Four months after Alexander McQueen's untimely death, his label's owners are pondering legal action against Cadbury for a strikingly similar ad image to one used in McQueen's 2006 runway show.
In the new ads for Cadbury Flake chocolate bar, a woman wrapped in a billowing gown floats against a black backdrop in a slow-motion, ethereal fume -- a way, the company told WWD, to demonstrate the candy's delicate, wispy layers.
Pretty, but also familiar to folks at Gucci Group, who noted the imagery's parallels to the 2006 hologram of Kate Moss wading through the air in an equally diaphanous dress that served as a McQueen catwalk backdrop.
Here's the catch: Both pieces were composed by film and music video director Baillie Walsh, which obviously explains the parallels. As such, it seems Gucci Group's legal basis for the suit has yet to be determined -- it could simply be a matter of the artist's unique aesthetic.
