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Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer

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emmaduck
06/18/09

In reply to Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer
Does anyone else think the original jacket looks not like two parrots, but like an angry monster face?
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
06/18/09

@emmaduck: I see one big monster face. The lapels are its eyes. It's clearly angry.
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
06/18/09

In reply to Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer
Um... this is where most designers' stuff comes from, as far as I can tell. Not an inspirational sketchpad. Ask anyone who works in vintage clothing, or does design work in New York. They send out minions to shows (or occasionally have the gall to show up themselves), haggle the hell out of vendors, then copy the pieces they buy for $50-1oo and sell them for $1000+ apiece (times 1000s of pieces).
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ihateyourescalade
06/18/09

In reply to Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer
I think any us who wear H&M or Forever 21 knockoffs of Balenciaga looks really can't throw stones.
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CassetteLove
06/18/09

In reply to Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer
The problem with the Design Piracy Act is that it's going to potentially leave small designers in the lurch- more capital will be spent on government red tape to file designs and lawyering up to protect themselves should some larger firm accuse them of copying a v-neck sweater.

If a small designer finds themselves on the other side of the coin, and looking to sue a large corporation, again, who stands a better chance with the outcome, those with a team of copyright attorneys or the indie label?

I think some protective regulation is necessary to protect smaller designers- but it needs to be much more defined than this act, and not some "database" that each designer must exhaustively clear before producing a piece of clothing. Perhaps it's best to start it out regulating the designs of the most pirated items- handbags- and see where it goes from there.
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meritxell: an erotic life
06/18/09

@CassetteLove: Well, seeing as how fashion designs are currently not protected at all under copyright, I'd think that some protection would be welcome.

The problem of access to justice occurs all across the legal spectrum. Whenever there's a little guy and a big guy, the little guy is going to be prevented from suing just out of convenience. Here at least they have a cause of action and can settle, as opposed to having no recourse at all.
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Penny
06/18/09

In reply to Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer
I should also add that while I do not work in fashion, I do a lot of designing/art directing and I can say that it does not take long for your mind to become entirely cluttered with images and information. Paired with the size of the design teams and the speed involved in apparel, I would not be surprised if a lot of this happens inadvertently.

Basically, these designers are not standing at their forms with a photo of something they plan on copying. Unless they are, in fact, copying it.
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EkaterinaBallerina
06/18/09

@Penny: Which I imagine happens a lot at Forever 21. The Trovata case? ONE jury member out of the six thought it was okay, the rest were willing to throw it at the company. If you look at the side-by-side comparisons, it's obvious it was done intentionally and it's obvious whomever did it thought they wouldn't get caught because Trovata isn't a well-known brand.

You're right, there is definitely inspiration in design. Designers can be inspired by each other or by places, art, etc. But some of these cases, including the ones Forever 21 keeps getting embroiled in are in fact copying. A designer is trying to shortcut their work and decides to just copy, piece by piece, something they see in a magazine, online, etc.
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Penny
06/18/09

@EkaterinaBallerina: The Trovata case was definitely an example of straight up copying. I remember seeing the items.
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EkaterinaBallerina
06/18/09

@Penny: I also meant to say I know exactly what you mean about the images in your head. I used to want to go into fashion design and one of the big things I always came around was how much my designs would have been similar to designs I'd already seen. The line between copying and inspiring is really fine.
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EkaterinaBallerina
06/18/09

In reply to Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer
Diane von Furstenberg, champion of the designer copyright bill, got caught copying a lesser-known Canadian label not long ago.

Her response? She settled out of court, publicly apologized and removed the offending garment from the collection and from stores (which all leads me to believe someone on her design team was the actual offender).

She was wrong to steal in the first place, but at least she owned up to her own hypocrisy and made amends.
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Penny
06/18/09

In reply to Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer
This topic can become very complicated. My stance is this: a copy/knock-off is not the same as an inspired piece. And an inspired piece can look pretty damn near similar to it's source.

I would put the jacket in the latter category. I would put the "fake" motorcycle bag (which, I....owned) in the former category because it's an exact copy.

From what I have seen of the Forever 21 pieces, some are total knock-offs, but most I am okay with.

Fashion is art, and any artist will be inspired by countless things.
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stoprobbers
06/18/09

In reply to Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer
I think the instance of "copying" is clearer in the second example than the parrot jacket example. The sleeves are remarkably similar, but the rest of the jacket, in my opinion, departs from the orginal design enough for it to truly be inspired by the original.

The second one... well that's basically a copy with different colors.
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vamusical
06/18/09

In reply to Balenciaga Rips Off San Francisco Designer
A fashion company ironically named as a musical instrument company? In San Francisco? ...They're run by hipsters, aren't they.
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hfree
06/18/09

@vamusical: hippie psychedlic hipsters
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vamusical
06/18/09

I'd love for a day to go by around here when I didn't have someone jump down my throat for making a stupid joke. Just one day.
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PreposterousHypothesis
06/18/09

@vamusical: I laughed! Do you want me to be your personal joke monitor tomorrow? I'm in a take-down kind of mood, and also, I cannot let anyone go undefended when mocking hipsters, and San Francisco, breeding place of hippies, who then bred hipsters. Even the yuppies are hipsters in SF, because they're being ironically corporate. :) (I used to live in SF. It's all in love!)
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