It has become a recent trend with designers to pull design inspiration pieces from other designers. They will have their development team take a trip to the local mall or search the web for design ideas. The developers will spend thousands of dollars purchasing clothing that would relate to the brand and help evolve the style of the brand. But is this really design? Does a Hermes Birkin bag loose its value when it is being knocked off and reproduced by a company like Michael Kors? How would you feel if you spent $1500 on a handbag by Cloe and you walk into Target and see the same bag in different materials for $85?
In my own personal experience I studied in Paris underneath an amazing french designer who owns his own business and sells couture knitwear designs. While learning his ways in the world of French design I was taught that Americans are not very innovative or new. American designers tend to change a collar on a garment or adjust a sleeve length and try to call it a completely new design. This is something that makes the French laugh! French design is very, very different. Most designers in France start designing from an inspiration that is organic, such as nature or life experiences From the inspiration they work with technique, designing the details and the patterns. Following this step the designers then begin to form the silhouette of the garment and then the design process is complete. It is a very detailed way of producing clothing but that is what makes it special. It is one of a kind and it is completely new.
In America, most designers take the lazy way out. We have become such a fast moving, excess society that we don't have the time to design from organic inspiration and only from the artificial. But is design in the US really dead or is it just on a hiatus? Will the organic designer re-emerge in the future?
It's tough these days to tell the difference between knock-off and inspired. One of the things we all must remember though as fashionistas and artsts is that no idea revolving around "art", including fashion ideas, is original anymore. Everything is taken from another person's ideas from the past. We simply tweak it to our own wants and visions. Ever when we find inspiration from nature we are knocking-off the design of the elements around us and in a sense taking what isn't ours. It's an interesting concept when you think about it.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained the difference between American designers and French designers. I never really paid attention to the difference between the two. It must of been really fun being able to actually work with a French designer and get that experience. I've always wanted to go abroad.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that American's tend to consider themselves independent and original, but in reality are really good at taking concepts and then mass producing them. Couture designer creations are more art than they are clothing, and the designers seem to focus more on the process of creating and the design of the garment than on the mass production and marketing. While I think it's sad that this is in some ways lost on American designers, I do see the concern of American designers in making products for the every day person rather than the couture client.
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