Yurman believes that this photo, shot to promote Moss’ jewelry line for competitor Fred, is a copycat. (Fred)
A second image shot for David Yurman’s spring 2011 collection. (David Yurman)
Another image, for Fred, that is believed to be a copycat. (Fred)
Luxury jeweler David Yurman is steamed over images featuring Kate Moss for her new jewelry line for rival Fred, saying they are “embarrassingly similar” to his own ads with the supermodel.
The photos for Fred, which are also featured in the November issue of Grazia, include a topless, tousled-haired Moss shot by Sonia Sieff. Several of them are almost indistinguishable from the photos in which she appears for David Yurman’s spring 2011 campaign, which were shot more than a year ago by Peter Lindbergh.
“The Fred campaign is embarrassingly similar to the one David Yurman ran a year ago,” a Yurman rep told Page Six. “When you are a leader in your category, you get used to people copying you. We are confident consumers know the difference.”
In one ad from the Yurman campaign, Moss held up a watch on her right arm to her parted lips, simultaneously pulling at a few strands of blond hair near her face. A similar image to promote the brand for Paris-based Fred shows Moss wearing a set of rings on various fingers with two hands up to her mouth, also pulling at a few tousled strands of hair.
In another famous image from Yurman’s campaign, Moss lies on her stomach naked on a white furry rug, her bottom exposed, while wearing several Yurman bracelets on her left arm. Her hands are held up to her face, again locked in a come-hither expression.
An image for Fred shows Moss lying topless on her stomach on a black fluffy rug, but wearing leather pants to cover her bottom half. She wears rings on her right hand held up to her mouth, with the same sexy expression as in the Yurman ad.
The only marked difference between the promotions are that Moss’ small tattoo of an anchor on her right forearm is plainly visible in the Fred images, but is either covered by jewelry or airbrushed out of the Yurman ad.
A representative for Fred, which is owned by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, had no comment. Reps for Moss did not respond to our e-mails.