Earlier this week, we published a news story on a fraudulent stylist known as Arnaud Henry Mensan. Posing as an editor of Dazed Media, Mensan had managed to steal thousands of pounds’ worth of clothes from brands and designers, who believed he was using them for major magazine photoshoots. The fashion fraud had scammed both emerging and established labels, tricking their representatives into thinking that he was featuring pieces in Elle, Bullett, i-D, AnOther and Dazed. After the costly samples were sent out to his Japanese ‘office’, he then would cut off all contact.

Police are currently investigating his crimes, and Mensan has since deleted all websites and social media accounts associated with his name. Despite that, many designers – including Berluti, Sadie Clayton, Bradley Jordan and Martin Across – have lost tens of thousands to his scams. Here, several more step forward to share their experiences.

BRADLEY DOUGLAS JORDAN, DESIGNER

“Arnaud reached out to me wanting to pull some pieces for various magazines after coming across my brand, Couture Mask. I had just had a mask placed in the 40th anniversary edition of Vogue Mexico, and had provided masks for Rihanna and Tinashe, so it didn’t really occur to me that someone would be making this stuff up. I willingly sent masks and handmade garments to him in two shipments, and he claimed that shipping fees would be reimbursed after production. Luckily, I declared the retail value on the shipments and he was forced to pay taxes (which he complained about). The second was never picked up because the taxes were so ‘high’ on the first shipment and fortunately redelivered back to me. 

“At this point, I was concerned about the first shipment and when it would be returned. He assured me that the photoshoots went on as planned and were great, adding that his assistants were in charge of the return. I received a non-working tracking number, and then communication became even more sporadic. Eventually, I saw through the bullshit and started to receive more enquiries from other designers experiencing the same thing.” 

“His emails got downright weird and he started to insult me. He told me that I didn’t understand the bigger picture, and that he wished he could tell us how the industry works” – Benedict Barrett

ISABELLA WONG, PR

“Last year in April, a ‘Henry Arnaud’ called in for several jewellery pieces for a photoshoot. He said that he was part of an online magazine team based in Tokyo called ‘Paris Invasion’. He said the images would feature on Elle.fr and the print edition of Another Man Magazine, and promised that the samples would be returned. When sending items internationally, we always request a delivery address and contact number. We sent him five pieces with a retail value of £1,400. When chasing up the samples after the shoot in June 2015, he replied saying that he wanted to use the jewellery for another shoot for the fall issue of AnOther Magazine. Since then, after calling repeatedly and emailing for several months, I have heard nothing back from him. I then decided to email the reception at Dazed Media to see if they had knowledge of these photoshoots and they had never heard of ‘Henry Arnaud’ before.” 

JACQUES-ELIE RIBEYRON, DESIGNER 

“After the first Ribeyron SS16 collection last year, we were contacted by Arnaud Henry Mensan concerning a shoot for AnOther Magazine in Japan. As we were quite in a rush, we looked him up quickly and decided he looked legit. We sent him samples valued at around €3,000, before realising after a short while that it had been a scam. I wrote to him a few times, but he stopped replying so we gave up. It was pretty frustrating – especially as we sent him a prototype design which we only had one of.”

BENEDICT BARRETT, DESIGNER

“We had the extremely unpleasant experience of being introduced to Arnaud at Tokyo Fashion Week, where we travelled to represent LA Fashion and present our very first Together California collection. We were introduced to him by fashion week representatives as the new Japanese buyer for Colette and a freelancer from Le Monde. The next morning we awoke to an email from him about how much he loved our pants and scarves, and how he was going to place a large order for Colette. He also asked us to join him that night for drinks and to attend that evening’s shows in the front row with him. We went and met and spent the evening in his company. He praised us a lot, and we had a decent time.

“When we got back, we sent an overnight delivery of one of each style from our first collection – including three really expensive silk scarves, as he said he needed them for his buyer meetings. However, when he said those meetings were in Hong Kong, that raised a red flag. We chased him to return the goods for weeks, but his English would keep falling apart more and more in each subsequent email. He would claim that he couldn’t buy the pieces and that they must have got lost at customs. Then his emails got downright weird and he started to insult me. He told me that I didn’t understand the bigger picture, and that he wished he could tell us how the industry works, and blah, blah, blah...

“Wildly enough, his darkness eventually led us into Colette, and got us to work with a truly bright light in fashion, Mrs Sarah Andelman. Within one year, Together California was in the shop on our own merit. Since then, we have heard from a slew of designers from all around the world with stories about him imitating editors. Eventually, someone from Tokyo emailed me to say that they lived in the same building as Arnaud, and that they ‘wanted to like the guy, but got a really bad feeling one day and Googled him’. He tried to have the police come, but I’ve never heard anything back.” 

If you have had clothing and accessories called in by the fraudulent stylist and editor, get in touch at tips@dazedmedia.com.

All interviews have been edited and condensed for length