October 2, 2011
I had the pleasure of attending Nolcha Fashion Week over at the Metropolitan Pavilion a few days ago and getting to talk to some awesome eco-designers as well as see a fab fashion show featuring Daisy & Elizabeth an eco-friendly lingerie line, which was hot. My favorite pieces were those that combined the tangerine orange straps with tan bodices. Click here to read the rest at GreenHouseOfFashion.com
September 30, 2011
One of my favorite trends that’s been going strong for the last few seasons is ombré. Ombré comes from a French word meaning shaded or shadow, and refers to a graduated color scheme where color fades from dark to light (or the other way around). We’ve seen an ombré effect applied to hair, nail polish and fashion. There are tons of great ombré pieces in stores right now and at every price — here are a few that are just $20 or less– head to CollegeCandy.com to check out the rest!
September 30, 2011
I am so thrilled to be a part of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) LOFT Cares campaign this year! Ann Inc. (Ann Taylor, LOFT, more) hopes to donate $2.7 million to BCRF this year, so if this is a cause close to your heart, you can shop for the cause by getting a gift card or specially designed tee or bracelet. $5 from the sale of each bracelet and tee, up to $200,000, will go toward the donation ($34.50 and $39.50, respectively).
The tees were illustrated internally by LOFT designers, while the bracelets were created by my friend Jessica Quirk (of What I Wore), Roxanne Assoulin, and Rachel Leigh. I lent my styling to the campaign, wearing the tee that represents “Support” along with Jessica’s friendship bracelet. Check me out today on the LOFT Facebook page, and I hope you will support this important cause.
And now through October 31st, three of the specially designed bracelets will be given away giveaway (one of each style) on the BCRF tab of the LOFT Facebook page. Check it out to enter, how my fellow bloggers styled their looks, and thanks for reading this post!
Disclaimer: LOFT gave me one of the awareness bracelets along with a t-shirt and a $50 gift card for my participation in this campaign.
September 30, 2011
She recently graced us with her piece on the Christian Louboutin trademark case, and now lawyer Catlan McCurdy shares her insight with us on the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act (“IDPPPA”), which affects whether you can (and should) have a knock off of that famous McQueen wedding dress for Kate Middleton.
[Above, my favorite latest designer ripoff – the Kate Middleton wedding dress. A cheaper version of the Alexander McQueen designer’s, Sara Burton, vision, so now every bride can feel like a princess… (photo credit to Mirror.co.uk)]
With New York Fashion Week nearing its end, and the whirl of Forever 21’s sewing machines beginning to hum, I couldn’t help but think about where on earth that little piece of legislation called the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act (“IDPPPA”) had wandered off to now. Answer: not very far.
Let me take a step back. The IDPPPA aka The Fashion Bill was reintroduced into Congress in July of this year, but legislation attempting to protect fashion designs has been around since at least 2006, when H.R. 5055 was introduced. The IDPPPA, if passed, would amend the Copyright Act to create special protection for fashion designs, but not full-on-all-the-way copyright protection (currently, copyright protection extends for the life of the author plus 70 years). Instead, the IDPPPA would provide for a three-year term of protection for original elements or arrangements of fashion designs. Those elements must be a result of the designer’s “own creative endeavors” and “provide a unique, distinguishable, non-trivial and non-utilitarian variation over prior designs.” We’re talking about real innovation here, like the chain inside the hem Chanel suits (to ensure that the jacket hung properly from your shoulders), the Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress (copied by millions now, but this dress was invented by DVF in the 1970s), or the ever iconic Burberry trench coat.
The IDPPPA includes three exceptions to infringement, but my favorite is the “Home Sewing Exception.” Under this exception, if a fashion design is produced as a single copy “for personal use or for the use of an immediate family member, if that copy is not offered for sale or use in trade” during the three-year protection period, then there is no infringement. You want to figure out how to hand-sew your own leather messenger bag instead of buying the knockoff at Target, go for it. That’s not infringement.
A previous Senate version in 2010, under the same name, was approved by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary for the bill to proceed to the Senate floor, but it did not pass the floor. The most recent House bill IDPPPA was referred to the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet on August 25, 2011. It might even be possible for this to be passed in time for the next fashion week in February, giving designers, especially small ones like Proenza Schouler, a fighting chance against blatant copy-cats.
