TFG Exclusive: Judging Fashion

While shopping the "Leather" section on the American Apparel website, we came across an awesome handbag that reminded us a lot of Céline's Trapeze bag, the latest IT design from the French fashion house. True, American Apparel's color variations are slightly different. But the distinct shape and use of contrasting colors are very similar. While American Apparel has been in a lot of legal and business trouble the last few years, their apparel and accessories lines have generally avoided any major copying issues, especially for a fast-fashion retailer. We were surprised to see them produce such a similar version of the Céline bag. It was also surprising to see the American Apparel design advertised on a banner on the Style.com website. But perhaps we are getting ahead of ourselves. Time for our readers to play the role of a fashion lawyer and tell us how they would argue this case- inspired-by trend or line-by-line copy?

Céline Trapeze (left) vs. American Apparel Envelope Case (Right)

  

TFG Exclusive: Judging Fashion

Julie Zerbo, founder of The Fashion Law, has done it again. You may remember our previous post on our friend and fashion lawyer/blogger after she called out Chanel for producing a jewelry collection that contained pieces that were "eerily similar" to those in Pamela Love's collection. In response to The Fashion Law's post, Chanel chose not to produce the designs out of respect to Pamela Love.

This week, The Fashion Law called out an emerging designer, Nuj Novakhett, whose capsule collection with Jaspal proved to be a copy of most of Cushnie et Ochs 2012 collection. As a result of her post, Jaspal took down the Facebook pictures of the line. We here at The Fashion Grid were pretty stunned to see the similarities in the designs and to learn that the infringing party was another emerging designer and not a fast-fashion retailer. We are dedicating this "Judging Fashion" post on The Fashion Law's story to see what you think. Is the design below from Novakhett's capsule collection for Jaspal a line-by-line copy? You know where we stand.

Novakhett for Jaspal (left) & Cushnie et Ochs F/W 2012 (right)

TFG Exclusive: Judging Fashion

It's time for our TFG readers to play the role of a fashion lawyer, where we compare two items of fashion under the standards of the IDPPPA and determine if they are line-by-line copies or inspired-by trends. In our last post, we compared Cartier's Aldo Cipullo's iconic nail bracelet to CC Skye's nail bracelet, and the results of the poll showed that 62.5% of TFG readers thought CC Skye's bracelet was an inspired-by trend and 37.5% thought that it was a line-by-line copy. In this post, we compare Louis Vuitton's Spring 2012 metal cap toe heel, with Zara's rendition of the trend (exhibits below). As TFG's fellow fashion lawyer, what do you think? 

      Louis Vuitton (left) vs. Zara (right)

TFG Exclusive: Judging Fashion

Today, TFG is launching its new series "Judging Fashion" where we have all our readers play the role of a fashion lawyer and answer a poll question. Just compare the two selected items of fashion and decide if you think they are copies or trends. Fashion lawyers consider a copy to be substantially identical, or a line-by-line copy of the original fashion work. In contrast, a trend has general similarities, but with significant enough variations to avoid infringement issues. And don't worry, you don't have to be a fashion lawyer to take this easy poll. Just compare the items and vote. TFG wants to hear what our readers think!

We begin this series with Cartier's latest "It" bracelet. The jeweler re-launched the Aldo Cipullo's iconic nail bracelet from the 1970s. CC Skye had launched a similar design in 2009. While Cartier's nail bracelet was relaunched after the CC Skye nail bangle, the Cartier nail bracelet was clearly an iconic piece from decades earlier. Since jewelry receives copyright protection in the United States, this could pose a potential infringement issue. What do you think? 

      Cartier (right) vs. CC Skye (left)