So here it is – first, serious post. I won‘t start with
something really typical like
LE history or DKNY, mainly because this topic has not been so discussed.
Besides, people are often asking me about this.
I will talk about probably the biggest scandal in Stardoll’s history,
which happened in November 2009. Maybe
some older members still remember the ‘drama’ of the 2008 and how fun it was to
hang out here back then. But drama was gone and people were begging for some
action until that day, when Stardoll released new collection, apparently
created by a member Migliukee of which collection was named after. It was a unique event, because it was a first
time when a simple member designed an entire collection for Stardoll. I found
out about this collection before its arrival in starplaza. I was visiting one blog,
where the creator herself claimed, that she now has a contract with stardoll
and even shared some pictures of the clothes, she also revealed the prices,
although they were much higher.
Migliukee said, that all she needed to do to get that ‘contract’ was
just to send the sketches for the staff
of the site and they immediately made an offer, which would sound a bit
ridiculous - a SS membership and all
collection, that she created, for free.
But you see, everything was too good to be true. Just minutes after the
store opening on Starplaza, people became suspicious that something isn’t
right. And as it turned out,
speculations were not false as immediately after store’s release, someone found
identical sketches from PAPERFASHION created by Katie Rodgers. People contacted
with Stardoll and the actual creator of the sketches. Store was closed after
less than 5 hours of existence. Of course, as we could have expected – this was
indeed a very Milli Vanilli case. Both shameful for Stardoll and for ‘creator’
Migliukee as well. Stardoll nearly deleted her account. They took away all her
money, superstar membership and clothes. But let’s be honest – she was just 12 years old at that time and it was really naive
from Stardoll’s side to believe that a child (yes, 12 year old is a child) could
create professional sketches. Migliukee
later told, that she didn’t expected Stardoll
to react after she sent the stolen drawings, since she sent some made by
herself before and admins told, that they don’t need them. Well, we can’t be
sure if she was telling the truth. Migliukee first claimed to have a contract
with Stardoll, but later denied it. Also, the purpose of this theft was not
very convincing too – she said, she wanted her country to be more popular. But
clearly, what Migliukee really wanted was fame. Well who wouldn’t want to
become Stardoll’s elite almost instantly?
Yet I couldn’t blame her. Actually, I felt sorry for her. She was quite young, and all this pressure
was probably not very pleasant and easy to go through. Migliukee said she did
expect someone to find out the truth, although it doesn’t make sense why she
did it if she thought that this would happen. What can I say – we all have been
young and stupid.
The real design by Katie Rodgers
New store promotion from Stardoll
Stardoll, on the other hand, acted even more immature.
Yes, the girl was not really clever for doing this, but neither was Stardoll
for trusting 6 grader with professional graphic designs. They opened the store
after less than a month since Migliukee sent the sketches. Clearly Stardoll
staff to didn’t even bother to check if she was lying or not, even though they
had the time. As the ‘designer’ herself later told on the interview, admins
were not really interested about how she made the designs, neither did they
care if they were really hers. What is more interesting – people started
speculations BEFORE the store release. It suggests, that it wouldn’t have been
hard for SD staff to find the real designer, but as all – young and old members
know – they only care about how much they can make. Even though, they were
quite sorry for this whole situation that didn’t last for long. In fact, SD
later released collection of DIY with details of Migliukee clothes. Quite
disrespectful for the real designer, huh? In the end of 2009, Stardoll arranged
desing contest named ‘Decade of Teens’ where all members could send their own
sketches, the best designs were released in Starplaza. However, there was a lot
of controversy in this as well, but it’s a different story. Another interesting
fact, as I know, Stardoll, at first, ignored the speculations of stolen
sketches from other members, until Katie Rodgers contacted staff herself. Long
story short, after that, they immediately removed the clothes from Starplaza.
All items from collection
Store design in Starplaza
In
conclusion my point is, that we shouldn’t judge a 12 year old for everything.
Yes, it wasn’t very clever and yes, it was really audacious, but without
Stardoll’s approval we wouldn’t be talking about this right now. It was their
responsibility to ensure, that designs Migliukee sent, them were not stolen.
But, Stardoll has a history of copyright violations, so it’s not surprising.
Just when their asses were burning, they’ve decided to remove the store to
avoid big problems.
Migliukee, just before the truth came out
And after...
And
clothes? Obviously, because the Migliukee store existed just for couple hours,
so not many people had a chance to get the clothes or if they had – maybe they
were thinking about doing it later, because the prices of them were pretty high
compared to the other brands. So, they are really rare. Maybe even 1st
season LE rare. But unfortunately, they are not sellable. Although they were,
but not for a long time. Reason for this – copyright issues. The clothes
themselves are really nice and have great graphics too, they look different
from other brands. When spoilers appeared, people thought it was new LE
collection. Since they are not sellable, it’s hard to estimate the prices. I
believe they have the same value, as first season LE and MKA RC, however, I might be wrong.
She was sorry...
Migliukee should be "thankful" for this person
Thank you for reading, sugar_girl23
Next post about first season LE is coming soon.
