An upcoming fashion designer has accused Balenciaga for appropriating her work, alleging that the luxury label posted a picture to social media similar like one in her portfolio, which it had requested to see.

Tra My Nguyen said she was “angry and speechless” when the brand uploaded a photo of a motorcycle wrapped in colorful clothing to its official Instagram account. She accused the company of “stealing, appropriating and capitalizing on the ideas of POC artists (people of color).”

The budding designer stated that the picture was primarily based on her grasp’s mission exploring Vietnam’s feminine bike tradition. She claims that the label’s recruiter who had seen her work exhibited at the Berlin University of the Arts asked twice to see her portfolio. A screenshot of the email exchange from last October appears to show one of the brand’s employees requesting Nguyen’s wallet with the premise that the label was looking for interns, reported by CNN. 

After responding with information and images from his work, which included images of motorcycles covered in clothing, Nguyen said he did not respond and was not asked for permission to use his idea.

“I’m not your mood board!” She wrote in an Instagram story, demanding that the brand apologise and remove the image from Instagram.