Inspired By? Or Stealing From?

In my last post I showed you some designer inspiration boards to illustrate the how the creative process is evolves through time, often beginning with an initial image or theme and metamorphosing into three dimensional collections of clothing. Just being able to see the photographs side by side helps me understand where their ideas come from and I have found it fascinating to see the choices they make in what to include and what isn’t important enough to make it into the final product. It truly seems like a very personal, creative journey, and one that would be hard to fake. Yet accusations of design fraud are rampant in the industry. Of course, some copying is expected. As soon as the top designer shows are broadcast, there are knock-offs being constructed to sell at much lower price points. Since most couture outfits you see on the runway are priced in the range of thousands of dollars, the twenty dollar knock-offs certainly aren’t impacting the designer’s sales figures—their customers are in radically different spheres. Yet designers are pushing for greater protections for their creations. In such a creative industry, where inspiration is essentially reinterpreting existing work (i.e. copying) and design is such a fluid and often arbitrary process, this is a tricky proposition.

Fashion legal scholar Katelyn N. Andrews of New York University School of Law, has proposed a theory that the legal safeguarding of fashion creations should be viewed as more of a moral rights issue than a copyright one. She argues that the fashion designers who are hurt by cheap copies of their work are injured more on a moral level than an economic one. Essentially, their creations are art and it hurts their feelings when other people take credit for them. Is this sufficient reason to sue someone though? It seems to me that it would be the source of more trouble than it is worth to pursue such lawsuits.

Of course, in the case of unknown designers who have their designs stolen by more famous designers, the impact is much greater—their reputation, future earnings, and potentially entire careers are at stake.This type of dispute is at the heart of a recent lawsuit involving Yoko Ono, who has been accused of stealing a Brooklyn woman's distinctive designs.

Compare the photographs from the New York Post article below:

Designer Haleh Nematzadeh sporting her original designs

From Yoko Ono's new menswear collection

To me it seems pretty clear that the two collections are related, and if it is true that Yoko Ono's team visited Nematzadeh's studio before Ono designed her (first) menswear line, it would be hard to argue that her designs are original, especially given the unique nature of the strategically placed handprint! It actually seems like such blatant theft that I am surprised she would have the audacity to do it. Did she really think she could get away with it? Is design theft so rampant that that well known designers wouldn't bat an eye at taking advantage of a lesser known design artist? If that is the case, are better copyright laws a good idea? How would that affect the way the entire fashion industry functions, when so much of it is run on the idea of trends and designer knock-offs? Is it possible to foster creativity and innovation while also respecting the rights of the original creators?

I guess I'd like to see Yoko Ono's inspiration board before I make any decisions.