fashion piracy
Jun. 11th, 2009 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonHappened across this article about the Design Piracy Prohibition Act over at Final Fashion.
Like the author, I don't think I have the knowledge or background to completely comprehend what they're trying to do, but I agree that I think fashion isn't something that lends itself to copyright easily. Patterns, maybe (IIRC, some of the Fashion Workshop patterns are Vogue Miyakes, with minor changes so as not to be exact copies), but the nature of fashion is to knock off, and knock off, and knock off... besides, there are only so many ways to drape fabric on a body, and for reasons of mass production all but the hautest of couture is going to be fairly similar (shoulder seams, side seams, darts for shape, sleeves cut for length..)
What if Vionnet had copyrighted the bias cut, or Claire McCardell retained lifetime + 70 years on her use of jersey for swimsuits? Hell, where would McCardell have been without Vionnet's work?
Like the author, I don't think I have the knowledge or background to completely comprehend what they're trying to do, but I agree that I think fashion isn't something that lends itself to copyright easily. Patterns, maybe (IIRC, some of the Fashion Workshop patterns are Vogue Miyakes, with minor changes so as not to be exact copies), but the nature of fashion is to knock off, and knock off, and knock off... besides, there are only so many ways to drape fabric on a body, and for reasons of mass production all but the hautest of couture is going to be fairly similar (shoulder seams, side seams, darts for shape, sleeves cut for length..)
What if Vionnet had copyrighted the bias cut, or Claire McCardell retained lifetime + 70 years on her use of jersey for swimsuits? Hell, where would McCardell have been without Vionnet's work?
