Plagiarism row over Vivienne Westwood book goes international
//Sydney Morning Herald, November 9, 2014//
My legal claim against Vivienne Westwood, her co-author Ian Kelly and publisher Picador over plagiarism of my work in the recently published memoir of the British fashion designer has been featured across the Australian media.
I was interviewed in Melbourne by Jason Steger, literary editor of The Age, whose article about substantial plagiarism from my book The Look as well as a multitude of factual errors, potential libels and serial failure to correctly credit photographers was picked up by the Sydney Morning Herald and Australia’s book industry magazine Books + Publishing.
//The Age, November 9, 2014//
//Books + Publishing, November 11, 2014//
In Australia the book is being touted as the “No. 1 Bestseller In Commercial Fashion” since it occupies the top two spots in sales ratings for fashion design and textile and costume on amazon.com.au. In The UK it is rated as the “No. 1 Best Seller in Textiles Design Studies” since it is top of both the fashion and textiles sales charts on amazon.co.uk.
As well as the UK and Australia, the memoir – entitled Vivienne Westwood – has been published in translation by Frankfurt-based Eichborn Verlag in Germany, where it is currently flagged as “Bestseller no. 1” in sales of art and architecture-related biographies on amazon.de, and the US (where it is available as an audiobook and Kindle, currently occupying No. 55 in Kindle Store’s textile and costume section on amazon.com).
Publication rights have been granted for the book to come out in Brazil while it is currently available in many international cities around the world, including Hong Kong.