Adventures in Copyrights: Marky Marc

Mar 06, 2008 @ 11:36am

Marc Jacobs may have copied a scarf design from Sweden, but that doesn't mean other people haven't climbed on his label:

Check out the Forever 21 dress at left, an exact copy of a Marc by Marc Jacobs sundress from last Spring.

There are still a few left; floating around on Net-A-Porter for $180 (but only in a size large). On the site, it's billed as the "Maddy Plaid Sundress."

Meanwhile, Forever 21 sells their rendition for $22.80 and calls it the "Plaid Multicolored Dress."

That's funny because we would have called it the "Totally ripped off Marc Jacobs dress."

Tomato; fake tomato, whatever.

posted by narcissa_bell

Mar 06, 2008 11:45AM

Hard to feel bad for old Marc now, after the Sweedish "incident"

posted by narcissa_bell

Mar 06, 2008 11:51AM

Oops. I meant "Swedish". Sorry!

posted by guest

Mar 06, 2008 11:59AM

Oh, absolutely. The reason that is oft cited by high fashion´s defenders is that it is the designer´s near-genius that makes a flimsy item that does not cost more than a hundred dollars to make into a coveted status product. That is is the designer´s added value. Now, this is the moment which sets the fashion piracy wheel spinning - people aspire to this luxury item, cannot afford it and the piracy business (be it sweatshops in China or Forever 21) just respond to the demand. But when you realize that the starting point of all this vicious cycle is something that may have been designed by a Swedish novelty seller or somebody else without this "creative genius"...

posted by christeenuh

Mar 06, 2008 12:03PM

I don't know if you guys spotted the Miu Miu knock offs as well.

http://www.forever21.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=FOREVER21&category%5Fname=shoes&product%5Fid=2047115970&Page=all

http://www.bergdorfgoodman.com/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=prod24950151&parentId=cat260600&masterId=cat235702&index=2&cmCat=cat000000cat200648cat203100cat203102cat235702cat260600

posted by lauramichelle

Mar 06, 2008 12:12PM

It's so sad when this happens and its so obvious.

posted by poseur

Mar 06, 2008 12:38PM

yeah. I have a non obvious version from last summers H&M which is red/yellow/white/blue and had no idea while buying it.

posted by guest

Mar 06, 2008 12:44PM

i kind of like the forever 21 version better...

posted by Nathalie

Mar 06, 2008 12:55PM

They're both hideous, but I'd agree with the post above me - f21 looks better.

posted by guest

Mar 06, 2008 1:01PM

I concur - the f21 version looks better.

posted by anna_muffin

Mar 06, 2008 1:58PM

No way, Marc's version looks (and is;) ) a lot less cheap.

posted by guest

Mar 06, 2008 2:11PM

wow, is it me or Forever21 is copying all of Marc Jacobs prior collections?

posted by guest

Mar 06, 2008 4:01PM

I totally emailed you guys about this a year ago in Spring 07 when it happened in the first place... and was still relevant.

posted by guest

Mar 06, 2008 4:01PM

I don't think this is a copy. I think the similarities are just coincidence. But f21 doesn't exactly have the best track record so who knows?

posted by guest

Mar 06, 2008 5:22PM

hmm it's a rainbow tartan dress.... design copy worthy....I think not....I don't care who copied who....no one did anything original here....I had this dress in 1988.

posted by guest

Mar 06, 2008 6:12PM

Why does it matter when the two things in question are marketed to two totally different markets??

I hope they don't honestly think that going after the discount retailers will make us buy the more expensive version. And it's not like they're losing any significant amount of money. Idiots.

posted by guest

Mar 07, 2008 12:45AM

so heres my question, is it wrong to buy the foreva 21 version instead of the marc jacobs?, if you saw someone walking down the street you wouldnt be able to tell which one was which, their pratically identical, unless the reall and the fake were standing next to each other, and because this dress is foreva 21, its fast fashion, so why would ii want to spend 100 something $$ on a dress thats going to be out of style by next season??, it makes sense to me to spurlge on timeless and classic peices

posted by guest

Mar 07, 2008 5:47AM

This section of fashionista makes my blood boil. Why on earth would anyone get so bent out of shape about a basic, plaid dress? It's not a work of design genius on either side. It's a sundress. It's plaid. It's nothing revolutionary and you make out like Marc Jacobs is the only house to have ever thought of putting out a plaid sundress for a Spring collection, and that, frankly, is ridiculous and untrue.

I could understand if someone was trying to pass off the intricate pleats and awkward hems of Vivienne Westwood as an original idea, but come on...this is hardly worth the bother.

posted by xxi

Mar 07, 2008 11:19AM

Oh please. Like Marc doesn't knock of countless people or go to vintage shops to steal the identical print and just put his name on it?

Hard to feel bad for someone that does it themselves and makes 40 times the profit for it.

posted by guest

Mar 07, 2008 3:57PM

seriously i think fashionista should just stop with this. time to let it go.

posted by guest

Mar 07, 2008 6:33PM

some of you readers are really silly! buy whatever you want! hahaha i dont care, john doe does not care, and the fashionista staff could care less!!

if you want to spend your money on a cheap dress that will fall apart in 2-3 washes. do itttttt! noone cares!

these posts are great because it just shows how knowledgable and fashion savy MOST of the readers are! and btw incase most of you forgot, it is us, the readers, who 9/10 times email the fashionista staff about these finds!!

WAKE UP!

posted by guest

Mar 09, 2008 11:29PM

I saw this in Forever 21. I was going to buy it but they only has a large. I did not know it was a copy of Marc J. But I know now! Plus its last season!!

posted by guest

Mar 10, 2008 4:55PM

From a design stand point Foerever 21 has a better cut and better defined neck and straps. Marc Jacobs... Oh Marc, yours seems like Granny's table cloth all wrinkled, all in a nutt shell both look BAD but Forever21 looks better.