Dynamic Japanese photographer Yasumasa Yonehara of KIKSTYO fame claims in an interview with MEKAS, that American Apparel ripped his distinctive seductive, sultry and raw photography style:

They ripped me off. They made those ads after looking at my photos. If you ask around, you’ll realize this is true.

I sold my books and products at the 2002 or 2003 MAGIC exhibition (in Las Vegas). Dov [Charney, CEO of American Apparel] came over and bought everything. After that he started to make stuff exactly like my photos, down to the composition and colors. And that’s when American Apparel started to really take off…

There is something kind of painful about it. Dov very skillfully took my methodology and made it work within a commercial context.

At first, Dov was like, “Sorry about this!” and I finally was like, whatever.

And it doesn’t stop there. Apparently Dov is still at it:

But when I try to do something now, it looks similar, which is too bad. I even ask myself sometimes, doesn’t this look a little too American Apparel? Maybe American Apparel is out of ideas. So they have to just keep ripping me off over and over.

No worries Yone — Dov’s wannabe models could never match the girls you photograph, nor does his photos come remotely close to the ones shot with your mad cheki camera skills.

Photos by Yasumasa Yonehara (Yone)

Photos by Dov Charney and American Apparel

(Yasumasa Yonehara photo courtesy MEKAS)