FRIDAY FASHION FRENZY

Coco Rocha for Jason Wu ... Blow out!

Copied, Borrowed or Stolen Creativity : MOOFA S/S 13 Lace Dress Vs Dolce & Gabbana Fall 10 Lace Dress.

Lots of questions roving in my head right now, some of which are;

At what point is creativity self disposed?

To what extent should a creative person – designer, go on to create design pieces for his/her own label or otherwise?

Is there any balance to re-creation of ideas including learnt, observed, researched and mostly stolen idea?
What clearly justices two design pieces created by two distinct designers, is it patterns, cuts, aesthetics, fabric, theme, etc?
Is it right for one designer to recreate another's design or basically just copy the design?

These are few of the numerous questions that have been wandering my mind for a while now which of course I've been killing for lack of concrete evidence, but  until recently when I saw Moofa's latest Spring/Summer Collection – “Swan Addiction”, see full post on BellaNaija.

Full-sleeved bow-neck lace dress from 

Moofa S/S '13 collection

 While this is a lovely collection of simple patterns and such, to some extent at first instance the entire collection seemed out rightly same to me... the main issue being the lack of ingenuity; what exactly speaks exquisite, outstanding, unusual, about this collection, what in this collection as well as the past collections clearly speaks "Moofa". What's the Moofa brand, who's the Moofa woman what is representative of the Moofa woman in this particular collection as well as previous.

Which then leads to the point of this discuss/ rambling/ debate/research or whatever you prefer to call it ... does lack of self definition, standard, creativity make designers - especially Nigerian, African designers copy other notable ones or is it just re-creating now? As they put it, no idea is fresh, it's a recreation of another, while I quite agree(to some degree) with this, I beg to defer in this case as regards few designs from Moofa's latest collection- specifically this lace, full-sleeved, over-the-knee, crow-neck dress. 

I should say that this is a charming dress that shows class, elegance and will definitely pass for any A-class occasion but when it's clearly a stolen ...or perhaps if you prefer - borrowed idea it becomes an embarrassment both to the designer and our design and fashion industry which seems to be accepting just anybody - any raw, coarse, amateur, in experienced person that believes so much that he/she knows (Note: not understand) fashion and can put down some sketches on paper all probably gathered after several hours & days of watching Fashion TV, Style Network and browsing through Style.com and the likes.

Full-sleeved lace dress from D&G 

Fall 2010 collection

This is no cue to disregard the amount of effort that's been invested into building a brand and creating clothes in a tricky economy but as much as creating clothes that meet international standard is concerned, it doesn't mean making an exact duplicate of a top brand’s, (like Dolce & Gabbana) piece .....Common! It's despicable.

A careful look at each design shows few differences though but not acceptable, the percentage of similarity between this two pieces is 99.9% accurate…let’s see.

Fabric – exact same

Silhouette – exact same

Cut – not exactly same; Moofa endeavoured to add a bow to the neckline – this I do not support because considering the dress already has a crow-neck (which is really classy on its own) just like D & G’s why add a bow? Well, clearly Moofa tried – failingly though, to create a little difference from the Dolce & Gabbana piece ….obvious truth? It’s a total fail.

Theme - While Moofa calls it “Swan Addiction”, which isn't clear yet as I haven’t found any review online to clearly explain the idea/theme behind it, D & G however calls the collection "Sartorialita, Sicilianita, Sensualita"(in celebration of their 25th anniversary) a theme that perfectly illustrates the brand's symbol of Italian sophistication and style. More about the collection here

Under layer – It’s obvious the choice of under layers used by each designer is different also but still makes a good look-like.

                                                         Marion Cortillad in D&G Fall 10 lace dress
                                                                         for US Vogue July 2010

On another hand, this clearly explains why most Nigerian fashion designers cannot explain details of a collection, beyond just inspiration of course which most times don’t quite follow too.

Coco Rocha wears D&G Fall 10 lace dress for 

fashion editorial

Full D &G Fall 2010 collection here  and here

Video: D &G Fall 2010 collection show …

 This is an observation that I believe calls for caution, correction, reprove, etc. One, two more pieces from this collection come off quite similar with few designer brands in Nigeria .... but one step at a time. 

Photos via Millionlooks , BellaNaija and Vogue.com

Cheers to December! Best of December 2012 Covers

Anne Hathaway Graces the December 2012 Cover of Vogue US

Actress Anne Hathaway gets into the holiday spirit wearing an emerald dress on the cover of Vogue US’ December issue. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz with styling by Tonne Goodman, Anne shows off her new sheared coif, cut for her role in the upcoming “Les Misérables” film adaptation.

                                                                     

Taylor Swift on the December/January Cover of Harper’s Bazaar US

 Photographed for the December-January cover shoot of Harper’s Bazaar US, singer Taylor Swift trades in her signature girly dresses for a wardrobe of pants styled by fashion editor Beth Fenton. Paola Kudacki lenses the blonde beauty for the new issue where she opens up about her career, style, dating and relationships.