In the last few months, apart from the usual stories about designers copying each others, we've also heard about a student or an artist being copied by a specific fashion label. Strangely enough, no cases involved Jeremy Scott, who is known for "borrowing" prints and images from artists and using them in his collections without even asking.
The latest Moschino A/W 2017 menswear and Pre-Fall 17 collections actually make you wonder if Scott may have finally mastered the art of copying and remixing without incurring in copyright infringements. Both the collections, showcased on the same runway in January, featured indeed a Baroque print of cherubs and allegorical figures in the style of Tiepolo's frescoes, with some remixing included (an allegorical figure was cheekily dangling a pair of sunglasses from a hand for example...).
At times the same image was replicated on denim or covered in vigorous black brushstrokes. The collection was supposed to be about fighting against hate and alt-right extremism, very pertinent themes in the dark times we are living in.
Now, as we have learnt from previous posts about copyright, taking inspiration in a very literal way or "borrowing" (read "stealing"...) a painting by an artist who died centuries ago is more or less fine (unless a museum has somehow managed to get some kind of protection on that particular artist/work of art, but that is usually unlikely in such cases).
So Scott would not stumble in any copyright infringement lawsuit by borrowing from Baroque works of art, but there were also other pieces that made you wonder if he had finally understood how to steal (pardon, borrow): most of the designs on the runway were matched with berets decorated by Judy Blame accompanied by long necklaces or layered belts from which ex-votos of eyes, ears, hands and legs were dangling.
Non-catholic readers may have learnt from previous posts that silver hearts or medallions representing body parts like a disembodied leg, arm or hand are considered tokens showing how a believer's vow (voto) was fulfilled. Usually vows involve prayers or fasting in return for a cure and the silver figurines represent a healed part of the human body.
Ex-votos, have been rather popular in fashion throughout the years, we have seen them in a previous post on the runways of Jean Paul Gaultier and Dolce & Gabbana, especially in their most popular heart-shaped version.
Moschino's show also closed with Scott donning a shirt with a print of a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, hacked with the classic heart and peace symbols hinting at the universal message "Make love, not war" (note: the shirt will set you back 231 euros).
Now, as pointed out in a previous post, there is usually no copyright on ex-votos, general religious icons and images.
That's probably the same reason why Scott included sacred images also in his A/W 17 womenswear collection (mind you, copyright-wise Scott has picked a picture of a specific statue of the Virgin Mary for his shirt, so there may be copyrights linked with it, especially if that statue is preserved in a famous church or cathedral...).
While some may be justifying this return to religion as a return to the archives since Franco Moschino actually played with religion in an ad from the 1988/1989 campaign that featured Violetta Sanchez wearing the famous teddy bear dress and being carried on an ornate wooden platform as if she were a sacred icon.
Yet there were doubts about Scott abandoning his copying instincts: some of the floral camouflage looks included in the collection made you think about Versace's A/W 2012-13 floral uniforms that also had a connection with the uniforms at the Korean Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Art Biennale.
Besides, one look on Moschino's runway was also accompanied by a Sicilian pupo, a traditional Sicilian marionette covered in a metal armour, a hint maybe about the fact that Scott was actually borrowing from D&G's Sicilian inspirations and their religious obsession. The doubt remains.
In the meantime, if you want to save money and decorated yourself with ex-votos like the wall of a church, try antiquarian or second-hand markets in Italy for ex-votos (we suggested it in a previous post) or check out sellers on the Internet (believe it or not there are ex-votos on Amazon as well, but the choice is wider and cheaper on sites specialising in holy art products).
But if you can resist the urge to jump on the ex-voto bandwagon, please do so: after all, we were already hoping the ex-voto trend would have exhausted its glamorous side three years ago, rather than sacrilegious (as we stated then) this trend is indeed becoming a proof of design laziness.
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