Apr 7, 2011 | Fashion

Proenza Schouler PS1 bag on top; Target’s Messenger Bag in Olive on the bottom. Img source
As you may or may not have heard, Proenza Schouler recently expressed disappointment that Target had begun selling a bag that was similar to their PS1 bag. From the New York Times blog: “[Proenza Schouler designer Jack] McCollough can understand that people love bargains and knockoffs, but variations, clever or not, rob companies, small companies like Proenza, of opportunities. Reading the post, he remarked, “Yeah, why save up and buy ours when you can buy theirs right away?”
Well, whom is knocking off whom? And is it correct of McCollough to assume that theirs is the original, and that the Target bag is directly derived from Proenza Schouler’s re-imagining of the standard messenger satchel?
Mulberry Oversized Alexa Bag
Fossil Vintage Re-Issue Flap, $108
Express Top Handle Satchel, $59.90

Aldo Kreisher Bag, $50
TopShop the Mimi Bag by Marc B**, $84
Oryany Flap Satchel, $398
Marc by Marc Jacobs Saddlery Sophie, $478
ASOS Clean Line Double Buckle Satchel, $44

Pathfinder Laptop Messenger Bag, $49.95
Vintage B-15 Pilot Messenger Bag, $31.99
And add all of those to Refinery 29‘s recent exhaustive list of PS1 doppelgangers…
And these are just the bags that are currently available for sale on the Internet…not including the messenger bags used by the U.S. army throughout the decades…schoolboys in Europe in the 1940’s and 50’s…oh, and all satchels ever existing in the history of Time.
What do you guys think? Does Proenza Scholer have the right to be issuing statements about design infringement towards Target? Do you think the designer for this bag for Target intentionally copied the PS1…or just designed a messenger bag with a few similarities? Which came first – the chicken or the egg…or, in this case: the PS1 or the iconic messenger-bag-style design?
Though the Mossimo bag ($34.99) is out of stock online, I spied it the other day at my local Target store. And if you’d like to worship and purchase the original PS1 in all its original glory, it’s available here for $1,995.
xoxox
Carly
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Mar 7, 2011 | Fashion
I’ve been hemming and hawing about DIY’ing these lovely ruffled Christian Louboutins for awhile. It would be so simple to curl and fold up a piece of leather, creating those frills, and stitch the bottom onto a “pad” that you could tie on or clip on to the front of your sandals..
Well, now there’s no need to since Newport-News has come out with their version. Besides the fact that the NNI version is faux leather and they do not have a top strap, the frilly part certainly looks a lot cheaper than the original since (likely in order to save on production costs) they’ve used a double-layer of vinyl simply glued together.


Whereas the Loubs use a double layer of leather, edges folded in and topstitched. It’s a minuscule little detail (along with the strong shine of the faux leather) that is a dead giveaway that these are fakies.
However, once there’s a pretty good replica of a designer item put out there by some mass-market brand, I lose interest in DIY’ing it.
Materials for the ruffle + time trying to find the materials + time executing it + possible mishaps/mistakes with working with thin leather and topstitching it = $$$$
(close enough to $59 that bothering with the DIY seems like a waste. But it certainly could be done should you want to.)
And if you wanted to buy these shoes from Newport-News or Spiegel (sadly, only camel or black is available, not the lovely orangey coral color)…
What do we think? Chic…or just CHEAP?
xoxox
Carly
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Aug 31, 2009 | Fashion
Alright, so shoot me…I love Forever21. Sure, their clothing and jewelry is cheaply constructed and will fall apart quickly, but when it comes to staying on top of the trends (and producing low-priced knockoffs) they’re the US’s answer to the UK’s ASOS. (ASOS is better-designed and a little more fashion-forward, IMHO, but F21 is the closest we’ve got stateside.) Is it just me, or does the necklace above remind you a teensy little bit of that House of Harlow black geometric necklace? (below)
(Edit 4/19/11: Actually, the Forever 21 necklace is a knockoff inspired by a necklace by Amrita Singh. Touche.)
And Girlprops.com…another cheap affordable accessories destination…with their version of that Fiona Paxton beaded chained elastic thingy necklace as seen on Hilary Duff (and if you already saw this in May 2009 issue of Cosmopolitan, I’m so sorry – it just took me awhile to get on the bandwagon).
[I’m going to DIY mine and add on a whole bunch of spangles and mirrored bugle beads so it looks more like the original version and not just a strip of elastic.]
What do you all think? Original Necklaces vs. Knockoffs: Chic or Cheap?
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