fashion

She travels the globe with a massive library of art books and translates fashion designers' eclectic seasonal inspirations ("Blade Runner meets Lord Byron!" "Diana Vreeland on safari!") into influential catwalk makeup, but who knew Pat McGrath was a video game fan? The renowned makeup artist helped to conceptualize Fashion Week Live, a video game franchise now being developed by 505 Games in partnership with entertainment and media company IMG. Slated to debut next year on platforms ranging from the Nintendo Wii to the iPhone, the games will allow players "to enter the world of high fashion at Fashion Week, with a true insider's point of view," according to an IMG press release. "Games will feature world-class industry gurus, top models, and the star-studded runways of Fashion Week events worldwide." And 505 knows something about playing dress-up. Among a new line of games the company developed for the Discovery Kids network is Pony Paradise, which allows kids to "Get stylin' in the stable! Wash and groom your pet pony—add accessories, too!" Where were innovations like this during our childhood, when we had to try out equine smoky eye and nude lip combos on real ponies?

Our favorite goofy design person, Philippe Starck, has returned to the scene, having recently made his first step into the fashion world with the launch of his clothing line, which uses the name of most of his products, S+ARCK. In collaboration with the brand Ballantyne, the line will feature waterproof cashmere items that have been designed in such a way as to promote sustainability by lasting a really long time. Thought Starck claims that no one will much care for the products immediately, given that they "are non-photogenic," he says that "the public will take maybe three years to understand the concept." We're not exactly sure why it will take so long for people to catch on (our quick synopsis: most cashmere gets wet, whereas this does not), but that's for Philippe to understand and for the rest of us to be confused over. After all, this was the man who was saying how much he disliked fashion just a few short months ago. And, hey, while we're on the subject, wasn't his reality show supposed to start running back in March? Where's that?!

We still curse the sense of fiscal responsibility that kept us from purchasing those splendid Jeff Koons-printed frocks that Stella McCartney-showed for spring 2006. Now older, wiser, and able to subsist for weeks on a family-size bag of mixed nuts from the dollar store, we're not about to let her latest art-tastic collaboration pass us by. Famed artist and designer Peter Blake (or as we call him, "Sir Peter") has created a print for McCartney that appears exclusively on a summer capsule collection she designed for high fashion e-tailer net-a-porter. As you might recall, Blake designed an album cover for a band in which McCartney's father played.

The Blake-designed cloud print appears on a breezy silk jersey dress and shirt as well as beachy accessories such as strappy espadrilles and a canvas bag. There's also a cloudy t-shirt (organic cotton, of course) and a coordinating pair of dip-dyed skinny jeans. From a distance, Blake's motif smacks of Super Mario Bros., while up close it conjures the Benday-dotted skies of Roy Lichtenstein. In fact, this is Blake's first go at clouds. "I've avoided them. They're difficult," Blake told McCartney in a conversation taped in his London studio and posted on net-a-porter. "Most of my paintings have a clear sky, oddly enough, so when you asked me to do it, instantly I thought of [British painter John] Constable. I researched Constable's clouds." McCartney considers the collaboration a success. "What I love is the print is quite bold and it's quite a statement, and yet I think it's very approachable still, which is kind of quite hard to achieve," she tells Blake. "Well done." Quite.

Previously on UnBeige:

Following our reporting the other day on the news that lawyers representing pop singer Katy Perry had gone after an Australian designer named Katie Perry after the latter had tried to trademark her name, the negative "big celebrity picks on the little guy" buzz started finding its way around the internet, resulting in Perry, the singer, and her record company, EMI, deciding to post a brief note on her blog:

In the course of securing trademark protection for Katy Perry in Australia, it came to the attention of her representatives that Katie Howell, a clothing designer in Australia, had filed an application for trademark protection under a similar name in connection with her own clothing design business. A routine notice letter was sent to Ms. Howell, as is customary in trademark practice, alerting her of Ms. Perry’s intended application.

This is a routine trademark application, and I certainly haven't sued anyone. As usual, some of the press seems to have delighted in creating a story where there is none.

Of particular note, we find it interesting the little bending of the facts therein, by referring to the designer using her married name, "Katie Howell," instead of her given name, "Katie Perry" under which she operates her design business. Makes the designer seem a little more nefarious that way, that she was just trying to cash in on the Katheryn Hudson (or "Katy Perry") name.

Yesterday we shared with you a couple of the latest instances of the more interesting fashion design lawsuits of the week, but it turns out we weren't quite done, as the best one was just waiting in the wings. Musician Eddie Van Halen has filed a suit against the Nike for copyright infringement over a pair of shoes they'd recently released that feature a pattern similar to a guitar Van Halen uses, specifically, "the Frankenstein," which he has had copyrighted since 2001, according to Women's Wear Daily. Apparently this isn't just some accident either, the two items looking similar, as Nike had hired a firm who specifically designs merchandise to resemble music-related paraphernalia. Now Van Halen wants all the shoes rounded up and destroyed, while Nike doesn't sound ready to give in, likely aware at how difficult these types of cases are to win in court:

In a statement provided to [Footwear News] by a brand spokesperson, Nike said it was aware of the lawsuit but did not believe it to have merit. "Based on the information provided to us, we have not infringed on any rights held by Mr. Van Halen," it said. "Nike's Dunk shoe design is not substantially similar to any of the Van Halen designs, and Nike has not referenced the 'Van Halen' name or image as part of any marketing campaign or promotional material associated with the shoe."

Outside of maybe the music business, the fashion industry is perhaps one of the most litigious in regard to copyright law. Following Trovata's court battle against Forever 21 last month (which ended in a mistrial, but with Trovata sounding ready to get back in there to try another day), we learned of a couple more interesting fashion-based battles. First up, the Kay Celine design firm is going after discount retailer Stein Mart for "knowingly reproducing and selling clothes that feature a Kay Celine design since at least March." The company discovered the copying after a buyer from Stein Mart approached them to purchase a collection, they said no, and then items that looked remarkably similar started appearing on their racks just a few short months later. As with all fashion/copyright cases, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Second on the docket comes a more bizarre story by way of Australia, where a young designer named Katie Perry has been contacted by lawyers from the camp of musician Katy Perry after the designer tried to trademark her name to cover her clothing line. Despite having been born with the name Katheryn Hudson, the pop singer's lawyers seem very uncomfortable with her brand being put into jeopardy with this Katie Perry (nee Katie Perry) designer's appearance and have sought to block her receiving the trademark. The designer has since formed something of a grassroots movement against the singer, vowing to fight for the rights to the name:

Perry, a former menswear fashion manager for retailer David Jones, opened her first retail outlet in the Sydney suburb of Mosman last week, and recently picked up her first stockist, in the NSW south coast town of Kiama.

She said while she was born Katie Jane Perry and has never changed her name, she sometimes goes by the name Katie Howell -- although her fashion label does not trade under that name. "I love my business. I'm not going to give it away without a fight either," she said. "I'm not trying to become a singer. I'm not pretending to be her. This is my income. And it's the livelihood of my contractors as well."

There was one big question on the mind of most everyone who swanned into Lincoln Center's newly renovated Alice Tully Hall last night for the annual and ever higher profile Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Fashion Awards, and it had nothing to do with the astounding transformation wrought by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. No, the sartorially astute crowd was too busy wondering whether self-taught designing sisters Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte would best decorated veterans Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez to win the award for womenswear designer of the year—just one year after they won the Swarovski award for the label they founded in 2005. In a word, yes.

The Mulleavys took home the CFDA's top honor for their otherworldly womenswear, which Kate described to us last fall as the product of everything from "a lot of trial and error" to—in the case of the spring 2009 collection—an inspired "mixture between science fiction and site-specific art." Meanwhile, Scott Sternberg for Band of Outsiders and Italo Zucchelli for Calvin Klein Collection tied for menswear designer of the year honors, while enduring CFDA favorites Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler took home the accessory designer of the year award. The Swarovski awards were presented to Alexander Wang (womenswear), Tim Hamilton (menswear), and Justin Giunta for Subversive Jewelry (accessory design). Taking home the first ever popular vote award for favorite fashion designer, chosen online by the public, was Ralph Lauren.

Previously on UnBeige:

Designing children's clothing seems a natural move for Stella McCartney: fashion mogul, mother, and famed "child of." With a slew of successful collaborations (Adidas, LeSportsac, H&M) under her faux leather belt, McCartney has just inked a deal to create a collection of childrenswear for Gap, which eschews articles both definite and indefinite. Expected to launch in November, the limited edition collection will be carried in select GapKids and babyGap stores in the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, and Japan, as well as online in the U.S., according to a press release issued today by Gap Inc. So can we expect impossibly cool, dusky-hued separates for the littlest fashionistas? All we know is that they'll be affordable. "For years now I've wanted to create a collection for kids, it's something I've often been asked about," said McCartney. "I believe that kids clothing should be more accessibly priced, which is particularly important at the moment given the current climate. It's really exciting for us to do a boys and girls collection for the first time."

From Europe comes news of another fashion victim of the economy: Belgian designer Veronique Branquinho is closing the fashion house she founded 11 years ago. The Antwerp-based company—which encompasses womenswear, menswear, sunglasses, and shoes—has entered court-appointed liquidation. According to WWD, Branquinho's house was unable to survive in the face of "a sharp drop in orders for its fall/winter 2009/2010 collections, and a plethora of canceled orders and nonpayments for the past spring/summer season."

While Branquinho, a graduate of Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts, will take a break from designing under her own name, she was recently appointed artistic director of Delvaux, the luxe leathergoods company. "The motivation for this choice was her highly personal style, her approach to accessories—elegance must remain discreet—and the international opportunities that this cooperation creates," noted Delvaux last month in a statement announcing Branquinho's appointment. "In her designs for Delvaux, she wants to create a tension between recognition—the existing codes of the House—and surprise." Branquinho will also continue teaching at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Speaking of fashion and legal battles, but with far less head-butting (thus far), an important piece of litigation is hitting the courts in California this week. After a few years of wrangling over accusations by the fashion house Trovata that the retail chain Forever 21 has long been stealing its designs and repackaging them under their own brand at a significant discount, the debate has finally gone before a judge and a jury. The outcome should prove interesting, as currently it's murky legal territory, with fashion designers stuck in a position of not really being able to defend their designs, just their copyrighted images. If something changes in this battle and Forever 21 is found in the wrong, it could be a turning point for often-copied designers and a potentially big blow to the copy cats. Here's a bit:

"Much the same as a music composer, [the designer] takes notes, chords, sharps and flats and combines them and arranges them to make original music," Trovata attorney Frank Colucci said in his opening statement to the jury of six men and two women. "The notes, the chords, the sharps and flats are all known; it is the way they are combined and arranged that make new music."

Forever 21's attorney replied:

"Much like a recipe for something like apple cobbler, Trovata is saying they didn't invent the apples or the cinnamon or the sugar, but they are claiming the right to the combination," [Bruce Brunda told the jury.

Update: The week's earlier courtroom battle royale wound up puttering out as quickly as it began and has already ended, in a mistrial no less. But Trovata isn't keen to let this go and already sounds ready to get back into court.