Tony Liu Behind Diet Prada Instagram Account

Tony Liu's (BFA 2007) fashion label YOU AS has been praised by a diverse group of fashion publications ranging from Complex to Vogue. But according to recent profiles in the Financial Times and Quartzy, he's probably known more for his online presence.

Along with his partner, Lindsay Schuyler of the eyewear company FXGI, Liu runs the Instagram account Diet Prada. The project is designed to skewer creative theft and unoriginality in the fashion industry; Gucci, JT Anderson, and Coach have all been caught in its crosshairs, among others. In addition to keeping large fashion houses accountable, the project also gives smaller independent designers ammunition to litigate design theft in court.

Invitations by Gucci and Prada to Milan Fashion Week are seen as a coup by some. Liu ad Schuyler are more equivocal. In spite of design theft transitioning from an open secret to a full-on acknowledgement, “[w]ith the nature of social media, people tend to move on — and forget,” they say.