Authorship Dispute Erupts Over ‘Hair Dress’ at the Met’s Costume Institute

Law & Politics Authorship Dispute Erupts Over ‘Hair Dress’ at the Met’s Costume Institute The museum says this dispute is between artist Anouska Samms and her collaborator, designer Yoav Hadari. The museum says this dispute is between artist Anouska Samms and her collaborator, designer Yoav Hadari. Vittoria Benzine ShareShare This Article This year’s Met Gala has come and gone, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s “Costume Art” exhibition that underpinned the soiree’s art historical theme still has intrigue in store. On Instagram, the London-based British sculptor, weaver, and filmmaker Anouska Samms said she had a hand in the creation of one dress on view—Corpus Nervina 0.0 (2023-24), which the Met has attributed entirely to her one-time collaborator, New York-based Israeli fashion designer Yoav Hadari. Samms wants credit, too. In a May 11 reel sharing her side of the story, Samms recounts learning of the garment’s inclusion in “Costume Art” when late fashion legend Alexander McQueen‘s Sarabande Foundation tagged her in a post celebrating its exhibition debut. Samms explained she met an unnamed designer—Hadari—in 2023, when they were both Sarabande residents. That year, they collaborated on the Hair Dress which she claims Corpus Nervina 0.0 resembles. Last year, the Met expressed interest in buying Hair Dress, and including it in “Costume Art.” Alas, those plans fell through by December. “You can understand my shock as I was sitting in my favorite cafe last Sunday to realize after being tagged in an Instagram post that my design was in fact in the Met,” Samms’s callout recounts. “My collaborator was there standing next to it at the opening.” Over video call, Samms told me Hadari first visited her Sarabande studio shortly after she’d moved in—and promptly noticed her hair-based tapestry, Big Mother (2022). Samms has used hair in her art since she started making it, in 2019. As she recalled, Hadari mused that Big Mother would work well as a garment. Samms did not remember Hadari saying hair had ever inspired his designs. Instead, she said, Hadari proposed the collaboration for which Samms devised a handmade, hair-based textile for Hadari. “The hair has to be meticulously sewn onto the garment, onto the dress itself, because it’s quite an open weave,” Samms told me of her proprietary creation. In October 2023, Hadari and Samms signed a contract purportedly drawn up by Sarabande head Trino Verkade. The document outlined the terms of their collaboration, plus any future production, declaring that “Samms is the sole owner of the Intellectual Property of the fabric” and that “the term of use for license of the fabric is one year.” Before committing to art, Samms spent four years as a research fellow at London’s V&A Museum, where she facilitated at least one acquisition. So, when Hadari alerted her of the Met’s interest in their Hair Dress, Samms knew to advocate for herself. She made sure to establish direct contact with the Costume Institute’s lead curator, Andrew Bolton, and confirm that she’d receive credit. Samms also had the Met draft two separate purchase agreements for the dress. But, according to Samms’s lawyer Jon Sharples, that apparently spooked Hadari—who said he planned to withdraw Hair Dress and contribute two other, independently designed looks to the show. A screenshot featured in Samms’s reel shows Bolton telling her that a redacted party “assures me that he has explained his reasoning which is unrelated to the museum.” The Met declined to comment on the dispute, “out of respect for the artists.” In a second Instagram reel shared May 13, Samms said the museum has responded to her claim, leaving it to her and Hadari had to “resolve our differences before they take any action.” Despite the resemblance between Corpus Nervina 0.0 and Hair Dress, Hadari emphasized that he produced the former without Samms’s textile. The Met’s wall text said Corpus Nervina 0.0 consists of “white silk organza hand embroidered with black and white polyester and cotton tweed yarns, and white silk thread.” Samms confirmed none of those materials figured into her fabric. The wall text also omits any mention of hair, instead referencing the human nervous system. ”Per an agreement between the parties, Ms. Samms holds IP rights over that specific textile,” Hadari told me in a statement provided via email. “Those rights do not extend to the design, name, concept, construction, or creative direction of the Nervina Hair Dress, which were entirely Mr. Hadari’s.” On Instagram, Hadari acknowledged that Corpus Nervina 0.0 is “inspired by” his collaboration with Samms. (The designer’s latest bridal collection, which Samms was unaware of until days ago, also bears some resemblance to their original endeavor.) Hadari’s statement doubled down, adding that that he “developed, designed, and constructed the Nervina Corpus 0.0 entirely using his own design direction, techniques, and materials, and referencing a dress he created under his own direction at his company.” Hadari also claimed that Samms declined “multiple paths to resolution.” Hadari’s lawyer called those proposals “confidential.” “However you look at it, neither joint author is entitled to act unilaterally, and neither is entitled to cut the other out,” Sharples told me. Samms maintains that she’s not attacking Hadari. She blames the Met. “It wasn’t like they made a mistake and didn’t do their research properly,” Samms explained. “I’m there in the conversation.” For her, a resolution starts with credit and £1,000 in payment.