Yikes! RuPaul’s Drag Race star Farrah Moan and copycat-spotter Diet Prada just called out Ariana Grande for stealing looks from other artists.
This surprising news comes at, well, a strange time. You see, Grande filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against Forever 21 on Monday, September 2 after the millennial-loved brand launched a social media campaign that resembled her music video. The Forever 21 campaign featured a model that looked a lot like Ariana Grande — with her signature long ponytail a strikingly similar glitter silver fashion look to the one in the music video. The campaign also was edited in a similar way, with a similar pink tinted overlay just like “7 Rings.” Grande discovered the campaign and filed a lawsuit, claiming that her “name, image, likeness and music” were used to sell the brand’s clothing.
Then, Moan took social media on Wednesday, September 4, to claim that the pop star’s designer used her look as inspiration for the music video when it was in production. In other words, Grande stole the look from Moan before Forever 21 stole the look from Grande. Following? Moan’s released a side-by-side of the two looks on Twitter for fans to spot the similarities.
Along with the photos, Moan Tweeted, “Ariana should give me a cut of that 10M since her team literally sent a pic of me to the designer and paid them to copy my look from as4,” she wrote. “Finally met the designer and got told the Tea. I guess stealing from queer artists for profit is fine tho.” Moan continued, “I wasn’t gonna even say anything or care because I was actually flattered by it,” she Tweeted. “I’ve known for MONTHS, but now it’s kinda getting to me since she’s just raking in millions over it.”
The the Instagram account Diet Prada jumped in with a social media post from an anonymous source that reads, “If you’ve ever needed proof of Ariana Grande’s appropriation of black aesthetics (beyond the obvious), it’s all here. Multiple designers approached by her team to create costumes for the 2019 Sweetener tour have shared with us a PDF moodboard sent to them by her team. 72% of the four page document features black women as a reference (mostly Rihanna and a couple Ciara images). It also features several images of @creepyyeha’s distinctive made-to-measure bondagewear, which Versace — despite having bondage in their house codes as well — seemed to have replicated with minor changes. Arianators, come at us lol.”
Fan reactions to the post have been mixed. One user Tweeted in Moan’s defense, “She’s just saying that if it’s ok for Ariana to copy her outfit she shouldn’t be suing a company for doing the same thing… I mean Farrah has a point right there.” Another wrote, “Well people do this all the time… I doubt she was like give me that exact look (cause they aren’t the same) she would have wanted something similar to that style which isn’t copying its taking inspiration.”
Grande has yet to respond to Moan’s allegations on social media or through a representative.
