Marc Jacobs takes inspiration from Swedish villagers

Posted by Helen Lee at 10:05 pm February 20th, 2008 | 2 comments

First Matthew Williamson was ‘inspired by’ Ethiopian traditional dress, now it seems that Marc Jacobs was inspired by a 1950s scarf designed by a man from western Sweden.

The Local, an English language Swedish newspaper is reporting that 55-year-old Göran Olofsson from Arvika in western Sweden claims that a scarf made by his father Gösta in the 1950s was plagiarized by Marc Jacobs.

“I was very surprised when I saw the new scarf. It looks like a clear case of plagiarism. I suppose my father was before his time,” said Olofsson.

The only difference in the picturesque scarves, which were created to resemble Linsell, the village where Olofsson grew up, is the writing in the top section – the original says Linsell while the Marc Jacobs one says Marc Jacobs since 1984.

The scarf was created by Gosta who sold homemade tourist paraphernalia, mainly based on his own sketches say The Local. The scaves probably were taken home by tourists to the United States and somehow found their way to the Marc Jacobs studio. As Gosta’s only heir, Goran suspects he may own the copyright.

“I would guess that he had about a thousand of these scarves made up,” said Göran. “I wrote at the weekend and am waiting for an answer.”

We can’t wait to hear what happens next.

[Via The Local - image from YTWWN]