INSPIRATION OR STEALING: THE FASHION WAR ON DESIGN ‘COPIES’
By KONyE CHELSEA NWABOGOR although it’s no secret that most up coming designers rely heavily on the ideas of highend designers, these brands typically deny accusations of straight-up plagiarism. and because many of us aren’t accustomed to seeing instances of blatant design theft, we more often than not decide to believe that the creation could simply be an inspiration especially if it falls under an in-trend. sometimes though, it can be too obvious, case in study the featured piece here originally worn by lady Gaga in 2014. it was custom made for her by fashion designer Brandon Maxwell. Fast forward to 2017, a replica piece was recently spotted on Beverly osu from up and coming fashion design house Magnetic elegance. From the colour, to the turban, to the thigh high slit, it is safe to conclude that this is an obvious copy. of course, what complicates fast fashion’s blatant copying of runway designs is that high-end designers copy each other all the time. in fact, some people have argued that copying within fashion speeds up trend cycles and also puts pressure on designers to be even more creative. still, it is the creative industry and so originality is part of the job description. Bearing
LADy GAGA IN this in mind, plagiarism
BRANDON should be discouraged and totally frowned MAxWELL upon. This image when put side by side sparked a debate on social media and while some were of the opinion that copycats dilute brand equity and damage sales, others argued that copycats are, in fact, healthy for the fashion industry, because they keep trend cycles turning. Find below two of the really interesting ones.