A Look at Celebrity Clothing Lines

By Souzan Michael, FW Writer

Celebrities have always tried to do it all:
movies, music, fragrances, and of course, clothing lines. Whether ornot they always succeed is a different story (I’m still trying to pretend that Taylor Swift’s failed attempt at acting in “Valentine’s Day” was just a figment of my imagination). However, there are some celebrities that manage to cross over into different creative fields and do it quite well.
For instance, Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez prove that they can truly do it all. With that being said, Gwen and Jen are rare examples that have been able to demonstrate their talents time and time again.

These days, it seems that a new celebrity is coming out with a clothingline every week. Everyone’s favorite hot mess, Lindsay Lohan, is working on expanding her 6126 leggings line to iclude dresses. Recently released sketches of her “designs” depict a dress that looks almost identical to a dress in designer Jen Kao’s Fall 2009 collection. The icing on the cake is the fact that Lindsay has previously worn and been photographed in Kao’s dress. JenKao released the following statement:

Lindsay Lohan’s 6126 line has been subject to even more speculation recently, when James Lillis, designer of Black Milk Clothing, notices that a sketch of cut-out leggings from 6126 looked alarmingly similar to a design from his own collection. Lillis took to his blog, simply stating “Sucks to be me.” Perhaps Lindsay can learn a thing or two from James about taking the high road.

“While we are all well aware that being ‘mimicked’ or ‘copied’ has always existed in this industry, I think the evolution of it all has grown to an alarming level. It’s a shame to support the concept of taking advantage of designers who are still trying to develop a name and solidify the image of their design aesthetic.”

Another celebrity who is no stranger to designer fraud is reality TV star Kim Kardashian. First, Kim was accused of stealing the logo of Texan jewellery company
Korpula and using it as the logo for her new eponymous perfume. Then, Kim wore a hooded, leather corset dress from the Kardashians by Bebe line, which looked oddly similar to a Fendi dress from a few seasons ago. Kim responded to the accusations by releasing this statement:
“I’ve seen some talk online about certain pieces ‘knocking off’ other designer’s pieces and I’d like to share a little piece of fashion wisdom… the clothes you see in the chain stores at your mall are all inspired by designer, runway fashion!!! What stores like Bebe do is take runway fashion and use it as inspiration to create pieces that are wearable and accessible for everyone. To say any of our pieces are a knock off is like saying every item in every clothing store in your mall is a knock off”.
Keep up the good work, Lindsay and Kim. You two are true visionaries.