Designers lose thousands over scammer stylist

By

Kate Dingwall

Published
Dec 1, 2016

A so-called professional stylist has stolen thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from designers around the world. Arnaud Henry Mensan has been reaching out to PR firms and designers, claiming to be a freelance fashion stylist working on shoots for Elle, Bullett, I-D, AnOther, and Dazed and never returning the merchandise. He has since stolen over $40,000 worth of samples.

Mensan claimed to be a freelance fashion editor and stylist, whose past editorial credentials include Vogue, W, Nylon, and Numero, among many others. Mensan also boasted a supposed spot on Business of Fashion’s annual top 500 fashion influencers list.

Mensan was largely able to get away with this fraud due to his active Instagram account. Prior to the deactivation this morning, Mensan was followed by over 92,000 Instagram users. Mensan would frequently post images of high-fashion editorials stolen from real publications, claiming styling credit for himself.

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As the story came to light, many designers have told their story of Mensan’s fraud. Parisian leather goods label Berluti lent Mensan $12,000 worth of merchandise for consideration in an upcoming Dazed photoshoot, or so they thought. After delivering the merchandise to Mensan, Mensan disappeared from all methods of communication, taking the merchandise with him. Berluti never saw its pieces featured in Dazed. This has happened to several designers in the past two years, including American designer Bradley Jordan and Sadie Clayton.

Authorities are now investigating the case. Anyone who is contacted by the fake stylist is told to contact Dazed immediately.