‘Where’s his holiday spirit?’: Influencer accosted by Ralph Lauren employee for filming on the sidewalk
An influencer claims she was 'harassed' by a Ralph Lauren employee after posing for photos on the sidewalk in front of the store— it turns out, she has a history of being kicked out of the store.
In a TikTok posted Nov. 20, creator Gabriela Vascimini @gab_nyc stands on the sidewalk in front of an archway outside of the Ralph Lauren flagship store in New York City, decorated with greenery for Christmas. Vascimini, known for her fashion and "day in my life" videos, often records herself in public, showing off her outfits. This all went south when a Ralph Lauren employee intervened, asking her to stop filming outside the store.
"POV: you're minding your business taking holiday pictures with your cute Ralph's cup on the NYC sidewalk and a Ralph Lauren employee comes out of the store to harass & threaten you," she wrote in her video's text overlay.
@gab_nyc where’s his holiday spirit? (and common sense…) #newyorkcity #nyc #nycinfluencer #ralphscoffee #ralphlauren ♬ original sound - gab
As Gab is posing for a video on the sidewalk, a man comes out of the store and tells her to leave, as taking photos in the archway is not allowed. "On the sidewalk, not in the arch," he says. When Vascimini pushes back, insisting that she was only on the sidewalk, the employee then tells Vascimini that he has her picture, and that he'll alert the police if she continues to harass him.
"He was claiming that we weren't allowed to take pictures 'in the arch' but as shown in the video we were far from underneath the arch in the middle of the public NYC sidewalk," Vascimini wrote. "So disappointing that customers are being treated like this."
This incident is far from Vascimini's first run-in with Ralph Lauren. In fact, the influencer boasts that she has been kicked out of Ralph Lauren's flagship Madison Avenue location at least four times since 2021, when she first began to post videos of herself posing in the store's stairwell. She was kicked out again in October 2022, for filming videos in the store's stairwell again despite acknowledging later that she knew she was in violation of store rules, and again in December 2022.
Update 6:08pm CT, Dec. 14: In a statement to the Daily Dot, a representative for Ralph Lauren specified that the store does not have a no filming policy, as Vascimini claims, but that blocking entrances and stairs is considered a safety hazard, and is therefore prohibited.
Vascimini has posted several videos openly bragging about filming videos inside the Ralph Lauren store in violation of this policy, including one in which she writes, "Me returning to Ralph Lauren to film TikToks after I got kicked out of Ralph Lauren for filming TikToks." In another video, she criticizes the store for what she interprets as a no filming policy, blaming this perceived policy for the store's empty cafe area.
@gab_nyc where’s my bestie the manager? #uppereastside #newyorkcity #nyc #ralphscoffee #gossipgirl #oldmoney #preppy #ralphlauren ♬ without me eminem - edwardo
Vascimini has acquired a reputation for herself as a habitual violator of the store's policy regarding blocking entrances and stairwells, having made at least 21 videos either inside Ralph Lauren or on the sidewalk in front of the store. Her videos have sparked outrage on TikTok and the Reddit community /InfluencerSnark for her refusal to abide by the store's rules.
Many take issue with Vascimini's assertion that she "made Ralph's Coffee trendy," and that being kicked out is unfair to her personally, as she seems to consider herself responsible for the success of the store's cafe, Ralph's Coffee. Vascimini has cited this alleged achievement several times— when she was kicked out of the store in October 2022, she wrote, "Not me getting kicked out of Ralph Lauren for filming an outfit check like I'm not the reason Ralph's Coffee went viral on TikTok."
In a now-deleted video from August of herself being kicked out of the store yet another time, Vascimini again laments "Influencers made Ralph's Coffee trendy/go viral on TikTok again, and this is how they thank us."
User Blanca Perdomo (@blanca_perdomo) stitched this video, calling Vascimini's behavior "entitled."
@blanca_perdomo #stitch with @gab I love being a content creator but girl read the room. #contentcreator #newyorkcity #nycinfluencer #entitledinfluencers #influencersinthewild #ralphlaurencoffeeshop #ralphlaurenaesthetic #entitlement ♬ original sound - Blanca_Perdomo
"This is why a lot of people have a huge distaste for content creators and influencers," she says. "You are not entitled to their space. They can tell you to get out."
Another TikToker, Sam (@sampanda_) stitched Vascimini's most recent run-in with Ralph Lauren, criticizing the influencer's behavior and shedding light how Vascimini's outfit videos could be disruptive to commerce.
"If you're filming in front of the one entrance to their store, you could 100% be impacting clientele going in there, because they don't want to walk behind your video," Sam says in her video. "They don't want to be in some influencer's video, broadcast to the world, just for going to Ralph Lauren."
The Daily Dot contacted Vascimini via email.
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