Alexander Wang’s new collection for H&M is filled with neutral colored activewear that has a divergent-esque feel that especially shines through in their look book. Wang taps into the current trendiness of a futuristic and dystopic universe while still making his clothes wearable in an active environment. The copious amounts of black and the strong structural lines of the pieces make the clothes unmistakable Alexander Wang’s (plus his name sprawled out on some of the items doesn’t hurt).
However, the real question when it comes to Wang’s collection isn’t whether you are interested in possibly buying some of the pieces in the collection, but is actually why would Wang agree to make a collection for H&M? And why have so many other designers done the same?
The answer is actually pretty simple. Fashion can not be copyrighted because clothes are as utilitarian as it gets. If there were copyrights then any one trying to make even a t-shirt would need to obtain licensing. To compensate, designers throw their trademarks all over their collections because those are the one thing in the industry they can protect. As Johanna Blakley mentions in her Ted Talk, fashion thrives from this no copyright rule because their is more incentive to be creative and make something other people won’t be able to recreate. This allows fashion to transform from something utilitarian into art. It also allows trends to form because so many people can be wearing similar items on any given day.
The no intellectual protection in fashion ruling has made it so stores such as Forever 21, Zara, and of course H&M can copy high-end designs at a much cheaper price. They are able to sell these copy-cat designs because the consumer of these products is a completely different consumer from the ones buying high-end pieces.
Designers, such as Alexander Wang, could see this happening before their eyes and collectively many of them began to consider why they couldn’t simply copy their own pieces for a cheaper consumer. So starting with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004, H&M and soon many other stores, started to have annual designer collaborations. These collaborations have helped designers to break into the knock off action themselves and appeal to a wider audience so their names and designs become even more well known.
Check Out Alexander Wang’s x H&M Lookbook: www.hm.com/us/wangxhm
Check out Johanna Blakley’s Ted Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashion_s_free_culture?language=en