Jezebel: copycats

This Takes Guts

Dodai — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:40:00 EDT

Remember Slim Goodbody, the show that aired in the mid- to late-'80s, where the dude wore a bodysuit with intestines on it? Check out the leotard Katy Perry "designed" for H&M. We can't get too pissy, though, because her item is for charity. [Nitrolicious]

Out Of Style

Dodai — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:20:00 EDT

A reader writes: "I live in Bangladesh, where the nakshi kantha is a well-known form of folk art embroidery. Through 20 years of hard work, this art has been carefully revitalized in order to provide livelihoods to thousands of otherwise destitute Bangladeshi village women. The designs have been fully researched and documented by scholars, and the products are sold through various NGO retail outlets like Aarong and Kumudini. They are a source of deep pride among Bangladeshis... [and] while surfing the web late last night, I found myself on the Hermes website, looking at their scarves, when one particular design gave me a start. Are Hermes' 'artists' co-opting these indigenous designs for their own profit? Oh, wait, they did add some Hs to the design, so it must be original! Retail price of an actual silk nakshi kantha at an NGO outlet: $5-$15. Retail price of Hermes scarf: $355." (An authentic Bangladeshi nakshi kantha is on the left; Hermes scarf is on the right.)

So we don't know who made the decision to...

Dodai — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:45:00 EST

So we don't know who made the decision to style Johnny Depp's hair for the movie version of Sweeny Todd but we do know that his 'do is channeling the late Susan Sontag. It's her iconic streak! Maybe Depp is trying do pay tribute to the New York intellectual? Click the picture to see the cover shot. [EW]

Jessica Seinfeld: The New James Frey? Or Kaavya Viswanathan?

Jennifer — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:30:00 EDT

More trouble in Oprah-author land! The talk show host's new bestselling BFF, Jessica Seinfeld, is being questioned over her guru guide on healthy eating for kids,Deceptively Delicious. Today's New York Times and Wall Street Journal report that Ms. Seinfeld's book bears an uncanny resemblance to a cookbook already out on the market, The Sneaky Chef. Sneaky Chef author Missy Chase Lapine, who initially struggled to find a publisher for her book (published this past April), tells the Times that she's "uncomfortable [that] those unusual combinations that I thought would brand me as a lunatic showed up [in Seinfeld's book], too." Adds her publisher, Perseus' David Steinberger: "We agree that the books appear to be very similar in many ways."

In addition to similarities between the recipes and cover treatments for both books, the Times reports that that Ms. Seinfeld's publisher, Collins, rejected Ms. Lapine's book proposal because it was "too similar" to another book on its list but agreed to meet with Seinfeld when she submitted her proposal two weeks later "because of her name and her agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh of William Morris" (Walsh, as you may remember, was the onetime agent of notorious coed cribber Kaavya Viswanathan):

Ms. Walsh described Ms. Seinfeld as "smart, stunning, and infinitely promotable" in a cover letter.

Ah, yes, the old "basically in order to be successful at anything at all you need to be hot" saw! It's a sad world, and we feel for Ms. Lapine. But seriously, if your genius book idea is about concealing wholesome, substantial nourishment behind the mask of "junk food," can you really be mad when the junk food wins?.

How to Get Junior to Eat His Veggies Turns Out To Be (Too) Common Knowledge [NY Times]
How Another Seinfeld Scored Her Own Big Hit [WSJ]
Earlier:Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious: Kinda Deceptive, Not So Delicious
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