Russian design icon Gosha Rubchinsky has just been accused of plagiarism

Russian streetwear pioneer Gosha Rubchinskiy has been accused of breaking copyright laws after using the logo from a legendary series of Russian raves.

Denis Oding, co-founder of St Petersburg’s iconic Vostochniy Udar rave, claimed Rubchinskiy was selling clothing emblazoned with the rave’s logo and its name without permission.

He says in his Instagram post: “Moscow designer Gosha Rubchinskiy has released t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, etc. with the Vostochniy Udar logo. He’s selling them in dozens of online stores. He assures us that this is an original design. But he hasn’t discussed doing anything like this with myself, [or Vostochniy Udar co-founders] Mikhail Vorontsov and Maria Malos Poloushkoo. Instead, to give their actions the veil of legitimacy, a brochure with an interview given by me was handed out when this collection was shown for the first time. What do you think?”

He later added that Rubchinskiy’s team reached out to him at the start of 2017 to discuss Russia’s 1990s rave scene, but didn’t mention wanting to use the group’s design. Instead, Oding believed that the his answers would be used in a special book released to mark Rubchinskiy’s recent St Petersburg show.

“There was no talk about the release of clothes,” he told Russia’s Psyco Daily Telegram channel. “Then it turned out that these t-shirts had been printed.”

When he realised that the clothes were selling in dozeins of online shops, Oding reached out to the designer, only to be told by Rubchinskiy’s staff that the range was an “homage” and “not illegal from either a legal or a moral point of view.”

Rubchinskiy’s team have since told journalists that they are in touch with the Vostochniy Udar founders to “try and resolve the situation.”

Vostochniy Udar was Russia’s first annual rave when it burst onto to the scene in 1995, transforming the St Petersburg music scene until it closed a decade later. Russia’s ravers from the 1990s have long been cited as one of Rubchinskiy’s many influences.