Fashion big names have a history of cultural appropriation, without giving credit. It was time to stop that.

We looked back at other recent examples of cultural appropriation in fashion: Stella McCartney used traditional African motives in her Summer/Spring 2018 collection. Louis Vuitton debuted a line of blankets, worn as coats by the people of Besotho, as part of their menswear collection, and many more.

We created Bihor Couture, the first fashion line that fights against cultural appropriation.

It aims to return money to the local communities by selling authentic fashion pieces on an online platform.

Bihor Couture is not only a brand that sells authentic clothes from Bihor. It serves as a model created to return money to the local communities, so everybody can enjoy these traditions for generations to come. The model serves as an inspiration for other cultures that face the same problem.

Overall budget: 7000 eur

Breakdown of costs:

Shooting Romania & Paris Fashion Week 5.000 eur

Editing Costs 500 eur

Website 1.500 eur

Paid media budget (where applicable): 0

To return back the deserved money to the communities, we first launched an online platform, an e-shop with the authentic fashion pieces created by Bihor local craftsmen. We launched the new brand with a content series, featuring the original designers from Bihor, commenting on Dior’s collection, the same one where the jacket from Bihor was included.

The series was highly entertaining, with juicy comments from our local creators, and it could be watched on Facebook and YouTube.

The campaign was a mix of digital videos, prints with our designers, and videos that targeted international celebrities interested in Dior, like Lady Gaga or Beyonce with customized messages from our local creators.

We launched a video invitation to Dior to come and design a jacket with the local creators.

Our designers hijacked even Paris Fashion Week, wearing the original jacket from Bihor, thus making a statement to the entire world of fashion.

We put Bihor on fashion map

The campaign made a huge impact, with people storming the website and placing hundreds of orders for traditional clothes. Presently, more craftsmen are being brought into the platform, to work on all the orders that keep on coming.

The campaign gained 300.000 euro in earned media which means a Return On Investment of over 4000%.

Pre-orders were made to cover the work for the next 4,5 years. Beau Monde also raised money to fund the only craftsmen school in Bihor, to attract more young people that can learn the craft and it further in the future.

So the tradition lives on.

Fashion is all about PR: who’s who, who wears what, what brand the most famous persons wear at Cannes…well, they wear Bihor not Dior!

Bihor not Dior is a campaign that manages to put Bihor not Dior on the fashion map and make justice to the local artisans

When Dior included a Romanian jacket from Bihor in their couture collection and sold it for 30.000 euro, without giving credit to the original creators, Beau Monde, a fashion magazine with 100% original Romanian content, launched Bihor Couture, the most ethic fashion line, because stands out against cultural appropriation.

Use all the fashion paraphernalia, from magazines, to stars, to social influence, to fashion weeks

We needed to make the original designers known in the entire world. We also wanted to promote the authentic fashion pieces in a unique way, making them appealing to everybody, including a younger target and people who are not familiarized with Romanian traditions.

This is why we built an online shop, which can be accessed by everyone, not only by Romanians, but also by foreigners.

To promote the new brand, we used the fashion critique format with fashion experts, and instead invited the local creators from Bihor to talk about Dior’s collection, as the real experts of the jacket.

Nobody knows Bihor, but everybody knows Dior. And Dior is inspired by Bihor !

Bihor is a small region in Romania rich in traditions. They created a famous coat that was copied by Dior and sold for 30.000 euro, without mentioning the source of inspiration.

When designers give no credit to their inspiration, there is no return for the poor communities that struggle to keep the traditions. And the traditions die.

Beau Monde, the fashion magazine with 100% Romanian content, wanted to help authenticity survive and take a stand against cultural appropriation.

Cultural Appropriation = the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, without showing that you understand or respect this culture (Cambridge Dictionary).