In the past few days, a particular design has been trending on the internet thanks to the creative work of a Nigerian Designer “Ugomonye”. When I saw the piece which was worn by a Nigerian Celebrity, Ebuka to the BAAD wedding, I was happy that there was a creative mind who could come up with such an idea. The designer launched the design at the Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week 2017.
It has been barely five days since the BAAD wedding and the imitators are already working on the design.
If as a designer, you are a pro imitator, the least you can do is acknowledge the brand whose work you have imitated.
Fashion relies primarily on inspiration. It is important that I differentiate Imitation from Inspiration. A lot of individuals copy and say it was inspired, nope it is better you use the word imitated.
Imitation is the production of identical copies of the substantial copying of another’s artistic work. Imitation is the replication of the pattern, cut, construction or other feature of another’s garment.
The trending “agbada” can be referred to as an inspired work. Inspiration means taking existing elements and interpreting them in a new or original way. The trending “agbada” worn by Ebuka, I can guess was inspired from the Yoruba popular traditional agbada.
There is a thin line between an imitation and an inspiration. In Fashion, there really is no new design, designs are based on evolved styles but I believe that in each piece there should be a form of originality. Ugomonye has made a design which has a form of newness of originality. It is only right and respectful for designers who desire to work with such design to ask for the designer’s permission. If it is not possible to get the designer’s permission, acknowledge the designer.
Let us try and do things the right way.
“Every piece was engineered with the state of art precision and a keen attention to details..” – @ugomonye.official
Acknowledgment(sources
● Images (IG) @ugomonye.official @possibledesignersstitches
●www.thefashionlaw.com
photo:pexels