Max Riffner

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Copying isn't Punished

[This is a Project Runway post again, with spoilers – so read no further if you watch the show.]

Another great Project Runway last night, which brought about another lesson about design. Copying isn’t punished. When it came down to Marla’s almost exact replica of a Chloe dress that Nicky Hilton had worn very recently and Guadalupe’s dress which didn’t even come close to looking like something Nicky Hilton would wear, I knew Marla would probably be saved from her copycat debacle. I’ve seen this scenario play out my whole career. Between bad and stolen, bad will be discarded. I have been involved in conversations professionally discussing the merits of a stolen design, and it flabbergasts me everytime it happens that the thief will actually be rewarded because another designer didn’t get the assignment right per the client’s specifications.

And it isn’t even that Guadalupe is a bad designer (far from it); she just didn’t design to the client’s needs. She designed to her tastes. If it was Courtney Love instead of Nicky Hilton, Guadalupe would have won hands down.

There is a very fine line in any design field between homage and outright stealing. I thought the best dress of the night was Nick’s, who is really stealing/paying homage to the glamorous 30s with the dress he produced, but with modern twists, and with his personal stamp.

Marla has scraped by every week – she’ll be gone next week for sure.

Goddamn I love this show!

Also – my favorite part of the show every week is Tim Gunn. I’ve had several teachers just like him: nurturing and brutally honest. One of my favorite professors would come around your work area and say “oh, I should have gotten to you sooner.”

Bonus: Tim has a sorta blog and podcast for each episode of the show. Here’s his take on Episode 5.

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