The 'Outfit Look-Alikes' Thread

[Nymphaea]

^Wow, that's really bad.

 

[Spike413]

The triangle one, in particular, is so beyond recognizable to anyone who follows or buys men's fashion that one would have to be insane to think no one would notice.

 

[eizhowa]

Some people have no shame.

 

[YohjiAddict]

How come no one ever mentions Pheobe's love for my dear Yohji! the "inspirations" have always been there...

Yohji Yamamoto F/W 96.97 vs. Céline F/W 14.15




Yohji Yamamoto F/W 99.00 vs. Céline F/W 13.14



Sources: archivings.net and nymag.com

 

[GivenchyHomme]

If Zuhair Murad is King of this thread then that must make Phoebe Queen!

 

[Littleathquakes]

Nope, there are a pair of Queens already - they're called Marchesa.

 

[dior_couture1245]

There's another queen, too - Riccardo Tisci! LOLOL
The more you dig, the more you realize that most of his designs are pretty cheap knocks of Helmut Lang.

 

[YohjiAddict]

There's another queen, too - Riccardo Tisci! LOLOL
The more you dig, the more you realize that most of his designs are pretty cheap knocks of Helmut Lang.

That's the main reason why Cathy holds him so dear to her heart ink:

Riccardo and Wang were both biting off Helmut like there was no tomorrow ca. 2010. Their declining hype is, in my opinion, a direct consequence of their inability to offer something interesting when left to their own devices...

But back to Givenchy...Tisci's worst offense has got to be his F/W 10.11, that collection was nothing but a poor imitation of Lang's F/W 03.04 -plus some ugly red lace and a cheesy ski theme

 

[IloveDiorHomme]

Dior HC AW 14

vogue

Balmain AW 16

vogue

 

[Lola701]

There's another queen, too - Riccardo Tisci! LOLOL
The more you dig, the more you realize that most of his designs are pretty cheap knocks of Helmut Lang.

Totally! His menswear is quite obvious but every season, you have an Helmut vibe ( and actual designs) in his womenswear.
+ Don't forget Gaultier! Riccardo also copies Gaultier.

Here's my list of the most copied designers in the past 15 years:

-Nicolas Ghesquiere
-Helmut Lang
-Gianni Versace
-Martin Margiela
-Tom Ford
-Azzedine Alaia
-JP Gaultier
-Miuccia Prada
-CDG
-Yohji Yamamoto

Every season, we literally see obvious copies of those designers. The funniest part is that NG who is one of the most copied designer has also borrowed a lot from the people in that list. But i think it's mostly because those designers were influencial in building his own aesthetic.

 

[IloveDiorHomme]

Totally! His menswear is quite obvious but every season, you have an Helmut vibe ( and actual designs) in his womenswear.
+ Don't forget Gaultier! Riccardo also copies Gaultier.

Here's my list of the most copied designers in the past 15 years:

-Nicolas Ghesquiere
-Helmut Lang
-Gianni Versace
-Martin Margiela
-Tom Ford
-Azzedine Alaia
-JP Gaultier
-Miuccia Prada
-CDG
-Yohji Yamamoto

Every season, we literally see obvious copies of those designers. The funniest part is that NG who is one of the most copied designer has also borrowed a lot from the people in that list. But i think it's mostly because those designers were influencial in building his own aesthetic.

I think Ghequiere has been a lot influenced by Helmut Lang too. But his references are reworked compared to other designers like Riccardo Tisci.

But Helmut Lang has been influenced by Armani etc... It's a funny game.

 

[jeanclaude]

The funniest part is that NG who is one of the most copied designer has also borrowed a lot from the people in that list. But i think it's mostly because those designers were influencial in building his own aesthetic.

And let´s not forget a classic rip-off by Ghesquière, back in 2002:

font:vistelacalle.com

 

[JustABoy]

^It's remarkable that Ghesquière's outright theft of distinctive designs doesn't get more flack. Things like this and that leather jacket with the bird inset....

 

[jeanclaude]

^It's remarkable that Ghesquière's outright theft of distinctive designs doesn't get more flack. Things like this and that leather jacket with the bird inset....

Oh, yes, that´s true! I forgot about that "Parrot" jacket by San Francisco-based East West Musical Instruments, that NG "borrowed" for Balenciaga Cruise 2010 collection:

font:fashionologie.com

I love NG work at Balenciaga; but I don´t know how he dared to copy something so blatantly obvious like this.

 

[Lola701]

Me personally, i don't have anything against copying in a way. Everybody copies.
Even the great masters copied.

I don't find anything wrong with those two copies (and that has nothing to do with the fact that it was copied by NG). I think that copy is a part of a creative process.

I have more problems with "lazy" copies. When Phoebe Philo copied Balenciaga's fw2003 boots for her FW2013 collection, i found it lazy because she is copying something recent in times and fresh in our minds.
The same for Zuhair Murad who is a master in that. I had a hard time with Olivier Rousteing and his obvious love for early 90's Chanel.
The same for Altuzarra and the NYC Guard . Their references are too obvious.

For me, a good copy is when it transcend the original.
I like when the hommages are assumed or when the inspirations are kinda unexpected. Miuccia Prada copying a Courreges piece and making it her own or Tom Ford copying an original Balenciaga piece are the kind of things that i find fascinating.


I feel like we are sometimes too harsh about outfits that look alikes because we assumed that those "new" ideas are always new when in fact the exercice is to make it "fresh".

 

[dior_couture1245]

^^Lola, I completely agree.

It's common industry practice for designers to lift from vintage - sometimes even verbatim - when creating a collection. I don't find any harm in that at all, because who's to say that that vintage piece wasn't inspired, influenced or copied from an even earlier piece? But aside from the technicalities - I agree, Lola, I like when designers can take inspiration from or lift from a vintage piece and put it in an entirely new context. That's exciting and interesting and provoking. That phenomenon works only when a designer has a strong enough point of view and personality that they can absorb different influences and always end up producing something that reads uniquely as their own.

The issue I have is when lesser "designers" lift entire aesthetics from others. Not just copying one garment or one accessory, but copying an entire design philosophy and personality of another.

 

[jeanclaude]

Me personally, i don't have anything against copying in a way. Everybody copies.
Even the great masters copied.

I don't find anything wrong with those two copies (and that has nothing to do with the fact that it was copied by NG). I think that copy is a part of a creative process.

I have more problems with "lazy" copies. When Phoebe Philo copied Balenciaga's fw2003 boots for her FW2013 collection, i found it lazy because she is copying something recent in times and fresh in our minds.
The same for Zuhair Murad who is a master in that. I had a hard time with Olivier Rousteing and his obvious love for early 90's Chanel.
The same for Altuzarra and the NYC Guard . Their references are too obvious.

For me, a good copy is when it transcend the original.
I like when the hommages are assumed or when the inspirations are kinda unexpected. Miuccia Prada copying a Courreges piece and making it her own or Tom Ford copying an original Balenciaga piece are the kind of things that i find fascinating.


I feel like we are sometimes too harsh about outfits that look alikes because we assumed that those "new" ideas are always new when in fact the exercice is to make it "fresh".

The problem with NG is that he didn´t admit he copied from Kaisik Wong when he launched that 2002 collection. He admitted it when he was caught red-handed. He tried to pass Wong´s designs as his own.

In my opinion, no matter how much time has passed (one year or four decades). A copy will always be a copy. Can it look better than the original? Can it feel more modern? Yes! But it is still a copy. And there is nothing original nor creative in making the same thing again.

Here´s an interesting article by Cathy Horyn about it, "Is Copying Really a Part of the Creative Process?": http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/09/nyregion/is-copying-really-a-part-of-the-creative-process.html

 

[Lola701]

The problem with NG is that he didn´t admit he copied from Kaisik Wong when he launched that 2002 collection. He admitted it when he was caught red-handed. He tried to pass Wong´s designs as his own.

Before that Kaisik affair, designers didn't have to justify themselves on their inspirations or vintage clothes they copied.
NG was the hottest new designer AND, it was the beginning of the incursion of the internet in the fashion industry.

Everything is a matter of context as Dior_Couture said.

Today, copy is not so much of an issue (look at Zuhair Murad career). The Balmain/McQueen for Givenchy happened because it didn't felt like it was done with conviction.
Peter Dundas's first Cavalli collection was almost 70% copied from Azzedine Alaia 80's work and the only person who had an issue with that was Azzedine himself who talked about it in a french magazine.

NG copied the top but that top was also a starting point for a dress, a vest and it did influence several pieces in the collection.
For his first Vuitton collection, he copied a look styled in a magazine but that look make sense in the context of the entire collection.

Maybe i'm more lax about it in certain cases.

 

[jeanclaude]

Before that Kaisik affair, designers didn't have to justify themselves on their inspirations or vintage clothes they copied.
NG was the hottest new designer AND, it was the beginning of the incursion of the internet in the fashion industry.

Everything is a matter of context as Dior_Couture said.

Today, copy is not so much of an issue (look at Zuhair Murad career). The Balmain/McQueen for Givenchy happened because it didn't felt like it was done with conviction.
Peter Dundas's first Cavalli collection was almost 70% copied from Azzedine Alaia 80's work and the only person who had an issue with that was Azzedine himself who talked about it in a french magazine.

NG copied the top but that top was also a starting point for a dress, a vest and it did influence several pieces in the collection.
For his first Vuitton collection, he copied a look styled in a magazine but that look make sense in the context of the entire collection.

Maybe i'm more lax about it in certain cases.

It´s not a question of justification, it is just being honest. He thought Wong was an anonymous designer...but it just turned out that his work wasn´t so obscure as expected...so Nicolas got caught.

In the internet pre-era this kind of things were more difficult to expose. As you said, this happened just when it was the beginning of the incursion of the internet in the fashion industry. Internet helped the work of Kaisik Wong being recognized and credited properly.

I find extremely sad that copy is not so much of an issue nowadays. I think the current state of the fashion industry shows this problem.
And yes, I know in the past designers also copied...but it is so blatantly obvious today! They don´t even care to change a single button, with some "designers"!

Being inspired by a vintage garment doesn´t mean having to make exactly that garment! That´s lazy!

 

[gius]

It is nice if they credit the past
Where they take or what exactly they alter.
In runway reviews it adds interest or depth to the show
I have seen things unexplained, which is regrettable... a great artist, great work of art etc