In summary: Brandon Stanton is a New York-based photographer who runs the excellent Humans of New York page, where he posts his slice-of-life images of everyday New Yorkers and their fascinating outfits to more than half a million followers. Perfect content for an NY-centric fashion brand, no? DKNY agreed and approached Stanton with a promo opportunity, offering him $15,000 for 300 photos to use in store windows at locations “around the world.”

While interested, Stanton didn’t think the pay was enough and asked for more. DKNY declined but apparently decided to go through with its plan anyway–a fan sent him the featured photo of a window display at a DKNY outlet in Bangkok complete with dozens of his images, used “without [his] knowledge, and without compensation.”

Eww. Bad move.

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The project ran into some controversy recently when Brandon photographed an 18-year old New Yorker named Stella Boonshoft. Stella’s Body Love self-acceptance blog already had a significant online following when she ran into Brandon, but his decision to feature her intimate, underwear-only self portrait on his site increased the attention tenfold. In just over 12 hours, it attracted 270,000 likes, 10,000 shares and 2,600 comments—most supportive but some judgmental and dismissive.

The blog’s tone is unapologetic and somewhat confrontational: on her most-trafficked post, Stella writes “This is my body. Not yours…Meaning my size, IS NONE OF YOUR F*CKING BUSINESS.”

The duo’s viral success earned them an appearance on The Today Show, and this morning they talked to Savannah Guthrie about the trials and tribulations of virtual celebrity:

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