What I'm Reading in Fashion News: The Louboutin YSL Case

Sure enough as Fall creeps in life is getting busier and busier. New York is bustling with everyone back from their Summer vacations and now in addition to juggling job searching and blogging, I'm trying to squeeze in mes amis as well. Here is the fashion news I've read lately that caught my eye out of the chaos. New York Magazine ran a piece on The Louboutin vs YSL Case which has been going back and forth for a while, for those of you not up to date allow me to brief you...

Any fashionista worth her salt can spot those coveted red soled Louboutin's from a mile away. In the past 10 years they have really taken on a life of their own, although Christian Louboutin has been cultivating this trademark since 1992. In their 2011 Cruise collection YSL {Yves Saint Laurent} included a pair of red soled pumps that started an battle of the soles between the two companies.

{merci rubysview.com}

It is the never ending battle of fashion, what can a designer own? The biggest problem designers face these days, is low end, fast production store chains like Forever 21 rip off their latest runway designs and distribute them to the mass market. But since they have been tweaked just enough, it cannot be fined as plagiarism, the designers have little to no protection over their art. Christian Louboutin filed for a trademark for his red sole in 2002 but was denied until 2008 when it finally cleared.

Source: statementshoes.tumblr.com via Olivia on Pinterest

But YSL has featured red soled shoes now and again in their collections since the 1970s. They argued that the survey conducted by Louboutin was misleading as 96% of people confused the YSL shoes with the Louboutin brand because they were only shown a picture of the outsole rather than the entire shoe. YSL conducted a survey showing a woman walking around in the shoe and <5% mistaken it for a Louboutin shoe.

Ultimately, Judge Marrero denied Christian Louboutin's appeal to stop YSL from producing their red sole shoes. YSL was of course pleased with the verdict as stated by YSL's Lawyer David Bernstein, "We're gratified that Judge Marrero has agreed with YSL that no designer should be allowed to monopolize a single color for an article of apparel. As Judge Marrero indicated, YSL designers are artists, and like other artists, they should have the right to use the full palette of colors."

Where do you land on the 

red sole debate mes cheris?

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