress “was not intentionally done to copy”.

Lara Kovacevich and Lydia Tsvetnenko, the designers behind Perth brand Zhivago.

“I had a client who came with a special request. It happens all the time — a client, they have inspiration,” he said. “It was not intentionally done to copy. It was not done to mass produce.”

Zian, who describes himself as an “independent designer” who makes “one-off garments”, said the client was someone who “doesn’t wear revealing stuff”.

“That client came with an inspiration photo and I didn’t know who the designer is,” he said. “The (Zhivago) dress was quite revealing ... she wanted something less revealing.”

While Zian says he’s just a “small designer with everyday clients”, he did design the dress worn by Real Housewives of Melbourne star Pettifleur Berenger at this year’s TV Week Logie Awards.

Pettifleur Berenger wears Zian Couture at the 2016 Logies Awards at Crown Casino, Melbourne.

Talking to news.com.au, Matt Jordan, the director of Mother & Father PR and the man behind the Instagram post, said the replication of original designs is becoming too common.

“Literally, it’s every week, it’s every second week, it’s a constant part of what we do,” he said. “We have to be aware of this and be across it. It’s an epidemic. Especially for a brand like Zhivago — it’s very recognisable it’s a high profile”.

“This is part of a new breed of brands that don’t trade traditionally through e-commerce,” he added. “By that I mean they done have a website — they trade digitally through Facebook and Instagram.”

While Zian said he does not have a store or sell through social media platforms like Facebook, Jordan said the issue extends beyond financial loss.

“This brand (Zian Couture) has 39,000 followers on Instagram,” he said. “Chances are that a lot of those people would never have seen the original dress so they’re attributing that design to this brand which is false.”

Despite Zian claiming his Zhivago lookalike was an accidental once-off, Jennifer Tutty, Legal Director at Studio Legal, said the issue of replication and the lax copyright laws in Australia was leaving local designers “short-changed”.

“While other forms of creative effort, such as artworks and novels, are protected by copyright, designers lose copyright protection as soon as their design is industrially applied,” Tutty told news.com.au. “While the registration system under the Designs Act is supposed to provide alternative protection to designers, once a design enters the marketplace it is no longer eligible for registration. This means designers must register their designs before disclosing them to the public, or else lose any chance of protection.”

Tutty said most designers aren’t aware of these conditions until it’s too late, and only realise once their work has been copied and they seek legal advice. But by then, they have no protection.

“Sadly, we see this all too often in our line of work and it can be incredibly frustrating for designers to see their hard work fall through the cracks in our IP laws,” she said. “A quick fix would be to provide a grace period in the legislation which allows designers to test their designs in the marketplace to see what is worth registering, without the designs becoming ineligible.”

Originally published as ‘C*ck-juggling thunder c*nts’: Sydney PR firm unleashes expletive-laden tirade on Melbourne designer