Fashion photographer BJ Pascual insisted that the photos he took of actress Coleen Garcia were not in any way copied from the viral maternity images of American supermodel Gigi Hadid after a fashion blog pointed out that they were strikingly similar.
“As much as I love ’90s fashion, some things should be best left in the past, like #WhoWoreItBetter comparisons…It’s a toxic [concept] and it does not contribute anything good to the world. Sometimes I get into this mindset, but we have to stop it, please. It’s not fresh!” Pascual said in English and Filipino in his Instagram story yesterday.
Blog Fashion Pulis (“fashion police”) earlier spotted similarities in the famous women’s shoots, posting a side-by-side photo of Garcia’s Preview Magazine cover photo alongside Hadid’s post. The two are seen wearing similar sheer, flowy gowns that accentuated their pregnant bodies.
“Who did it better? I’m partial to the version that was released first (original version) – Gigi’s!” wrote Fashion Pulis.
A commenter named chiccachx, wrote that Garcia’s version might have been a “[c]opycat of Gigi’s shoot? Preview Mag should’ve done better than making it very similar to Gigi’s.”
The popular fashion photographer fired back on his Instagram stories, saying “Hi @fashionpulis please be respectful of Filipino creatives. Some of us actually work hard on the conceptualizing shoots to create these images. We shot Coleen’s AUG.1 Gigi’s (undeniably stunning) ‘ORIGINAL’ photos were not released until AUG. 26!”
“I have receipts,” the photographer added, tweeting a video which showed that he shot the photos on Aug. 1.
Pascual said the blog was being “deliberately shady” for cropping and rotating the side-by-side images to suit its “copycat’ narrative” and for choosing to highlight Hadid’s shoot date on July 26, instead of when the public first saw it last week.
“So, unless I have psychic abilities or Gigi and I are so close and I’m unaware of it (lol), there’s no way for me to ‘copy’ their shoot! It’s all a coincidence. Stop making this an issue,” Pascual said.
“I’m so triggerdt [by] @fashionpulis,” Pascual tweeted, then pointed to a behind-the-scenes vlog which explained that Garcia’s photoshoot was inspired by Rococo paintings. The said paintings which originated in 18th century Paris depict “scenes of love” and are marked by soft colors and curvy lines.
“While you’re at it, please STOP pitting women against each other. Could you not even spare pregnant women?! It’s 2020. There’s a pandemic. You’re still toxic. It’s never too late for character development, siz,” Pascual told Fashion Pulis.
https://twitter.com/bjpascual/status/1302579924830691331
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