The key chain on the left is Tiffany & Co. and the one on the right is Marc by Marc Jacobs. Thanks to the reader who sent this in; the similarity between the two designs is uncanny, to say the least!

The most obvious difference is the medium—Tiffany’s is made with sterling silver, while Marc’s is silver-plated brass. The Tiffany piece looks polished and sleek, while Marc’s has a faux-antique charm. Another big difference is the price tag: Tiffany’s cost $140; Marc’s cost $8.

We think both key chains are cute, but we’ll stick to the ones we already carry.

I was staring at this, trying to come up with something other than, “How to turn a great Alexander Wang bag into a garbage bag with zippers,” when Faran sent me this - the Jeffrey Campbell shoe at left.

Alex sent the shoes - with buckles, in snakeskin, with ruched leather, always platformed - down his AW09 runway. Since then we’ve seen them on Jak & Jil, at every party south of 14th street, on celebrity feet and on the pages of Vogue to Dazed. In short, they were a hit.

So like Marc’s famous booties and Acne’s sold-out wedges, Jeffrey Campbell’s made his own. They’re $173, which is probably about $500 less than Wang’s, and made from real leather. However, the leather lacks the sheen of Wang’s, and so do the three bronze buckles.

Though we will say Jeffrey Campbell’s much better at this than Steve Madden.

So, I got cable last Thursday for the first time in five years. That means I spent most of the weekend engrossed in programs as varied as Teen Mom and The Jersey Shore.

While mostly glued to the incredible train wreck that is MTV, I did peruse the channels to see what I’ve been missing on Hulu.

The first thing that caught my eye was an infomercial for the InStyler, a hair straightener that looks like a curling iron. Its rotating baton is meant to polish your hair while straightening it, leaving it shiny but not fried-looking. It retails for about $150.

While the actual contraption—which yes, I know has been around for about a year already—was fascinating, I was more interested in the name InStyler, mostly because the logo looked almost exactly like that of InStyle magazine’s. I wondered if the straightener was somehow connected with InStyle.

It makes sense—InStyle does quite a bit of beauty coverage, and competitors like Elle have put their name on everything from hair accessories to clothing to eye wear. But after further research, I can’t seem to find any connection between the two brands.

On the one hand, sure, when ABS rips off your designs you’re officially a big time, red carpet-destined, Rachel Zoe-championed designer.

On the other hand, Prabal Gurung probably enjoys that success so much more when it comes in the form of dressing Oprah.

ABS, which we’re pretty sure only re-makes designs stolen from other designers, has re-manufactured Prabal’s red one-shouldered bow dress from his first collection, which debuted exactly one year ago for AW09. They’ve taken the seams, the waist, the layered shoulder detail, left off the detailed hem and left out the quality fabric.

And they still have the balls to charge $310.

Just in case you thought Alexander McQueen was actually a genius (though for the record, we still do), a commenter’s discovered the truth behind this season’s amphibious shoes.

OhJesse jumped onto yesterday’s Trivia to post the video at left in which a dude with lots of hair dances around with his guitar and wears a silver pair of lace up platforms that, minus a Swarovski crystal or two, could be mistaken for McQueen’s SS10 stilts around 1:05. (This was posted to Youtube in 2007, so who knows when it was filmed.)

RashomonRebel put it most articulately, “OhShit! #9 just won the fashion Pulitzer for investigative journalism.”

Valentino accessories get knocked off right and left.

Every shoe department is home to a beribboned heel and at this point, who hasn’t crossed a mock-rosette bag?

But the Valentino couture braided tote, released almost two years ago, is more sophisticated than playful. It’s not for evening, it’s for everyday, ideal for an uptown girl or working woman. That’s why Eric Daman slung it over Blair Waldorf’s shoulder on the last season of Gossip Girl.

So what’s Urban Outfitters’ reason for ripping it off now? It’s the wrong customer, it looks like it’s made out of plastic and if you’re really dying for the shape you can save up and get the real thing for half the price at Neiman Marcus.

Or, you can buy this bag. It’s not a copy of anything, it’s well made, it’s cute, and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

According to a professor at MIT, forty percent of people who buy fake goods - whether bags, sunglasses or clothes - eventually buy the real thing.

Renee Gosline’s researching the effects of counterfeit product, without cooperation from a single luxury house, and study after study shows that those who end up with a fake get fed up with its flaws, realize it’s not a substitution for an actual lambskin Chanel and will, almost half of the time, cough up the money for the real thing.

One of the studies Gosline’s conducted involves posing both real and fake bags on a black background and again in their natural habitat; she finds that most of the time people can differentiate between real and fake based on the accompanying outfit. Apparently, there’s even a Facebook group called, “Darling I Can Tell by the Rest of Your Outfit Your Louis Vuitton is Fake.”

If most people can spot a fake and its owner will eventually splurge on the real thing anyway, than buying one’s even sillier than we thought.

Whether you like it or not, we will be continuing our Adventures in Copyright posts right on into 2010.

This morning brings news of a more literal form of infringement, filed by none other than Condé Nast. Who are they battling, you ask? An internet hacker—which is vaguely ironic given the company’s somewhat tepid relationship with the web for so many years.

They filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Manhattan claiming that an unauthorized user (identified only by IP address) had gotten into their system in September and downloaded thousands of files, including ones from Vogue, GQ, Lucky, and Teen Vogue.

In November, GQ cover images ended up on a blog called FashionZag, though there is no indication from what we’ve read that they are alleging the blog’s writer to be the hacker. But the site was asked earlier this year to take down the cover shots. The issues are obviously readily available to all now, so it may be hard to measure what impact the alleged hacker may have had and we’re not sure what sort of damages are being sought. Nonetheless, it is interesting.

We’re sure the Condé legal department has filed countless copyright suits over the years, but we do have to wonder when they started really paying attention to the internet. Will wonders never cease?

When Rachel Zoe launched The Zoe Report, one of the first things we noticed was the “Parallel Universe” section and we wondered how some of her designer friends might feel about her promoting knock-offs of their work.

Today’s featured item is this silk and velvet satin Proenza dress which Rachel writes “moves her to tears.” Granted its price, $2300, moves us to tears.

But what really caught our eye was the “alternate” selection, this Erin Wasson x RVCA number which may not be an exact copy, but still…

Given her past indiscretions, like this and this, you really think the designer would start double checking her ‘inspirations’.

Of course it’s no secret how we feel about copying and counterfeiting in fashion.

While not all of you agree with us, it seems that Coach does. They’re taking a very aggressive legal stance against those producing and selling fakes of their bags, and they currently focusing on the great state of Texas, according to the Dallas Morning News. The company has recently filed two civil suits in the US District court in Dallas and similar ones in Houston.

According to the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, sales of fake goods cost retailers as much as $250 billion each year. And its president, Bob Barchiesi, says, “it [counterfeiting] supports forced child labor overseas, it supports the funding of terrorist organizations.” Whoa, that’s going a little deeper than we’ve ever even considered.

Dear Fashionista,

I thought you guys might want to take a look at this copy of Valentino’s Rose Bag by some company called Big Buddha that I found on Piperlime. Not that it looks even close to as lovely, but it’s blatant.

Plus it was even a Rachel Zoe pick. I die. Do you think it will end up in her “Alternate Universe” on The Zoe Report? I bet it might.

Anyway, just thought I would point it out. Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo,
A Keen-eyed Reader

The Atacoma wedges sent shoe lovers into a frenzy when they debuted in Acne’s Pre-Fall ‘09 collection.

Alexa Chung fell particularly in love with them; and the coveted bootie sold out within just a few days after she wore them on her MTV show. So maybe that’s what inspired Jeffrey Campbell to name his knock-off the Alexa?

It’s a well-studied copy. The shape’s exactly the same, the diagonal seaming is spot-on. In fact, the only difference between the two is the transition from the black leather to the silver metal panels. While Acne’s is seamless, Campbell’s has a bit of a divot.

With so many wedge booties out this season, it should be easy to avoid buying a pair based off someone else’s ideas.

Sure, this Pierre Hardy shoe’s from 2008, but the print’s so distinct that when we saw Nine West’s Bonfire pump we immediately knew what we were really looking at.

Prints on shoes are rare anyway, let alone 3D squares of bronze and black stacked upon each other. The size, the angle, the shadows of the square are all perfectly imitated (on an almost identical shape, too).

We’ll stop short of calling the shape irrelevant and focus on the fact that prints represent a danger zone for high street knock-offs, especially given the success of past print-based lawsuits from Anna Sui and Diane von Furstenburg.

Nine West makes the shoe in another print, one we haven’t seen before, no need for them to push it.

Dear Fashionista,

A friend found this dress on Bebe’s website the other day. Since then, I think I’ve gone through all the proper stages of grief.

It might look like a disturbing coincidence to some, but I splurged on the Valentino Red original on Net-a-Porter last month and Bebe’s copy kind of breaks my heart. They’ve captured the idea: black tube shape with lace on the neck and ruched sleeves. The pattern on the lace even looks the same, though I guess their factory couldn’t handle the tiny details like the outline of the collar or the delicate ribbons.

I take some solace in the difference of quality, the dresses hang differently even online, but I don’t understand why they can’t take the ideas - lace, black, ruffles - and make something on trend that’s not an exact copy.

Grr,
A frustrated customer

We felt a little confused today when we came across this Cynthia Rowley dress on shopbop.com.

With Paris SS10 shows still on our minds, Cynthia’s dress immediately reminded us of this Karl Lagerfeld look. The halter neck, cut-out shoulders, and wide waist belt are strikingly similar—though the rest of the design is obviously different. (And we’re not going to lie and say we don’t like one more than the other. We’re sure you can guess which one.)

But Cynthia’s dress is from her FW09 collection, meaning that if anyone was guilty of copying its neckline, it would be Karl.

Could be sheer coincidence or not…what do you think? We’d very much like to hear your thoughts on the matter!

I’m still obsessed with the Alexander Wang corset dress from his pre-fall collection - the one that’s made the rounds from Rihanna to Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, and sold out almost as quickly as the Coco Duffel.

So is Bebe. They’ve created an exact copy of the dress for their upcoming Holiday line.

I spotted this impostor as soon as I opened my November issue of Elle. My heart broke a little bit when I saw this ad sprawled across two whole pages. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, since Bebe’s garnered quite the reputation for their ‘designer-inspired’ clothing, but there is nothing “inspired” about this.

This studded Givenchy sandal is everywhere, like super perfect sexy things often are.

We’ve spotted it on Garance ‘s blog. It’s popped up on Tommy Ton’s Style slideshows, too. And on our own feet of course, in our dreams.

It’s in Aldo’s dreams, too. The only difference is they have a shoe factory and the ability to make it for insanely less money and sell it to the masses. Their copy has less studs, and a smaller t-strap. They’ve also named it some something decidedly French: Guerrette. Guerrette’s like the ugly step-sister; she can’t compare to her gorgeous older, more vibrant sister, and she never will.

It’s like Givenchy made the perfect heel and Aldo broke it. And they do say not to fix it if it’s not broke.

Remember when Tommy Ton threw the whole world into fits of jealousy after shooting French Vogue’s Emmanuelle Alt wearing Isabel Marant’s studded booties mere hours after last season’s show?

Because we do - and despite their sold out status, we’re still lusting for them. So is Steve Madden. Surprised? Just another opportunity for him to cash in on someone else’s great design.

Steve’s Blitzi booties are an obvious knock-off of Isabel’s Rider. He’s managed black suede, a rounded toe and the low slung black leather strap underneath the studded cuff. His studs are silver, which is spot on, but he got lazy in the back and replaced Marant’s black suede cone heel with a chunk of square brown synthetic wood - they’re still almost $200.

Save your pennies for when Marant opens that Soho store early next year.

At the end of August, we wrote an Adventures in Copyright begging Alexander McQueen to do something about Steve Madden’s blatant copies.

Some of you agreed, one commenter asked, “Do you think McQueen cares this much?” To which of course we’d heartily answer yes.

So you can imagine, or try to, how high we jumped for joy when this morning, WWD announced that McQueen’s suing Madden.

The suit, filed in Manhattan October 1, calls Madden’s Seryna bootie a “studied imitation” of McQueen’s Faithful and points out, like we did, that the only detail missing is McQueen’s trademarked skull zipper. In exchange for Madden’s attempts to profit off of the Brit’s “widespread media attention,” they’re asking for an injunction, profits and payment of legal fees.

Now if we could just get Messieurs Blahnik and Louboutin on the case, throw in Tamara Mellon’s attitude, Jessie Randall’s charm and Marc’s spunk, this could be the most fashionable class action lawsuit ever.