Tongoro-Balmain Facial Jewelry Controversy Sparks Debate on Inspiration and Theft in Fashion

At Paris Fashion Week, the adornment of face jewelry during Balmain’s Fall 2024 menswear show sparked controversy on social media. Seen on models on the runway, it’s a gold wire structure that splits the face, if symmetrical, into two. At the moment, this facial bijoux is being contested in the domain of ownership and intellectual property.

Sarah Diouf Makes Initial Claim

Sarah Diouf, founder of Senegalese brand Tongoro, pointed out on Instagram the visible similarity between her brand’s tribal-inspired ornament called “Cairo,” part of a facial jewelry line first shown on the Dakar Fashion Week runway in 2019, to Balmain’s.

Observing the beauty practice of men of the Wodaabe tribe painting their face, Diouf’s Tongoro had conceptualized their anatomical jewelry to pay homage to African nomadic communities.

The jewelry has found celebrity exposure with Naomi Campbell and Alicia Keys. It was also adorned by Beyoncé in her 2019 video for "Spirit" from The Lion King: The Gift album.

“The visible similarity of the piece presented by Oliver Rousteing for his Balmain FW24 Men collection to ours is a challenging and painful event, questioning yet again the actual regards Western brands claim to have towards African creativity while openly saying being inspired by it. How long?” Diouf added to the post.

At the time of this story's publication, Olivier Rousteing, Balmain’s creative director, has yet to respond to Diouf’s claim of creativity theft.

Theresia Kyalo’s Double Claim of Creative Theft

There’s no way of ascertaining if Rousteing had seen Tongoro’s facial jewelry before his Paris menswear show. And while it appeared the dispute existed between the Balmain designer and Diouf, a further complication arose when the jewelry was linked to the body pieces of Theresia Kyalo, a Kenyan jewelry designer.

“Isn’t life funny? Having your work stolen by a brand and then having the said brand have the work restolen by yet another bigger brand. Happy to have been alive long enough to see this come full circle. Kwa kweli Dunia ni Duara.” Kyalo said in a quoted post on X (formerly Twitter).

She was directly talking about Tongoro and Balmain. The Kenyan designer had released that particular facial adornment called “Body Pieces,” months before Tongoro made theirs public in 2019.

By this sequence of events, Kyalo can argue that Tongoro might have been inspired by both her facial-sculpting jewelry and the traditional facial painting of the Wodaabe tribe.

Facial Jewelry in History

Further investigations reveal that this facial jewelry isn’t exactly novel in the fashion industry. Its earliest iteration arguably goes back to the '60s and '70s with the conceptual designs of Gijs Bakker. The Dutch jewelry maker is perhaps known for a stainless steel structure that he placed on the face of his wife and jewelry design colleague, Emmy Van Leersum.

Fast forward to New York Fashion Week in September 2015 — Australian designer Dion Lee collaborated with Australian jewelry designers Sarah & Sebastian to make custom metal pieces that split the face in half, which became a trend.

Can it be said that Bakker’s face-splitting jewelry was a stroke of originality or was he inspired by something that existed before him? In a fashion industry where there’s nearly nothing new under the sun, who gets to lay ownership of an idea?

“Theft in fashion takes place when someone replicates, imitates, or reproduces an original design and unique design elements without receiving the necessary permission or giving proper credit. This issue is often complex and contentious since distinguishing between inspiration and copying can be challenging, leading to debates about intellectual property and creative ownership in the fashion industry,” Sana Ahmed, a Social Entrepreneur, Consultant and Founder and Director of The Fashion Law Africa Summit (TFLAS), said to OkayAfrica.

Protecting African Jewelry Brands Through Copyright Laws

African dress cultures have always incorporated accessories and embellishments like jewelry. The current incarnation of African jewelry has come a long since the use of seeds, feathers, horns, ivory, bones, teeth and stones. A surging appreciation for traditional accents in African fashion has seen brands working with corals, shells, cowries and metals.

Contemporary African jewelry brands are also making diverse creative statements with the raw materials at their disposal, crafting sustainable pieces that not only adorn the body, but also preserve the pantheon of indigenous craft skills. The utility of copyright protection has never more been needed.

According to Ahmed, copyright protection offers African jewelry designers a robust mechanism to secure their creative expressions, establish ownership, and serve as a barrier against unauthorized replication. In a fiercely competitive global market like fashion, it provides a legal framework for African jewelry brands and others at large, legally shielding them from exploitation.

“The persistent ambiguity between authentic inspiration and imitation often leaves African designers feeling undervalued and underestimated. In the fashion realm, the distinction between copycatting and inspiration continues to blur,” Ahmed said. “This proactive approach helps mitigate the risks associated with copycatting and unfair competition, fostering an environment where African designers can thrive and contribute to the global fashion landscape.”