Month Archive for November 2007
KODONA FASHION INSPIRATION: ARTHUR RIMBAUD.
The next time you’re itching to dress Kodona – comme un garçon victorien – call upon the ghost of French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Ah, quelle histoire! As a boy, Rimbaud often wandered to neighboring countries and had to be brought home by the police. The poetry bug bit at age 16. Soon after, Rimbaud may have joined the Paris Commune and was possibly gang-raped by soldiers. The poet became a street-dwelling anarchist, complete with long hair, shabby clothes, and body lice – not unlike kids today, eh? He moved into the home of Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine, who promptly fell for the sullen blue-eyed teen and abandoned his pregnant wife for him. The pair ran to London and took up la vie bohème, spiking it with absinthe, opium, and hashish. They traveled; they fought; in Brussels, a drunk and raving Verlaine shot at his lover and hit him in the wrist. Quand il a realisé que Verlaine avait perdu la tête, the boy had him arrested. Verlaine was subjected to a humiliating interrogation of his lifestyle and sentenced to prison for two years.
Rimbaud returned to France, and at age 18, completed Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell). The work, which switches between poetry and prose, is “widely regarded as one of the pioneering instances of modern Symbolist writing and a description of that drôle de ménage (domestic farce) life with Verlaine.”
Througout his twenties, Rimbaud worked random jobs and extended his travels to uncharted terrains. He enlisted in the Dutch army for a free ride to Java (as soon as he reached the shore, he deserted). As an importer-exporter (possibly dealing with slaves), he led caravans through Cyprus, Yemen, Egypt, Ethiopia. A knee carcinoma forced his return to France. His leg was amputated. At age 37, he was dead.
Un soir, j’ai assis la Beauté sur mes genoux. Et je l’ai trouvée amère. Et je l’ai injuriée.
One evening, I sat Beauty in my lap. And I found her bitter. And I cursed her.
+ Arthur Rimbaud, Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell), 1873.
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GOTHIC LOLITA DESIGN KNOCKOFFS.
Ruffle skirts, puffed sleeves, big bow clasps… Gothic Lolita clothing tends to repeat the same design features. Some items stem from different brands, yet look almost identical. Compare, for example, the coat on the left by Metamorphose Temps de Fille with the one on the right by Fan Plus Friend. Can you spot the differences? The law student in me asks: how does intellectual property law figure into the story?
Garment designs are generally not copyrightable because clothes are considered “useful articles.” The key test is whether the design is separable from the utilitarian function of the item. Fabric prints, patterns, and graphics meet this requirement. In the photo above, both the drawing on the h.NAOTO cutsew and the fabric print from Emily Temple Cute qualify for copyright protection. The shape, style, cut, and dimensions of the shirt, however, do not. 
Trademarks are the distinctive symbols used to indicate the source of goods. The double swan logo, for example, is Metamorphose’s signature. Companies can protect their marketing assets (brand name, logo, and sometimes oft-used colors) by registering them as trademarks.
Fashion designs are rarely patented because most do not meet the “novelty” standard of being new, inventive, and industrially applicable. Cuff and collar shapes that have been around since Queen Victoria’s days generally don’t apply!
So, can we charge Fan Plus Friend with infringement? If the company were copying Baby, the Stars Shine Bright’s logo or graphics, it would be in the wrong. However, borrowing functional design features – such as heart-shaped clasps and wavy coat bottoms – is acceptable. FPF uses cheaper materials and targets a less exclusive market; the coat on the right does not compete with Baby’s on the left. Customers buy brands for the image that the company portrays – and anyone who has read Kamikaze Girls knows that Baby is held in godlike esteem while knockoffs are frowned upon. Shady as it may seem, Fan Plus Friend is merely “paying homage” and not breaking the law. Case closed.
LA CARMINA
