Forever 21 is known for pumping out the latest runway-inspired looks even quicker than the original designer, but one company is hoping to slow the fast fashion retailer to a halt. Trovota is suing Forever 21 for copying its designs. The company has been boiling in hot water 50 times over by numerous brands such as Diane von Furstenberg, Anna Sui, and Anthropologie for copyright violations in the past, but this is the first time Forever 21 will be faced in front of a jury who will determine whether it illegally clones other companies’ designs. According to experts, this outcome could result in a revised clarification of designers' intellectual property rights.
(Forever 21 shirts on the top row, Trovata shirts on the bottom row)
Current law only protects original prints or graphics on clothes because they are considered artwork. Trovata's case focuses on Forever 21 copying its unique button placements, decorative stitching, and fabric patterns. "It’s a difficult case, and they are putting up a substantial fight, but we believe that Forever 21 willfully and intentionally copied the designs of our client, in violation of a number of laws,” said Frank Colucci, a lawyer for Trovata.
Matthew Williamson is leaving Pucci at the end of his three year contract. His replacement as creative director is Peter Dundas of Emanuel Ungaro.
Sigerson Morrison is collaborating with Pringle of Scotland. The soft but strong shapes in cream, grey and dusky pink will launch for Spring 2009
Liz Claiborne and Narcisco Rodriguez are at an impasse over the growth of the 15 million dollar niche designer label.
Italians are not scared of ecommerce anymore. Really! Milan's Politecnico University, called MIP, will inaugurate Italy's first master's degree program aimed at creating specialists in online fashion sales. Too bad the internships will happen at Yoox's Emporio Armani store. Usability may not be a core value of the program.
Its a good thing the Prada IPO has been pushed back as sticking to a core money making business has never been something at which the brand excells. And often to very positive effect. Prada's new art project with favored architect Remm Koohlhas? Its called Transformer, which will be unveiled in Seoul, South Korea, next year. Transformer is a tetrahedron structure in lieu of a theater that will accommodate cultural, artistic and fashion events Prada is organizing. If Prada has Koolhas and Chanel has Zaha Hadid which duelling fashion + architect team is the Autobots. And more importantly who are the Decepticons?
Iisli has a pop up store on Bond Street. Iceland Kisan is opening a boutique in Soho. Villa Moda has some serious bling in Bahrain. Good thing they now have the backing of the entire country of Dubai to get fancy. Also fast fashion may be out!
The rich keep getting richer even as America decides to be come a socialist country, thus Valentino’s accessories designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli are going to the ultimate luxury destination with a new couture handbag line. Shopping Couture is a line of bags with just one tote — served up in 10 variations.
Just when you think all possible interesting designer collaborations have been exhausted something new pops up. The frenzy for coolest possible fast fashion line has been won by Swedish retail giant H&M. For its next designer collaboration, H&M is bringing the Japanese avant-garde to the masses with a line by Rei Kawakubo.
A one-time Comme des Garçons for H&M collection is slated to launch in early November as the Swedish fast-fashion giant opens its first stores in Japan: a 10,000-square-foot unit in Tokyo’s Ginza district and a 16,000-square-foot location in hyper-trendy Harajuku. An international rollout will follow.
We are unsure just how the Kawakubo's highly conceptual work will translate into clothing for the hoi polloi. As much as many a young hipster or art student craves a Comme des Garçons look, Kawakubo's designs in cheap polyester could end up leaving the joke on the third estate. The line will include apparel and accessories for women, men, children, and a first for H&M, a unisex fragrance.
While we admit the last time we shopped an H&M collaboration was Stella McCartney three years ago we think we might have to check this one out. But in the end we remain skeptical. Comme des Garcons specializes in deconstructed garments. That austere look works with fine materials and great styling, but go cheap and we are going to look cheap. Her preferred color palette of black, grays, and whites won't help matters either there won't be vibrant prints or colors to distract from the poor construction. On the bright side, draped, frayed, and unfinished materials with the occasional hole or asymmetry means that even if the goods you buy start to disintegrate no one is going to notice. Well, either that or it will look terrible and not in that effortless good way. Thus instead of looking like the boys you will just look like the poverty stricken third estate. Which if you shop this line you probably are anyway.
For more on the collaboration check out Coutorture's community with posts on the subject from ShopDiary, Sugarshock, Shiny Style, and Miss Crew.
Swedish retailer H&M, who we love for our fast fashion fixes, has just added to their umbrella of affordable clothing.
H&M announced that it bought a 60 percent stake in Fabric Scandinavien, the Swedish company that makes Cheap Monday jeans.
In the past couple of years, Cheap Monday has garnered a cult following for their unisex skinny jeans at affordable prices, and are now sold in more than 1,000 stores worldwide, including Urban Outfitters. I wonder if we'll see them pulled out of Urban and stocked in H&M instead?
The much-coveted Kate Moss for Topshop white dress has supposedly been available on the Topshop website since last week. And by that, I mean, it's there, but every time I check to see if it's in stock, it's only half in stock - sizes 6-10 are out of stock, but sizes 12-16 are available.
You'll be happy to know that even if you don't catch hold of the white dress, the Kate Moss for Topshop line is set to work a bit differently than other celebrity/high street collaborations have in the past. Kate has designed four collections for the year - the spring collection was the initial collection that dropped in May, the summer collection just debuted last week, the fall collection, which features tweed pieces and beaded dresses, shows up in August, and the winter collection arrives in October. In between each big collection launch, there will be intermittent additions, such as a collection of bright summer dresses in July. Basically, you will get about as much Kate Moss clothing as your little heart desires!
