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

The Perfect Whole : BANANA REPUBLIC S/S '13 Ready-to-Wear Collection

There’s something remarkably sweet and delicious and girly about this collection. The colours which obviously fit perfectly for Spring/Summer, the simplicity of each design, the very professional and mature yet accessible styling influence, the romantic makeup look, plus the ambiance of the scenery created within the space – outstandingly!

"Luxury Sweet Candy" - ICONIC INVANITY MTN LFDW 2012 Collection

To fully appreciate the skills and effort involved in making a garment and an entire collection, you would have to see it up close and personal preferably before the fashion week starts or backstage minutes before the designers’ show, simply because it’s the visual impact that really matters. 

Few weeks, days before the LFDW started I visited few designers at their atelier and merging the experience gathered pre and during the show really gave me a totally different and definite understanding into the individual collections. Iconic Invanity’s “Luxury Sweet Candy” collection was one of few I previewed before the event proper. The interesting thing about such visits is that it helps sort out initial impressions, it then gives a clear view of the collection based on the designer’s aesthetics. For example, I discovered that the title of the collection couldn’t have been better to describe such an amazing collection of colourful and deliciously designed pieces. 

The sincere attention to details often revealed by the intricate beading style places Iconic Invanity on another platform from her peers. From tops, skirts, dresses and immaculate gowns, every piece from this collection have more structure and beauty than can be realized on the runway.

Photos: Lazailounge.com 

Oriental Influences - Ituen Basi at Lagos Fashion and Design Week 2012

Ituen Basi returns to the scene with a big bang. At first glance at this collection my thoughts instantly travelled back to a particular scene in one of my favourite seasonal movies – Sex and the City (SATC) featuring my favourite fashion icon and actress, SJP – Sarah Jessica Parker where she wore the famous Dolce & Gabbana body fitting dress that made incredible impact on the media because of its fabric which was a cut out of top fashion stories on D & G from way back 80’s. While that isn’t exactly the case with Ituen Basi it was a bit similar as Ituen’s choice of fabrics related not just with her stories but other top fashion stories in Nigeria. The strict patterns and cuts on the dresses, skirts and pants created with silk fabrics and laces perfectly matched the tops thus elongating the figure and giving the appearance of precision posture.  The entire collection by Ituen Basi which seemed very practical, bourgeois and very relevant answered my question of how fashion influences art and vice versa. I discovered art definitely relates with the world in general – the accurate way to explore the world, philosophy, politics and even fashion simply through creativity.

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