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Former Marie Claire editor, favorite subject of street-style photographers the world over, and newly named artistic director of online high-end shopping site Moda Operandi Taylor Tomasi Hill has been caught red-handed doing something very un-high-end: copying designer fashions. For the new collection Tomasi Hill "designed" for Hong Kong-based department store Lane Crawford, it appears she knocked off a Marc by Marc Jacobs dress from 2008. And as if that weren't enough, Tomasi Hill also copied a blue striped Comme des Garçons shirt — a Comme des Garçons shirt she just happens to have been photographed wearing, by the Sartorialist, in 2009. This is far from the first time a non-designer has been caught knocking off her own clothes for a namesake line — Rachel Zoe, Kate Moss, Lindsay Lohan, and Rachel Bilson have been documented doing the same — but it is a bit unusual that Tomasi Hill copied things that are practically brand new. The smarter knock-off artist always copies vintage things; it's harder to get caught, and there's always the defense that you were just bringing back into style (albeit uncredited) something that hadn't been in stores for decades. [Elle, Fashionista] More »
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Kim Kardashian flew to Australia not only to "escape" media scrutiny following her announcement that she was divorcing her husband of 1728 hours, Kris Humphries: she also went there to launch her Kardashian Kollection handbag line. Which apparently includes the Kardashians' versions of some of the world's most knocked-off bags: Balenciaga's "Part Time," Chloé's "Marcie," and Foley + Corinna's "City Bag." Earlier this year, the Kardashian Kollection knocked off a well-known Botkier bag. In the graphic above, each Kardashian Kopy is on the left. Kim kapitalized on the konfusion between kopy and kreation by karrying an actual Balenciaga at her first Australian public appearance. More »
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Last month, Urban Outfitters drew popular ire — and threats of legal action from the Navajo Nation — for advertising such products as the "Navajo Flask" and the "Navajo Hipster Panty." The tribe owns a variety of trademarks on the term "Navajo," including one covering clothing — meaning that legally speaking, calling a non-Navajo-made product "Navajo" is as dodgy as calling a non-Chanel-made product "Chanel." More »
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In addition to its history of labor violations, Forever 21 has been sued more than 50 times for allegedly stealing the work of other designers and passing it off as their own. Despite this long legal history, Forever 21 continues to get away with it: The chain has never lost one of these cases in court. More »
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Apparently, some people who buy counterfeit purses eventually migrate to buying the real thing. Here comes another round in the age-old "counterfeiting hurts sales" vs. "counterfeiting helps sales" argument. More »
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Urban Outfitters is denying that it copied Truche designer Stevie Koerner's state-with-a-heart-in-it necklace. The company, which is owned by prominent Republican donor Dick Hayne, points out that many designers have made jewelry that includes a heart and a representation of a geographical place, and that the combination of the two elements is essentially generic. (Which it probably is — no matter who came up with the design first, it is probably not copyrightable under U.S. law.) "We are not implying that Koerner stole her necklace idea from one of these other designers, we are simply stating the obvious — that the idea is not unique to Koerner and she can in no way claim to be its originator." Urban Outfitters, which has a long and well-documented history of pilfering designs from less well-known artists, also mentions that it wouldn't ordinarily stoop to publicly discussing this kind of thing, except that "the media response to her campaign is threatening to impact the dozens of independent designers we work with on a daily basis. For many of them, having their work sold at Urban Outfitters is a very positive turning point in their careers, and we will not allow their hard work and commitment, or ours, to be undermined by these false allegations." We reckon they're just afraid of Miley Cyrus. For a catalog of other, similar jewelry designs sold on Etsy and elsewhere prior to both Koerner's and Urban Outfitters' versions, check out this post on Regretsy. [Urban Outfitters] More »
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Well, this is unexpected and refreshing! Miley Cyrus got all het up on the Twitter about...Urban Outfitters. "Not only do they steal from artists," she wrote in an update tagged #SHADYASHELL, "but every time you give them money you help finance a campaign against gay equality." Could the singer have been referring to this specific instance, or to Urban Outfitters' long history of shady dealings with other people's intellectual property? Then she wrote: "'IF WE ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE THEN NEXT THING U KNOW PEOPLE WILL BE MARRYING GOLD FISH' - Rick Santorum UO contributed $13,000 to this mans [sic] campaign." Actually, it was $13,150. More recently, Urban Outfitters company president and founder Richard Hayne and his wife have given $2,250 to Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who rates a 0 from NARAL Pro-Choice American and voted against financial reform because, "The problem was not mainstream banks. We need to make sure that we don't over-regulate the mainstream banks so they can't loan to small business." Miley again: "Love that everyone is hating on Urban Outfitters." [@MileyCyrus] More »
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Copycat emporium Urban Outfitters has selected its latest victim: Chicago-based jewelry designer Stevie Koerner. Koerner told me she has been making her line of jewelry shaped like countries and U.S. states, with a cut-out heart in each, for two and a half years. She produces her designs in silver and bamboo, and they range in cost from $26 for a bamboo "I Heart Wisconsin" necklace to $100 for a pair of silver "I Heart Minnesota" cufflinks. More »
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The news that O.G. socialite-turned-HSN costume jewelry designer Iris Apfel's creations are less than original should — to anyone who pays attention to the celebrity clothing line industrial complex — be less than surprising. The story here is that Apfel, whose taste in jewelry is deservedly famous, was approached to do a line for HSN. Apfel apparently did what most celebrity "designers" do: she turned over some of her own favorite pieces to be knocked off. And when it comes celebrity designers, this is far from the first time that's happened.

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In February 2009, Chris Devers took a picture of an old Jaguar, and posted it on his Flickr photostream. Yesterday, someone contacted Devers, writing: "This photo is on an outfit my wife bought at Baby Gap." More »
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The top row of shirts is by Forever 21. The bottom row is by a small California-based label called Trovata. Welcome to a peek behind the curtain at secretive, cult-y, and very rapidly growing fast-fashion chain Forever 21. More »
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• Retailers are crossing their fingers that you will buy some shit on Friday. Pretty please? Sam's Club is opening at 5a.m. — with complimentary breakfast. Target and J.C. Penney open at 4 a.m., with the latter offering 300+ "doorbusters." [WWD]

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When Fleur Delacour married William Weasley on August 1, 1997, according to the canonical text, she wore a simple white dress and an heirloom tiara. For the movie adaptation, the dress was considerably sexed up. More »
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Luke Song — milliner of the chapeau Ms. Franklin wore to Obama's inauguration — claims the hat "attracted more media attention" than "the performance itself" and is suing the makers of knock-offs. Has he seen the Ashro catalog? [TSG] More »
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On last night's episode, the concept of the photo shoot was to "raise awareness" for an apparently worthy cause: the sinister business of designer knockoffs. It robs the fashion industry by making the fashion industry unable to rob consumers! More »
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• If you share our concerns about the lovely Alexa Chung's posture, you will not find her Vogue UK cover, or the editorial that goes with it, particularly soothing. [ONTD]

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Says an MIT researcher: "People are more likely to identify a designer handbag as authentic if the individual carrying it wears expensive clothes or has a certain aura that says rich person." [Bloomberg] More »
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A beauty pageant costume has sparked hostilities between Peru and Bolivia. Peru's Miss Universe candidate wore a devil costume and performed the traditional dance La Diablada, which Bolivian officials claim is a rip-off of their culture. [UPI, WSJ] More »
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• Leighton Meester made the September cover of Harper's Bazaar, and inside the magazine printed digitally-altered photos of the actress, intended to show how she will age. At 23, Meester is already a supporter of Botox. [WWD]

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• The UK supermarket chain Asda has knocked off the Fall '09 Balmain dress that Kate Moss wore out dancing — and burst the seams of — two months ago. Asda's version costs just £16. [Telegraph]

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Unimpressed with the premiere episode of The Fashion Show, we stopped watching. But a few readers emailed us about last night's episode, in which the designers had to create outfits for "real women," and failed. So we checked it out. More »
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Last night Bravo premiered The Fashion Show, and even the hosts of the series hated what they saw. More »
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In 2008, MIT Professor Dan Ariely got an unexpected thank-you for presenting at a conference: a Prada bag. Carrying the bag made him feel different. Special, even. So he decided to study branding and behavior. More »
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Shopping in H&M over the weekend, this pale blue skirt caught my eye. Isn't it incredibly similar to designs by Project Runway winner Leanne Marshall? Click to enlarge and see examples of Leanimal's work. More »
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• Americans' chances at getting a fake Gucci bag or fake Chanel sunglasses just decreased, big time. Last night brought about one of the largest counterfeit busts in recent history, with 29 people arrested, $230 million in merchandise seized, and $1 million in cash found and collected. [WWD]

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