Ikea has responded to a luxury fashion house new £1,670 tote bag which bears striking similarity to the Swedish brand’s iconic 40 pence Frakta carrier.
Last week, French designer brand Balenciaga debuted their Arena extra-large shopping brand “constructed of blue wrinkled, glazed leather”. However, the reception was less awe of the product but a sense of déjà vu.
Initially Ikea said they were deeply flattered by the resemblance and said “nothing beats the versatility of a great big blue bag”. Now, they have gone one step further with an advertisement campaign asserting their originality.
Fashion news in pictures
Fashion news in pictures
-
1/22 Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop to launch print magazine
Goop, the brainchild of Gwyneth Paltrow, is launching a magazine in partnership with publishers Conde Nast. The online lifestyle publication, which was launched by the actress in 2008, will release its first print edition in September with further quarterly editions planned
Getty Images
-
2/22 Cara Delevingne rallies against mainstream beauty standards
Cara Delevingne has hit out at conventional beauty ideals days after shaving off her hair, which she debuted at the Met Gala
Reuters
-
3/22 Female High Street mannequins are ‘unrealistically thin’
Mannequins used in stores to model clothes promote “ultra-thin” unhealthy body ideals, researchers have warned. A new study from the University of Liverpool, published in the Journal of Eating Disorders, found that the average female mannequin body size was “representative of a severely underweight woman”.
Getty Images
-
4/22 Kim Kardashian attends Met Gala wearing simple white dress
Kim Kardashian West drew attention with her outfit choice for her fifth Met Gala this weekend due to her new toned-down look. The reality TV star’s toned down outfit comes just days after she appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show. She spoke about being robbed at gunpoint in Paris last year and how the incident has changed her, stating that she is “such a different person” today
Getty Images
-
5/22 Princess Charlotte’s John Lewis jumper from birthday photo sells out
A knitted yellow John Lewis cardigan adorned with pictures of sheep has sold out after Princess Charlotte was photographed wearing the item, prompting a surge in demand from British parents wanting to dress their offspring like the young
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge via Getty Images
-
6/22 Hermes Birkin bag a better investment than stock or gold
According to a recent study buying a Hermès Birkin handbag could be your best bet for long-term investment. The study by Baghunter – an online marketplace for buying and selling luxury handbags – revealed that the Birkin bag far outperformed both the S&P 500 and the price of gold in the last 35 years. Gold had an average annual return of 1.9 percent and a real return average of -1.5 percent, while the value of Birkin bags increased at a faster rate than either of them. Rising by 14.2 percent over the same period, the Hermès bag never fluctuated downwards - instead it steadily and consistently increased reaching a peak surge in 2001 where it escalated by a huge 25 per cent
flickr/Yvette Religioso-Ilagan
-
7/22 Model Bella Hadid opens up about her Islamic faith
Supermodel Bella Hadid has opened up about her father’s experience as a refugee and her Islamic faith in a candid interview. “He [her father] was always religious, and he always prayed with us. I am proud to be a Muslim,” Bella told Porter magazine
Getty Images
-
8/22 Nike finally launches its first plus-size range
Nike has launched its fist ever plus size range of sportswear. Encompassing everything from t-shirts, running tights, high-tech hoodies and training shorts sizes range from an impressive Xl up to 3XL and 38E in sports bras. But, Nike isn’t just sizing up their existing products. It’s actually adapting the science behind each piece to suit a plus size body.
Nike
-
9/22 Moonlight cast star in Calvin Klein underwear advert
Hot on the heels of their Oscar win for Best Picture, the cast of Moonlight have landed their first major campaign for Calvin Klein. The striking photos, all captured by Willy Vanderperre, feature 27-year-old Trevante Rhodes, 43-year-old Mahershala Ali, 21-year-old Ashton Sanders and 12-year-old Alex Hibbert
Calvin Klein
-
10/22 Vogue Arabia launches
Supermodel Gig Hadid will feature on the first ever cover of the new Vogue Arabia, it has been announced. The 21-year-old model, who is half Palestinian and half Dutch, shared the cover on Instagram where she said that the appearance “means the world” to her
Vogue
-
11/22 Maasai people of East Africa fighting against cultural appropriation by luxury fashion labels
The Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania embody one of the most powerful images of tribal Africa – but it’s a guise that’s becoming increasingly imitated.
Getty
-
12/22 Oscars stars wore blue ribbons to ceremony
A range of actors and actresses including Ruth Negga, Lin Manuel Miranda, Emma Stone and Karlie Kloss wore blue ribbons to show their support for the American Civil Liberties Union
Getty Images
-
13/22 Paul Smith responds to ‘suit being dead’
Paul Smith said: “That’s bollocks when asked whether the suit is dead. “All of that. That's just people needing to say things. There will always be, in your lifetime, people that feel suits do a job.”
Getty Images
-
14/22 Prime Minister Theresa May to feature in US Vogue
Mock-up of Theresa May on Vogue cover - Theresa May will feature in a spread for the esteemed fashion magazine Vogue, Downing Street has confirmed. The Prime Minister will feature in a spread shot by the respected fashion photographer Annie Leibovitz.
-
15/22 How the best-dressed man on the internet spends only £30 a week on clothes
A man voted best-dressed two years running by one of the web’s biggest fashion communities has revealed he only spends $40 (£31.70) on clothes each week. His secret? Charity shops
Joseph Knowles
-
16/22 Topshop is launching a bridal collection
High street favourite Topshop looks set to bring you the wedding dress of your dreams at a fraction of the price. Hitting stores in April, the brand’s debut bridal collection is expected to include wedding and bridesmaid’s dresses, accessories and lingerie.
-
17/22 Why the fashion industry is obsessed with ugly shoes
From pool slides to Crocs, it seems that every season there’s a new “ugly” shoe to be coveted by the more adventurous fashion crowd
-
18/22 Converse redesigns its classic Chuck Taylor All-Stars shoe for Millennials - this is what it looks like
It might be one of the most iconic shoes ever made but alas, even the Chuck Taylor All Star has to evolve in order to keep up with the fast-pace of the sneaker market
-
19/22 Simon Helberg and Jocelyn Towne
The Big Bang Theory actor Simon Helberg and his actress wife Jocelyn Town decided to use their red carpet appearance at the SAG awards in Los Angeles as a mark of protest against Donald Trump's travel ban.
Getty
-
20/22 Alexandra Shulman leaves Vogue
The editor-in-chief of British Vogue Alexandra Shulman has announced she is leaving the publication after 25 years.
Getty Images
-
21/22 Bernie Sanders inspires Balenciaga 2017 menswear range
Balenciaga debuted their Fall 2017 menswear collection in Paris on Wednesday and people could not help but notice that a certain 2016 political figure may have inspired their latest work. As the models strode down the catwalk, several of them wore sweatshirts, bomber jackets and scarves featuring a ‘Balenciaga 2017’ logo which had a striking similarity to that used by Bernie Sanders during his campaign for the Democrat candidacy last year.
Getty Images
-
22/22 Hanne Gaby Odiele comes out as intersex
The model Hanne Gaby Odiele has come out as intersex. ‘Intersex’ is a term which can be used to describe people whose anatomy differs from what can be assigned as typically male or female. For example, genitals may seem ambiguous to doctors at birth or this might happen during puberty.
Getty Images
The Frakta bag appears below the slogan ‘The Original’ in the new advert launched by the agency Acne.
Subsequent adverts include a handy guide to identifying a real Frakta bag and how to avoid fakes. Tips on verifying its authenticity include shaking it and “if it rustles, it’s the real deal”, checking how multifunctional it is, throwing it in the dirt: “A true FRAKTA is simply rinsed off with a garden hose” and then the price tag which should reach no more than $0.99 (£0.40).
Acne’s creative director Johan Holmegren told Creative Review they hired a fashion photographer to shoot the bag in his studio “with that same feeling and lighting as the Balenciaga bag”.
Balenciaga declined to comment when approached by The Independent.
- More about:
- Balenciaga
- IKEA