Presented by:

Lucas Espinoza, MA

I see. You think that [fashion] has nothing to do with you.
You go to your closet and you select . . . that lumpy blue
sweater. . . . But what you dont know is that that sweater is
not just blue. Its not turquoise. Its not lapis. Its actually
cerulean. And youre also blithely unaware of the fact that in
2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns.
And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasnt it, who
showed cerulean military jackets? . . . And then cerulean
quickly showed up in the collections of eight different
designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the
department stores and then trickled on down into some
tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of
some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions
of dollars and countless jobs and its sort of comical how
you think that youve made a choice that exempts you from
the fashion industry when, in fact, youre wearing a sweater
that was selected for you by the people in this room.
~Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada
Fashion is one of the worlds most important creative
industries.
The term implies change; in the production,
marketing, and purchase of apparel, change is fast
and furious.
It is a major output of a global business with annual
U.S. sales of more than $200 billionlarger than
those of books, movies, and music combined
Everyone wears clothing and inevitably participates in
fashion to some degree.
Subject of periodically rediscovered fascination in
virtually all the social sciences and the humanities
The desire to be in fashion
Has the attention of federal policymakers, as
Congress considers whether to provide
copyright protection for fashion design
Commonly thought to express individuality,
and simultaneously to exemplify conformity.
Fashion is different from literature, music,
and art, where legal protection from copying
is thought to be necessary to provide
producers an incentive to create
About property protection and fashion design
A debate in which the fashion industry finds
itself divided and argues for a limited right
against design copying
Intellectual property law plays a role in
shaping the quantity and the direction of
innovation produced by the fashion industry
and made available for consumption by
people who wear clothing
This act of copying is entirely legal in the United
States
Law does not protect fashion designs.
This lack of protection allows a "design pirate" to
look at a photograph or display of a $600 Oscar de
la Renta pump, and make an exact replica and sell
the shoe on the mass market without violating any
law
Copyright law views fashion designs not primarily
as artistic works, but rather as useful articles, and
useful things are not granted copyright protection.
This rule reflects the fact that useful things are
supposed to be the domain of patent law
Clothing designs virtually never qualify for patent
protection, because they are almost never novel
i.e., truly new
Fashion brands are fully protected by
trademark law, but most imitators know
enough not to copy the labels.
Designers turn out apparel that is inspired
by another designers work, but adds some
new element that results in a garment that
looks similar but not identical
Copying is an important element of the
trend-making process.

Dominated by clean cut casual trendy style
reflected in health conscious lifestyles
Designers: Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Tommy
Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Geoffrey Beene, Oscar
De La Renta, Gucci, & Carolina Herrera
The Academy Awards are the most watched show
for fashion.
Copies those dresses worn by actresses on
television, in movies, and, most importantly, at
awards shows like the Oscars.
Indeed, the dresses are identified by photos of
stars such as Eva Longoria and Keira Knightly
wearing the original designs.
$200 and $500 less expensive than the multi-
thousand dollar designer creations they imitate
http://www.faviana.com/catalog/category-
celebrity-dresses

Donna Karan
Calvin Klein
Forever 21

Imitation isnt just the
sincerest form of flattery,
its also the most
productive.










Copying has hidden benefits.
Styles, as we all know, rise and fall in a
ceaseless cycle of trends.
As copies of trendy or noteworthy garments
are freely made, fashion-forward consumers
recognize that its time to jump to the new
thing
Produce designs that are on trend by
referencing others work,, and they look
enough alike that we recognize them as a trend
Copying helps to create trends.
It then helps to destroy them: as more and
more designers hop on to a trend, the look
becomes overdone, and the most fashion-
forward consumers hop off.
Copying accelerates the fashion cycle.

Right now, thousands of uncounted designers
are busy churning out new designs.
And they are also busy copying and
interpreting one another.

Hemphill, C. Scott. The Law, Culture, and
Economics of Fashion. Stanford Law Review,
Vol. 61, March 2009.
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/20
07/09/24/070924ta_talk_surowiecki
http://www.freakonomics.com/2010/03/03/
behind-the-scenes-of-oscar-fashion/
http://www.freakonomics.com/2010/03/03/
behind-the-scenes-of-oscar-fashion/