Is louis vuitton stealing from us?

The authenticity of the african clothes that cuts across the country kenya tell alot about how the kenyan designs are highly regarded in the whole world. You would think that as appertains to kenyan's finest the masaai leso has got no or less impact to the world especially because it has its roots from a small community that is usually dabbed as rarely civilized...amazingly louis vuitton has emerged to take this trend abit too far borrowing and copyrighting a design that kenyan designers have failed to quickly dig positively from..

Louis Vuitton seems to be obsessed with Kenya’s Maasai. The obsession began with the borrowing of the Maasa’s vibrant beads; now the highly acclaimed fashion house has borrowed the Kenyan ethic group’s plaid print for their 2012 Resort menswear collection.

According to the New York Times, Louis Vuitton’s style director; Kim Jones spent part of his childhood in Africa and stated that he drew most of his style inspiration from the content. This explains why the Masaai influence has been greatly used by the luxury wear producers of late.
This is however not the first time for the fashion house to draw its style influence from Africa. In 2007 Louis Vuitton used a checkered bag as a prop which was borrowed from Ghana. Last year the fashion house launched their core values campaign and released a luxury bag featuring a charm made by a Kenyan local artisan; guided by MADE.
The design house launched a spring collection in 2009 which was likened to Josephine Barker African razzmatazz by a Vogue reviewer
Louis Vuitton is not the only fashion house borrowing the African aesthetic; Noir jewelry launched a collection of necklaces which evoked the Maasai neck pieces. The pieces were so popular that Solange Knowles and Kelis adorned the pieces proudly to show their support for the African heritage.

The question now remains whether the kenyan designors are challenged by this quest by foreign designers...Will they just watch and do nothing about it? copyright their own authenticity and stop it from being unravelled by others!!! check the differences in these styles and pass the word around to make sure we tap into our own sources!!!