Dupe

We put our noses up at designer dupes, but we praise beauty products who give us more bang for our La Mer-loving buck. YouTube vloggers serve us hours of content reviewing makeup dupes to help us avoid overspending on our eyeshadow palettes, and we praise them. Of course, not every CVS cosmetic is going to rival MAC cosmetics, but we’re willing to take a gamble for less than $10. So, why do we draw a hypocritical line when it comes to clothing and accessories?

We all covet the dresses we see walking down the red carpet, but many of us do not have access to the goods, or the funds, for that matter. Enter copy cat labels. Fast fashion companies like Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, and Fashion Nova are some of the most notable copy catters. For a teeny, tiny fraction of the designer label’s price you can get an ok faux version that will probably fall apart right before your very eyes and contain chemicals known to cause cancer. Violations from the fashion police might be the least of your worries…

Thanks to internet watchdogs like Diet Prada and Inside the Mood (my two personal favorites), we are able to keep up with intellectual property theft in real time. Unfortunately for clothing designers, it is nearly impossible to take legal action against brands that duplicate their designs. Typically, by the time a cease and desist is put into play, the theft has already been profitable enough for the dirty thief to move on to the next one. As a person who makes art, you hate to see it. Though, to be hones, I love a good fake—as much as I love a really bad one.

There is something kind of kitschy and wonderfully tacky about a really bad fake. I’m talking bags, belts, wallets—really the whole gamut of accessories. It’s like taking the piss out of the seriousness of luxury goods. When you think about it like that, Jeremy Scott comes off totally meta. I live for the ridiculousness and over the top-ness of it all. I can’t tell you how many bootleg Moschino jackets I’ve seen while scrolling across the internets, at least I thought they were fakes, until I saw the prices. Yikes.

Fashion is about allowing yourself to feel good about what you’re presenting to the world. Draping your body in expensive goods does give one the type of luxury experience that sometimes only money can buy. However, if you’re trying to save a buck and not trying to pass off your designer dupes as authentic (actually tacky) then I say Guccify…but get that Guccy on Canal street.