Making the Front Page of The New York Times Today: The Fashion Copy-Cat Outrage!

Left, a dress from the Versace Spring/Summer '07 collection, which retailed for $1,685 when it was offered by Neiman Marcus this spring. On the right from Bebe, which sells their most expensive comparable dress for about $130. Forever 21 also sold a similar dress later in the summer.

Adding to the copyright debate....on today's front page of the NY Times and coinciding very purposely with New York fashion week:

"Before Models Can Turn Around, Knockoffs Fly'

Having worked deep within the depths of this issue (particularly in how items are manufactured for big department stores private labels), I've seen first hand how the 'copying' process goes down, and it ain't' pretty girls. New York is a mecca for companies whose sole purpose it is to dissect emerging trends and translate (aka copy/steal) them into affordable pieces carried by large mainstream stores and small alike.

The NY Times article does a great job of revealing the process behind the scenes. Oh, and however which way you feel about the issue, I couldn't leave out this fantastic quote from the copycat designer they focused on:

"She sees her work meeting the needs of the vast majority of consumers who cannot afford designer prices. “Especially the younger girls do not have so much money,” Ms. Anand said, “but they want to wear fashionable clothes.”

“They want to look fabulous,” she said. “It’s their right to look fabulous.”

Love it.

Enjoy!

Celebrity Fashion Lines: The Demise of the 'Real' Designer?

The 'celebrity perfume' phenom seems like its been around for ages, but the recent furious increase in 'celebrity fashion lines' (think SJP, the Olsen Twins, JLo, Kate Moss, Madonna, Kylie Minogue....Oy it gets tiring just typing the masses in) has some critics questioning where this leaves the 'real designers'?

The NY Times featured the topic in today's Style section, check it out!

Thoughts?? Much as I love MK and Ashley (and the new 'Row' line), I gotta admit that the whole thing (more-so the Madonna/Kate Moss/H&M/Topshop bit) does seem like a bit of a celebrity wash. Some lines appear solid like 'The Row', others seem just lame, such as SJP's 'Bitten'. The fact that celebrities have so much more financial capital to build upon and the tails of their success, seems to give an unfair advantage in an extremely cut-throat and competitive arena. Is fashion going the way of pop music? Are we selling out in some way? How much of a free-market approach is 'too-much' when it comes to the creative arts like fashion?

It appears to me that too often money is driving fashion rather than talent.

Tween Shopping Habits

Read this yesterday in the NY Times Style section.

Yikes.

The article points to a disturbing trend among the 'tween' age bracket of girls, essentially caught between childhood and growing up, who have become a HUGE market for the consumer driven economy of fashion.

I love fashion, I love shopping but I firmly believe that kids ought to be kids. I had that chance as (what I think of) a child (that is 12 and under...tho I would argue more for 13) to climb trees and have tea parties, and essentially still be a kid.

There will be time enough for being grown up when adulthood with all its inescapable responsibilities comes. Young girls should feel free to be kids, for that still brief but precious time before the rat race descends. I feel like the older I get the more I see younger and younger girls trying to look older and older. How has our culture come to this? Dress-up is fine, but young girls need time to be just that; GIRLS.

What do you think? Has commercialization gone too far in creating and marketing fashion to 9 year-olds?

(Image courtesy of The New York Times)

"Amazing Girls": The New York Times Explores the Struggle that Girls Face in "Being All they Can Be"

For your reading pleasure. The Sunday Times had an excellent article on the so-called "Amazing Girls", high-school aged women who are struggling with the pressures to be smart, successful and beautiful, competing to get into the best Colleges and Universities and still be "hot". True, we have so many more opportunities now, but is it even harder to succeed? I remember feeling immense pressure to have stellar grades and look amazing in High School. Do we have time to do homework and our hair?

Read it here.

Rachel Zoe, Love her or Loathe her: Girl has Presence.

Rachel Zoe (nee Rosenzweig) seems always to be at the epicenter of some gossip scene. Styling the likes of Kiera Knightley, Mischa Barton, Lindsay Lohan and formerly Nicole Richie (who could forget their highly publicized split last fall), Ms. Zoe has garnered the respect of the fashion community while also raising eyebrows for her rather 'in the limelight' persona, running counter to what many believe should be a low-profile position as the stylist not the star.

Zoe is featured in this weeks NY Times Thursday Styles section. Read it here.