Riding on the coattails of success--copycat designers of reconstructed clothing

one of my early pieces c.2002

Reconstructed clothing is nothing new. People have been fashioning new garments from repurposed material since the depression era when
resources
were scarce. Many of us who have always been creative and innovative have experimented by making adjustments to existing clothing or using parts of it for other purposes. The very roots of Gypsy Palace Couture were developed in  reconstructing sweaters, satin comforters and fleece jackets to make children's clothing, back in 1999 when I had my first child and had the luxury of staying home without having to make much money. That was when I also started making legwarmers and armwarmers. Nobody had armwarmers then. (There are 2211 pairs of them for sale on Etsy right now!)

Imitation of Christ

pop tab purse

In 2000, Tara Subkoff debuted the Imitation of Christ line of deconstructed clothing, which was a ridiculous success amongst fashionistas who bought into Tara's practical joke on the fashion industry. Her line tanked in 2007 when people finally realized how hideous the clothing really was, and at $2500 for a ripped up t-shirt, borderline criminal. Since then, I have seen a steady increase in reconstructed, repurposed clothing being marketed from "hippie bohemian gypsy" to "eco-chic" selling from the low double-digits on Ebay to the upper triple digits in Manhattan boutiques. It's become quite trendy to recycle clothing, plastic bags, bicycle inner tubes, pop can tabs and other refuse into wearable art. The northwest has a reputation of being "green" so you will find a lot of this sort of thing in artsy shops, galleries and boutiques. On Etsy and in other indie-craft marketplaces, it's even become redundant, ad nauseum--how many versions of the vintage necktie skirt do you have to see before it's just not that clever anymore?

Kat O'Sullivan

Well last night I came across the Etsy shop and website of a woman known as Katwise who makes the most delightful coats out of repurposed sweaters. Here's a bit of her autobiography: "My life has not been terribly ordinary, and I guess I am pretty grateful for that. I have been waltzing around the planet for years now, trying not to listen to all the people who insist that I ought to settle down. Sometimes it takes a lot of work to remember that a life lived in the pursuit of joy is just as valid (or more!) than a life lived in the pursuit of money."  

 I discovered after extensive probing that this young woman is a lot like me--unstoppably creative in many art forms, wildly independent and devoted to living life on her own terms. Kat has been so successful selling her incredible reconstructed sweater coats on Etsy that she's been able to buy a farm in upstate New York as well as travel all over the world. A woman after my own heart, indeed. Kat has been selling her creations on the street in New York and online at Etsy.com, barely keeping up with orders. She has sold well over 2000 of these coats on Etsy, and has inspired not only a huge following of fans, but at least half a dozen copycats. Check these out:

Enlightened Platypus

Sunspiral Autumn 

Harry and the Hippe Chick 

Spiral Gypsy

Candy Corsets

Maise Studio 

Some of these sellers are charging at least $100 more for what they're calling "original designs", but if you look at the number of sales they've had, clearly they haven't been around nearly as long as Kat. These people are riding on the coattails of her success. One of these sellers, Jill2Day, (who has no sweaters for sale currently--but tons of clever armwarmers!) has received public acclaim for her creations in several blogs.

Is this the hundredth monkey phenomenon at work in the fashion business? That could be the case with armwarmers, as there is little design latitude there--you make a tube out of a sweater and it has to be sewn together somehow. But these intricately patchworked sweaters have clearly been ripped off, and shamelessly at that.

It bugs me.

Katwise is my superhero of the week. She is living the life I've sought after for years--putting heart and soul into her art, living as a work of art herself. And yet, there is no copyright to this brand of super-stardom. Fashion trends devour all, and rarely water the garden that grew them. I made these sweaters 4-5 years ago:

 

and I've seen so many similar designs since then, I've just had to move on to something new. I believe this is the mark of the true visionary artist, being far ahead of your time and having to invent and reinvent constantly. There are creators, and there are consumers, and I've just realized today that some people are actually consumers masquerading as creators. A parrot is indeed an intelligent bird, but how deeply does it understand the words it repeats? The parrot's true voice is beyond our language, it is the primal expression of its soul. This is what Gypsy Palace is all about, and it is who Gypsy Palace supports.

There will always be cultural memes, trends, colloquialisms, and copycats. In the music industry, you can sue someone for ripping off your lyrics or melodies (remember Vanilla Ice's blatant rip-off of David Bowie/Queen's bass line from "Under Pressure"?). I doubt many reconstructed clothing designers will go so far as to patent their patterns, so it comes down to a matter of ethics. Respect those who inspire you by at least giving them credit. I am careful not to step on another designer's toes when I notice that we're working in a similar style, and if I wish to move forward with mine, I may invite them to collaborate with me. In fact, this is the theme of the next Gypsy Palace fashion show, coming up in May 2011. Five designers will be collaborating to create a collection of de/reconstructed garments and display them in a multi-media performance. I believe that collaboration is the next wave of visionary art as we learn to detach from what is "ours" and hold strong to the collective vision. I envision a national convention of reconstructed fashion someday, with hands-on workshops taught by people who have been doing this since before it was cool. If our collective vision is to save the world by recycling as much as possible, then let's not compete or step on each other for money--let's just save the world, ok?

please feel free to email me at gypsypalace7@gmail.com, or add your comments to this article.