Adventures in Copyrights: The Art of The Ripoff

Jun 02, 2008 @ 11:30am

mondrian dresses.jpg Confession:

We are smitten with the Forever 21 dress at right, inspired by two things at once:

The first, of course, is the famous Composition series by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian.

The second is a YSL sheath dress from 1965, currently housed in the Met Museum's archives.

"But it's a copy!" you say, and we're like, yeah, we know, but it's a copy 43 years in the making, or 80-something years, since Mondrian began painting his most famous series in 1922. (We still don't plan on actually purchasing it.)

Is it wrong to hope next, Forever 21 makes a sheath with giant soup cans all over it?

(Yes, yes, we know, very wrong...)

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 11:58AM

I know it is a copy but for someone
like me who can not purchase the YSL it is perfect !!!!

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 12:09PM

ugh I could never ever afford designer but I would neverbuy something that looks so cheap. Its like a long screen printed tee shirt. It would never drape as nicely as the ysl. The ysl shift is stunning. The F21 is ... not.

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 12:15PM

Ok, I want it, and I can't find it online. Can anyone get it on the F21 website?

posted by HeatherChandler

Jun 02, 2008 12:20PM

I remember when Limited Express (or was it just The Limited) copied this back in the late '80s/early '90s as a dress and possibly sweater.

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 12:26PM

actually back in the days of the 'paper dress,' there was a warhol soup can dress...

posted by Faran Krentcil

Jun 02, 2008 12:35PM

Right, we know about the paper soup can dress, the point is that - like this YSL dress - it's not available for the masses anymore!

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 12:44PM

if it isn't in a stiff fabric that will keep the geometry of the print (like the ysl seems to be), the point is sort of lost, and it would be pretty unflattering...but that wouldn't be the case with the soup can dress, I guess, if they ever make one @ F21.

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 12:46PM

don't have to be snippy about it.. but btw they are on ebay pretty frequently.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CAMPBELLS-PAPER-SOUP-SOUPER-DRESS-NEAR-PRISTINE-WARHOL_W0QQitemZ370057051453QQihZ024QQcategoryZ554QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

posted by The Habit

Jun 02, 2008 12:49PM

Maybe the F21 dress was inspired by the much more recent (FW 2007) Christian Louboutin "mondriana" platform? Which of course was a riff on Piet AND Ysl.

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 1:27PM

DvF did a Mondrian dress this spring and even called it the "Mondrian Dress."

It is now on sale at net-a-porter.

http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/28163

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 2:16PM

guest at 12:15pm: it's under the "fashion tops" section, 'cause it's described as a tunic

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 3:10PM

guest @ 2:16 -- much obliged.

posted by guest

Jun 02, 2008 8:11PM

Almost every dress firm at one time or another has used "Mondrian inspired" prints at one time or another. There was a time during the early 90s when Andrea Gayle kept pushing two piece "Mondrian inspired" sets on the public.

Whoopie doopie.

posted by sydneyt

Jun 02, 2008 10:33PM

i actually really love this, and it reminds me of the outfits mary kate and ashley wear in their australia movie, which makes me love it even more.

posted by guest

Jun 03, 2008 1:36AM

I can't believe DVF made such a copy after suing F21 for copying them.

posted by HiFashionLvr

Jun 25, 2008 10:33AM

DVF's dress is not a direct copy like F21. they changed the fabric (to a cheaper material) and the sizes of the squares (just slightly). DVF changed the color and print; it's "inspired". this is not inspired, this is a knock-off. i was extremely jealous after going shopping with 3 friends and 1 of them purchased this dress @ F21; i LOVED it. i daydreamed about it. i wished i wasnt there on the shopping trip so i could go and buy it and pretend i didnt know she had it. but once i saw this, i was outraged. now i'm estatic that i never bought this. i would not be able to keep it without defying my own no-knockoff policy

posted by guest

Aug 04, 2008 2:21AM

I'm sure this has been mentioned on here before, but F21 uses American sweatshops (those that exploit undocumented workers). Plus, the clothes I do admit to owning...one shirt fell apart before I even got to wear it. Avoid!