As everyone in the fashion industry knows, September means one thing: fashion week. With New York Fashion Week already behind us, Milan Fashion Week coming to a close, and Paris Fashion Week mere days from kicking off, the intersection of art, high fashion, and daily life has come together in multiple shows celebrating streetwear as haute couture (although this isn’t the first time fashion brands have taken visual inspiration from art on the street).
Looking rumpled, it turns out, is an art form. Custom, high-end designer streetwear is no new phenomenon. Take fashion designer Dapper Dan’s (Daniel Day’s) styling of hip-hop moguls in the 1980s. Through innovative silk-screening and layering techniques (and at a hefty price-point), Dapper Dan fused high fashion with an everyday wearability, heightening the drama of the growing hip-hop music scene. For Dapper Dan (who goes by “Dap”) and others who take guidance from his work, including Savile Row’s Rav Matharu of Clothsurgeon’s bespoke streetwear, the challenge of creating these garments lies in blending high-end luxury with the lifestyle the current wearer is already living. This sometimes involves the use of someone else’s corporate branding in the streetwear’s design. As a result, promoting and selling the final product can become nearly as tricky as the production of the garment itself.
Dapper Dan, for example, famously faced legal challenges from Italian fashion giants Gucci and Fendi, for screen-printing their logos on his leather pieces and outwear designs. In fact, Dapper Dan faced so many lawsuits from Fendi, Gucci, and other luxury brands after incorporating their logos into his designs that he was sued out of business in 1992 and forced to close his Harlem boutique.
The reason fashion houses are often quick to initiate lawsuits when they see their work being used elsewhere is because fashion is a billion-dollar global industry. Yes, artistic ingenuity, originality, and fame are at stake when a designer’s work or logo is being copied without authorization – but so is the potential for a large settlement.
Often, the exact amount that is paid in a settlement is kept private between the parties to the lawsuit, such as the case between Hell’s Angels and luxury designer Alexander McQueen. In 2010, Hell’s Angels sued McQueen for using its “winged skull” motif on bags and jewelry. Not only did McQueen settle with Hell’s Angels for an undisclosed amount, but the suit became so intense that the fashion house actually promised to destroy the merchandise that contained the Hell’s Angels winged skull design.
The secrecy element begs the question: how much is an undisclosed settlement worth in a fashion trademark lawsuit? Gucci’s lawsuit against fast-fashion brand Guess may provide some insights. In 2012, Guess paid Gucci $4.7 million dollars in damages for trademark infringement of Gucci’s interlocking “G” and diamond print logo that Guess used on shoes and other accessories. However, this settlement, astonishing as it was, was considered a blow to Gucci, because it was only a portion of what Gucci had requested in litigation (a staggering $221 million dollars). Gucci’s expectations in this case serve to illustrate both the motivation and the mindset of big fashion houses in their dogged pursuit of trademark claims.
While protecting artistic originality is certainly one of the benefits of fashion trademark lawsuits, along with preventing consumer confusion, there is a strong argument against initiating trademark-based lawsuits involving streetwear brands, specifically. This is because streetwear style can be traced to the intersectionality and collaboration behind the 1970s hip-hop movement. The community-building expression of the diasporic cultural narratives of Black, Latinx, and Caribbean histories continue to provide a foundation for the styles seen on this fall’s runways. The roots of streetwear, both on stage and in the audience, are principled on the sharing, refining, and reworking of culture. Thus, streetwear must reference (and sometimes infringe upon) our worship of consumeristic branding, in order to use those same brands to tell a new story.
Due to this process, Dapper Dan (“Dap”) is a good example of a streetwear designer whose artistic freedom thrives on appropriating other designers as a form of cultural commentary. In the words of rapper Darold Ferguson, Jr (“A$AP Ferg”), [w]hat Dap did was take what those major fashion labels were doing and made them better.” In doing so, “Dap curated hip-hop culture.” Through this lens of Dap as a “cultural curator,” Dap’s forced closure of his boutique in 1992 becomes even more heartbreaking, because it was the result of legal challenges brought against him by large fashion houses with significantly greater financial resources. This worked against his emergence as both an outstanding artistic talent and a cultural icon.
A framework for streetwear designers to cohabitate with luxury brands in the industry in a way that is artistically and economically beneficial to both sides is clearly required. Fortunately, for Dap, this came to fruition in the re-emergence of his Harlem boutique in 2018, reincarnated through his son’s opening of a new Harlem store. The joint venture was backed by none other than Gucci – the same Gucci whose legal challenges once threatened to ruin Dap.
Dap and Gucci’s collaboration provides a basis for streetwear designers to obtain artistic freedom to reinvent styles through commentary on current culture, the results of which construct a stage to effect social change. At the same time, streetwear brands are not forced to appropriate luxury trademarks to spark activism through fashion. Avoiding trademark infringement in streetwear is a tall order, but it can be done. At this year’s fashion week, it was done flawlessly.
Take Disco Inferno & 14N1’s Fall 2022 show entitled More Fashion, Less Gun Violence, to witness a stunning evocation of streetwear fashion’s ability to tell the story of humankind. The show brings hope to an incredibly dark shared history, and does so through an impeccable (if casual) fit.
When checking out the shows this year, keep an eye out for the intersection of streetwear and high-fashion, and how the combination references the roots of the American hip-hop cultural movement. Notice the dominance of luxury logos featured on runway models and front-row attendees, alike. Should brands be prevented from reworking luxury trademarks in their designs in order to criticize contemporary culture? When should the law protect the fashion houses, and their economic stakes, by protecting their marks?