Inspiration versus plagiarism

In Pakistan’s ever-growing fashion industry, there is a fine line between inspiration and imitation

In Pakistan’s highly competitive and ever-growing fashion industry, there is a fine line between inspiration and imitation. Designer Nida Khurram who recently launched her summer collection in Karachi, appeared to have crossed this fine line. The new collection incorporated contemporary illustrations and motifs on Swiss lawn and makes for a modern twist on the digital print trend, which has already been at the forefront of collections in previous seasons.

Sharing the inspiration behind her designs and the new capsule collection, Nida had said that she was inspired by fashion illustrations from London, Milan and New York.

Although many took a liking to the designer’s collection, which aimed to pay a ‘tribute’ to the illustrations, the opinion of Portuguese illustrator Antonio Suares  was quite different. He was ‘disgusted’ with the collection.

The illustrator, who has created artwork for high-end fashion brands in the West, expressed his grief after he saw his illustrations plastered over the designer’s collection. His remarks revealed that prior permission was not sought from him and nor was he given any credit for the use of his illustrations on her clothes.

This brings into question where the fashion industry needs to draw the line between inspiration and replication. There is no doubt that most big names in the industry draw inspiration from international fashion houses; however, there have been a few instances where a complete replica of a product has been produced.

This brings our fashion industry — one of the most prolific in Pakistan and still growing — to the forefront of the debate on whether the use of another artist’s work in the form of ‘inspiration’ is ethical. In the commercial world, inspiration is perhaps accepted but a full replication is unacceptable.

Making use of another artist’s work for commercial and profitable gains, without giving credit where it is due should be intolerable to say the least. Although this may not be the first instance of a designer ‘replicating’ a design, many such imitations go unreported. This continued copying communicates a negative image of our fashion industry across the globe and it may be time to question what Pakistan’s fashion industry really stands for.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2015.