[Scott]

i think there's a fine line between what's considered copied and what's influenced when talking of perished designers. and i think nicolas,for example,obviously teetered toward blatant rip offs. if it's to the degree that it looks exactly like a replication,then yes i personally have a problem with that. but if you take elements away and reinterpret them;twist them into your aesthetics,that's fine. but,i think that's slightly different than copying current designers and peers that are still active and still making a strong identity and still creating a strong business. and therein lies an even deeper situation in which the people that do so are taking those ideas and making their own businesses stronger. and alot of the times it is the big designers stealing the smaller designers ideas not other big designers,in fact.