Remember Moschino’s outstanding autumn/winter 2015/16 collection that circulated the media worldwide, shown on the catwalk in Milan? One of the inspirations was the graffiti motifs applied to the stunning evening gowns. The effect was phenomenal and, as it seemed at first, well thought out – the models even had handbags in the form of paint cans on gold chains
Bugs Bunny knows his worth
Moschino’s designer Jeremy Scott has been known to use pop culture motifs, such as cartoon characters. It would seem that such a well-known fashion house has the copyright problem worked out. Especially when well-known characters such as Bugs Bunny or Sponge Bob are worth a lot and well protected. You cannot just print them on anything, unless it is on a bazaar T-shirt whose manufacturer is untraceable anyway.
Graffiti artists are no joke
Recently, the author of the designs – Joseph Tierney, known as Rime – was suing Moschino fashion house for copyright infringement. That is where most media coverage stops. Meanwhile, Jeremy Scott either wanted to deliberately create a scandal or was completely unaware of what he was doing. This is not about an anonymous writer but world-famous artist who sells his designs as prints on clothing in collaboration with Adidas. To paraphrase the whole situation, it is almost as if one major fashion house copied the design of another and showed it on the catwalk. Funny enough, Jeremy Scott has previously worked for Adidas too. It turns out that this is not the first slip-up, as the designer has already had a conflict over copyright with the cult sports brand Santa Cruz.
Really true to this?
The artist, whose intellectual property has undoubtedly been infringed, is nevertheless suing Moschino for something else. Namely, for damaging his image by placing his work in a commercial context. Well, I guess that’s the overzealousness of lawyers. Just look at one of Rime’s projects – the prints for the sweatshirts, T-shirts and Adidas shoes he designed. Although they are undoubtedly commercial in nature, they look pretty good. Perhaps Rime had no problem doing a joint project with Adidas, as the brand has a strong commitment in the US to supporting the graffiti culture community?
