Intern Sarah spotted this Anna Sui dress at Bergdorf Goodman ($138 on sale), and it’s identical print sister at Forever 21 ($24.80).
Though the cut may be a bit different different, the dress pattern has clearly been swiped – especially since Anna Sui has almost all of her textiles created exclusively for her designs!
Even more exhausting:
This is the third time (or is it the fourth?) we’ve found a connection between Anna Sui’s bohemian rhapsodies and the flimsier versions at Forever 21.
With Diane Von Furstenberg and Gwen Stefani both taking the retail giant to court, we have to wonder:
Will Anna be next?
Tags: Anna Sui, Diane von Furstenberg
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Goodness Forevs! I love you, but when you steal, the other kids in the schoolyard will stop playing with you.
Who hasn’t had a smock-top sundress, from childhood on up? Plus the print looks like a pure ripoff of Souleiado fabric, not anything that could claim to be original.
Now how is it remotely legal for a company like Forever 21 to make damn near exact replicas of designer pieces, but not get sued for all of this time?
ssh! Now Anna Sui is BOUND to sue Forever 21…and when you could have pretended the forever 21 dress was the anna sui…
That Anna Sui dress is dowdy as all get out. I know which one I’d rather be wearing…
When the creation is truly original, then I can see the complaints. But not when it’s almostexactly like the sundresses that have been out for 10 years.
What is “truly original” though? This stuff looks like clothing I wore when I was six years old!
I love forever 21…because i sometimes don’t feel like shoving out half a grand to look great.
These comparisons are getting a bit boring and annoying…
Please don’t get me wrong tho, love the site!
anna sui probably got the print from a book or a vintage dress……..so it is hard to copyright this kind of thing…….
Before Anna Sui starting doing the whole Boho look on a consistan basis, she was known in the business for being heavily inspired by Barbara’s Hulanicki’s BIBA label. Sui’s early collections were authentic xerox . . . copies . . . I mean interpretations of the gliterry louche glamour of the Chelsea girls. Even her store with the plum wallcolors and antiques painted in black were an homage to the Biba brand.
I used to like Anna Sui when she was doing a one look, for one season. Then abruptly abandoning it with the following fashion show. She did the whole sweet babydoll look for her s/s1994 collection and then Xed it out with her Fall 1994 collection evoking the agressive 1970′s Helmut Newton woman in Monaco. For the Spring Summer 1995 Season, Anna Sui used a vintage Christian Berard print for her 1940′s silk chiffon dresses without permission. If I recall correctly, the dresses were recalled to avoid legal actions against her. So now they are a rare collectors.
Even the great Nicholas Ghesquiere copied one of his peers; An obscure designer, Kaisik Wong. Kaisik’s work had seen better days but were still brilliant to be copied.
http://www.learcenter.org/pdf/Music&FashionPaper.pdf
Rachel you are so right about that. Designers have people buying vintage pieces for them and even have whole departments in their studios specifically devoted for finding vintage clothes. I guess the crime here is that it’s Forever 21 doing it. Lets call it Fashion double standard.
It’s not the smocked dress that’s the issue. It’s the print that’s the issue. Does anyone really think it’s right for a company to blatantly steal another person’s artwork, whether it’s on paper or on fabric? Ok, if Anna did steal this print from a fabric something or other that’s a different story, but this print actually looks more modern than vintage to me.
Oh, and Anna Sui IS suing Forever 21. She filed the lawsuit a couple of months ago.
The comment about not wanting to spend “half a grand to look great” was an interesting one. I’m sure a person can look great buying regular clothes at low prices that are not obvious copies. Do people buy the copies because they want others to think they are wearing Anna Sui or DVF or whatever? I wonder if there would be such a rush to buy these items if they were never outed as copies.
Most people buying these dresses (F21) are below the radar, especially on the print, on whether or not it is a knock off. Your average 18 – 21 year old does not look into the origins of a print or pattern or style. F21 is using something that has proven to be aesthetically pleasing in the past and applying it to a new demographic (i.e. a person who can afford it). Which is essentially what designers do when they tear apart vintage and use it for inspiration (new demo typically being a different generation of buyers).
Where is the line between being an artist drawing inspiration from past artist’s work blurred into a manufacturer using successful design elements to make money? or, is the amount of time between inception and recreation to be a deciding factor?
Inspiration vs. Knockoff: to be decided by greater minds than mine.
cheers ani, you are right on point. it is very much a double standard. i used to do print sourcing so i am very familiar with how this works…….
many designers use vintage dresses or fabrics or swatches and copy the print, but re-color it to their preferences and then produce it on a massive scale.
jeremy scott seems to be an exception….it seems as if he comes up with his own original prints, perhaps commissioned to artists……but i could be wrong.
there are some fabric companies that sell their fabrics to designers with ready made prints, but everyone get’s those prints from somewhere else………everything is more recycled than not. and i agree with the point that most forever 21 young shoppers have no idea where each look was derived from…..
i dont buy forever 21 because i want people to think im wearing designer…i buy it cause its a copy of a really great print or design that i could not otherwise afford
Hi Rachel :)
Alice Temperley is another designer who designs her own prints. She used to work in textiles before starting her own label.
Heatherette, Issa, Ruffian, and Custo all design their own prints… like literally, at least at Heatherette and Ruffian, you walk in and Macky or Claude is sitting on the floor, drawing something out, and two months later it’s on a runway.
that is fantastic when the designers do design their own prints. i love the heatherette prints. there are definately exceptions to the rule. it is way more expensive that way (you get better deals from the mills if you print in bulk yardage) but much more admirable. the designer i worked for did both, designed their own, and referenced vintage fabrics as well.
anna has long referenced old textiles, as have other major designers. this is still something that isn’t much talked about, thus making these legalities far from cut and dry.
hell you can even buy jill stuart’s cast off inspiration vintage pieces at the basement of her store……at least the last time i was there i saw this.
i loved todd oldham for his colorful prints that he created…….