Fashionomics

I don’t know any girl that doesn’t shop at Forever 21. And why wouldn’t they? It has key trendy pieces for every season for (basically) dirt-cheap prices. But I have been hearing reports over the past year about “fashion copycatting,” or taking runway looks and turning them into cheaper, more consumer-friendly products.

Freakonomics posted a blog entry about this phenomenon, saying that it is actually good for the economy and the fashion industry as a whole. It gets average consumers excited about fashion, seeing as they can now afford the looks they saw on the runways of Proenza Schouler or Alexander Wang. Stores like Zara and H&M take these looks and use cheaper labor and fabrics to turn them into clothing that won’t break the bank.

For me, I think fashion copycatting is the perfect way for consumers to be exposed to fashion. After all, if people are spending, the economy is improving. But I don’t think I like what it does to the industry itself. Fashion has always been about innovation. Anyone who has ever seen Project Runway knows that. So the question I’m asking is, where is the innovation in a chain strap quilted bag that is eerily reminiscent of the now infamous Chanel version? Where is the creativity in the iconic Birkin bag hanging in Zara under a completely different label? What is this copycatting doing to these fashion houses?

Also, when it comes to bags, something else has come to my attention. It is the selling of fake designer bags and clothing. Louis Vuitton won a lawsuit against eBay this year for "harm[ing] the image of luxury-brand Louis Vuitton after the online auctioneer paid to have Internet searches directed to its site that included misspellings sometimes used to sell counterfeit goods." People are making money off of the ideas of others everywhere. On the web, at the mall, on streetcorners.

While the writers of the Freakonomics blog favor “fashion copycatting” for the good of the economy, I, as a non-economist, just can’t, at least for designers themselves. For me, fashion should always be about innovation and finding inspiration in others, but not blatantly copying. Fashion history does repeat itself, but it shouldn’t be seen on the runways of New York Fashion Week one day and be on the shelves of Forever 21 the next.

-Claire McCandless