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Archive for the ‘Fashion Fraud Squad’ Category
Monday, November 16th, 2009
Would you all mind just talking amongst yourselves for a few minutes? We’re busy gazing at these shoes. Both of them. Sure, the Louboutins are shinier and sleeker, but the Dune versions are only £85, which is a big saving on the circa £400 you’d have paid for the Louboutins, if they were still in stock.
Of course, quite apart from anything else, these are a good example of Shoe Porn, which means we’re going to have to confiscate them. Poor us. It’s a hard knock life, sometimes.
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Go Jane have been a little more careful than Steve Madden when it comes to “being inspired” by other designers work in the ankle boots arena: there are enough differences between their boots and the Giuseppe Zanotti originals for them to stay out of trouble, but just enough for it to be clear where the influence has come from.
The biggest difference of all, though? Well, the Zanotti boots are $1114.80 at Colette, while the Go Jane versions are just $29.40. Get them here.
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
[sorry, this image is missing]
Spot the difference?
Nope, we can’t either: which is odd, considering that the dress on the left is by Kate Moss from Topshop (the 50s-style sundress that was part of the summer collection), and the one on the right is by the Apart label at UK catalogue company Look Again. Uncanny, huh?
Ths is the second time our Fraud Squad have been called in to deal with Topshop ‘tributes’ recently, which is interesting because, as we noted last time, it’s generally designer labels that provide “inspiration” to other labels, not high street stores. If you missed the Kate Moss dress when it came out, though, and are hoping this will be a cheaper alternative, we’re sorry to disappoint: the original dress was £45, but this one is almost twice that, at £88.09.
Friday, September 25th, 2009
 Our Fraud Squad is most often called in to deal with cases of high street brands copying designers – sorry, we mean “being inspired” by them – but sometimes it’s more a case of “high street copies inspired by high street”, as you can see above.
We showed you Topshop’s ‘Cosmic’ shoulder dress on Kim Kardashian a few weeks ago, and did a double-take when we spotted what we thought was the same dress at Ark Clothing this week. We still can’t really spot the difference between these two, but there is a difference in price, at least: the Topshop dress is £38, while the Ark version is less than half that, at £16.99.
Friday, September 4th, 2009
 Shoeperwoman caught King of the Knockoffs, Steve Madden, red-handed in the act of, er, knocking off Alexander McQueen’s ‘Pelle’ boots this week. That just sounds so wrong, doesn’t it?
Of course, “Steve Madden copies other designers” is probably the least shocking news we’ve heard this week, but we thought this was a particularly blatant attempt, even for his Steveness. The weird thing about this is that if any other designer did this, people would be at least a little bit taken aback, but when Steve Madden does it, everyone just kinda ruffles his hair (virtually, natch) and goes, “Ah, Steve, you little tyke! At it again, eh?”
For those of you who just want to know where to get them, though, let the record show that the Alexander McQueen boots are $1,159 from Zappos, while the Steve Madden versions are just slightly less expensive, at $129.95.
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
Dorothy Perkins are far from the only high street brand who’ve found themselves “inspired” by Balmain’s famous crystal studded strappy sandals this year: they’re simply the most recent. They’re also one of the least expensive – their diamante shoes are only £60, which compares very favorably to the $2110 you’d have paid for the originals.
Of course, no one’s going to think these are Balmain for a second, and Dotty P have introduced a few changes such as the crossover strap on the bridge of the foot, to make sure they don’t get into trouble. If you love them, you can buy them here : or, of course, you can wait a couple of weeks for the NEXT Balmain copy to come along…
Dorothy Perkins Balmain-style sandals, £60
Monday, August 31st, 2009
Balmain have a lot to answer for right now. Mostly shoulder pads and dresses that can be described using the phrase “futuristic”, to be honest.
Ever since Kate Moss wore THAT dress, though, the high street have been falling over themselves to see who can be most “inspired” by it. So far we think Asda are in the lead, but there have been a few other contenders for the crown too. As for ASOS.com, they’ve decided to go for a top rather than a dress (although we guess if you’re Katie Price, this could count as a dress…). It’s £28, and is shown here with a pair of wet-look leggings. So, would you wear it?
ASOS metallic shoulder pad top, £28
Monday, August 24th, 2009
 Kudos to Officer Emma for this excellent bit of Fraud Squad detective work! The Majae ‘Jelica’ bag on the left of the image above is an older design and now out of stock at Net-a-Porter, where it was selling for £105, but Emma wasn’t the only one to remember it: looks like Sportsgirl have some fond memories of it too, because their ‘Zimba’ clutch certainly bears a startling resemblance to it, no?
The colours on the Sportsgirl back are less vivid, but the pattern is more or less identical. The price, not so much: this is $59.99 AUD.
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Kudos to Officer Lauren for catching Wet Seal in the act of impersonating Christian Louboutin's Miss Fortune platforms with their own lace-up slingbacks. What puzzles us about this one is that, with a whole world of Louboutin loveliness to choose from, Wet Seal chose these particular shoes which, er, aren't so lovely, as their "inspiration", but of course, ours is not to question why. No, ours is simply to call in the Fraud Squad and move on.
The Wet Seal shoes are $24.60, the Louboutins $956. So Wet Seal definitely have the nicer price, anyway.
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Chanel's Russian Doll Bag has already "Inspired" at least one high street retailer: we showed you Topshop's take on the look back in July, but now here's ASOS's version, which comes in at £15.
No, it's never going to be mistaken for Chanel, but would you buy it anyway?
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