Although the humblest widgets get patented and the most forgettable songs have copyrights, clothing is considered functional, not artistic, so most countries keep it in the public domain. ““That doesn’t mean you can break into a plant and steal a design,’’ says New York University Law School professor Rochelle Dreyfuss. ““But if you see a Chanel suit and get out your sewing machine and fabric, the state protects your right to copy it.’’ French law, by contrast, emphasizes ““paternal’’ rights to an original creation.
But proving ownership is tricky. Unlike painting or sculpture, a dress is a contained canvas. ““If your concept is modifying a man’s tuxedo into a woman’s dress, you’d probably come up with only 12 variations,’’ says Richard Martin, director of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent’s feisty partner, claimed Lauren ““ripped off’’ a 1992 halter-top tuxedo dress, there were marked differences: YSL’s light-wool frock, with an estimated $15,000 price tag, had wide lapels and gold buttons; Lauren’s $1,000 silk version used black buttons and narrower lapels. For Judge Madelaine Cotelle, who had both black dresses modeled in court, that wasn’t difference enough (still, she fined Berge $88,000 for ““denigrating’’ Lauren’s character). Lauren, who was also found guilty of unfair competition, refused to say whether he’ll appeal. But in a statement, a spokeswoman said that Lauren, who has a shop in Paris, had never seen YSL’s design. ““This case is unique to the French system and has nothing to do with the actual copying of a dress.''
Designers have always taken inspiration – at the very least – from each other, so why is YSL, who set off a media furor, suing now? Millstein, who publishes the Fashion Network Report, believes that by discrediting top American designers, Berge hopes to slow inroads into the lucrative European fragrance market. Martin believes YSL wants to salvage France’s ever-fading couture business (as well as his own). Berge says this is not a Franco-American quarrel: ““I would have sued an Italian or a German or a French designer in exactly the same way.’’ He should know. Nine years ago a French court fined YSL $11,000 for copying a toreador jacket from rival Jacques Esterel.
