Fashion and Intellectual Property

 While Post-modernism has most certainly made its mark, the creative industries, particularly the fashion industry, are profoundly modernist. Constantly searching for the new, the individual and the unique, fashion designers often go to extremes only to have the fruits of their labour imitated by fast-fashion chains within moments. While some may say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it an also be highly annoying. Imagine putting your heart, soul (and money, blood, sweat and tears) into a work, only to see it being copied and sold on the streetside below. Not nice. But as fashion designers, we'll all willingly and sometimes thoughtlessly or subconciously 'draw inspiration' from the works of other designers, often many at once, and piece these little bits of inspiration  - in the form of a sleeve, a collar, a cuff - together to create something with which we can express ourselves. We create and ride along with trends, waves of communal thought in which many designers share ideas.. "It's not copying, it's the zeitgeist" we say. 'Exaggerated collars are so very NOW!' We often come up with our own versions and see them copied, wish, we could do something about it, but fail to consider that a collar is purely something that goes around your neck  - and that there aren't that many ways to design one (Well you tell me, but I don't think there is) - so there isn't much space for variation anyway. This is why Intellectual Copyright is not prevalent in the fashion Industry, but it may be a good thing...




Here's what Johanna Blakely, Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center,  had to say. 


Johanna Blakely; Lessons from Fashion's Free Culture. 

The mother of the muse

 I'm don't consider myself too much of a nostalgic person.
I don't mourn the slow disappearance of the last golden summer, or regret that the beautiful experiences of years past have passed me by, but look forward to the future .  At the same time, I have very lucid visual memories. They often "surprise" me at unexpected times when my head is clear of worry, when a smell, a certain type of light, a touch or a texture reminds me of something I have experienced before. 
I often wonder how memory works, to what extent it is faithful to actual experience and how we may actually subconciously manipulate it. Memory is a strange thing. But off all the things it can do, solve a crime, brighten or darken one's day, send you into mental anguish, I think that one of the most beautiful things it can do is inspire. 


The Ancient Greeks devoted an entire history to the inspirational aspect of memory. 
After purportedly sleeping 9 nights with Zeus, Mnemosyne, daughter of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky), and titaness of memory, gave birth to the nine muses: Calliope (Epic Poetry), Clio (History), Erato (Love Poetry), Euterpe (Music), Melpomene (Tragedy), Polyhymnia (Hymns), Terpsichore (Dance), Thalia (Comedy) and Urania (Astronomy).


Coinciding with the launch of her scent DAPHNE created in collaboration with Comme des Garçons, Daphne Guinness' short fashion-focused film 'Mnemosyne' takes its name and inspiration from memory. Created with co-Director David Parker, the film captivates, haunts and entrances us with 'phantasmagoric swirls', luminous colour and a mythological, dreamlike feel set to ambient music. It does not feature logos or any product placement, but stays in the memory and will hopefully arouse the curiosity of potential customers. 





Inspirational.. yes. 
You can vote for Daphne's film and view many more films online at the Webby awards website. 

Information obtained from showstudio.com and little look at a wiki. :)

Cake and Barbie

 Strange how my last few posts (and those of others) just seem to be saturated with screwed-up girliness. I never considered myself a girly girl, but I guess its part of me. As they say, you are what you eat, like, wear... your taste truly does reveal who you are.

Floral calorie explosion

 My favourite perfume and a favourite food item in one. Yes please! 
Unveiled at the Hotel Meurice in Paris for the fifth Anniversary of Viktor and Rolf's perfume Flowerbomb, these tiny cakes are perfect for any modern day Marie Antoinette.  

My love for imaginative, fantastic and sophisticated plating and presentation in food is here combined with the provocative and gentle flavours of my favourite perfume. I for one adore floral flavours in food (violet ice-cream, sakura blossom tea and mochi, jasmine tea, rose bavarois, rose-hip jam, rosewater, hibiscus syrup, lavender crème brulée, orange flower water ... the list goes on, i've tried it and loved it) These little beribboned packages house a praline, rose, bergamot and lime millefeuille with just a hint of jasmine and vanilla, topped off with a green tea biscuit and Viktor and Rolf's seal in chocolate... just what i like/LOVE!

The subtly flavoured mini-mouthfuls, created by Yannick Alléno et Camille Lesecq (head chef and head pastry chef at Le Meurice) will be on the menu for another two months... Someone get me a ticket to Paris!  

Or should I take the challenge upon myself to recreate it?


IT'S FANTASTY! 


(I just had to write that, after making that mistake so many times when trying to write "Fantasy".. the word was begging to be used... It's pretty apt isn't it?)