Sugar by Heidi Brueggeman

The Final Flourish 

Luxe jewels add an elegant touch to any classic button down.

Coco Chanel’s infamous quote, “imitation is the highest form of flattery” seems to have literally gone into the heads of some designers as copying in the fashion industry appears to be at an all time high. In such a creative industry it’s hard not to take references into account. Designers are always looking for inspiration from their peers but when this admiration produces copies, someone needs to step in.

Books, inventions, sculptures, paintings, drawings, and architecture are all unequivocally protected under United States intellectual property laws but there is not a single law specifically dedicated to the protection of fashion represented in a design. Therefore, a lot of copying is completely legal in the United States and the amount of lawsuits we hear about does not actually match up with the amount of copies essentially at hand. In the United Kingdom and France, intellectual property rights are seen as pervading the freedom of competition and thus copying is common there as well. The law almost seems like it favors copycats – the absence is to encourage competition and increase trade instead of allowing control of designs.

However, the fashion industry is not shy to call out these copycats on social media. If one person finds a copy, it spreads quickly and becomes common information. Although legal action may not always be taken, it can be shameful to be called out as fake on social media. Moreover, there’s something unfulfilling about fakes because no matter how “good” they are, you’ll always know that it’s not the real thing.

In the short run, you could say that yes, imitation is a form of flattery because it means that your design is well liked. Nonetheless, copying is also stealing the most important asset a designer has, creativity. What do you think? Is imitation a form of flattery or is it theft?