(Courtesy of LoveAndCasinoWar.com)

As fashion’s heaviest hitters duke it out over intellectual property and design copyrights, fast fashion and streamlined manufacturing in Asia have made it easier than ever to translate trends into retail in record time. Sometimes it’s legal, sometimes it’s not. But in any case, is it ethical?

In this issue, we take a look at the reasons counterfeit goods have gone mainstream and when you should just say no to knockoffs:

• Is there really nothing new under the sun anymore? We ponder why knockoffs have become so prevalent.
• Evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller makes the case that we are biologically hardwired to seek out status symbols — and whether they are authentic is besides the point. With that in mind, we review his well-researched book Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior.
• In the same vein, you may wonder – is buying fake every ethically warranted? Madison explores the problems and benefits of buying into trends.
• If you’re a dedicated online shopper, you want to make sure you’re not getting ripped off by knockoffs. But how? This handy guide to avoiding fakes will steer you in the right direction.
• And as always, check out Seam Ripper for more news and developments on the fakery front.

In his 2009 book Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior, Geoffrey Miller explores a Darwinist angle to consumerism and what shoppers try to communicate through their purchasing behavior. In the process, he probes a valid evolutionary perspective for why fakes are enduringly popular and — in his view — a better use of money than buying the authentic counterpart.

(Courtesy of Amazon.com)

Miller, a professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of New Mexico, holds that trying to win the respect and admiration of the opposite sex and compete with sexual rivals drives the most basic of our consumerist impulses.

That desire for the latest lipstick or blush? Miller asserts it’s born from the subconscious desire to look as young and fertile as possible and attract the best quality of men. For men, the draw of a fast car is to signal to women that he’s wealthy enough to spend on nonessential goods, thus advertising himself as an available mate with excessive resources to spend on offspring.

Miller argues that counterfeit status symbols (like purses for women, or Rolex watches for men) are one way to signal wealth to other people without monopolizing monetary resources. If that’s true, it’s no wonder we’re perhaps evolutionarily inclined to buy them.

So what’s the point in shelling out for the real thing? If no one can tell the difference, the value of paying more for an authentic luxury good is limited, Miller says.

“The fake ultimately illuminates and challenges the real, as consumers begin to question why they should pay the ‘real’ product’s premium. Why bother with a real $8,000 3-carat diamond for an engagement ring, when a $4 [cubic zirconia] stone is indistinguishable to most people?” he writes.

One counter-argument would be that it’s emotionally dishonest to give someone a big ol’ CZ while pretending it’s a diamond — the emotional fallout of such a lie could potentially be relationship-ending and thus evolutionarily void.

But for the most part, he continues, ”The fakes reveal what a high proportion of the real products cost: a luxury brand markup, a pure profit premium, a con. The irony is that, with regard to purely pragmatic value, the ‘real’ version of the product is a bigger rip-off than the ‘fake’ version.”

So is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? From an eco point of view, the Darwinist perspective doesn’t take into account ethical standards of production — only the value of signaling biological fitness. But there’s evolutionary purpose in signaling a commitment to ethical ideals as well in an evolved society.

Purchasing a counterfeit designer purse produced in a Chinese sweatshop using child labor announces that the buyer doesn’t give a whit about the origin of her handbag, just that she wants to be mistaken for a woman of high status. And that kind of posturing is perceived in poor taste by the very people she is arguably trying to fool — the ones who can identify a fake from arm’s length.

If you’re looking for an academic angle on why we buy luxury goods, Miller’s well-researched book sheds some (often controversial) light on the power of consumerism and the species-furthering point it serves.

(Courtesy of Harper's Bazaar U.K.)

Interesting data analysis of the makeup of models and celebrities on the September covers of the 29 mainstream fashion magazines currently on newsstands, courtesy of Jezebel.com:

Number of people on all the covers of these magazines: 48 (including six people with covers of LOVE, not pictured)
Number of covers featuring Gisele Bündchen: 2 (counting one cover of LOVE, not pictured)
Number of covers featuring Naomi Campbell: 2
Number of covers featuring Kate Moss: 2
Number of covers featuring Lady Gaga: 2
Number of covers featuring one or more people of color: 6
Total number of people of color on all of these magazines: 12
12 out of 48 makes: 25%

The data also shows that of the 48, ten of the cover girls (women?) are over 40 and the oldest star in the glossies is Lauren Hutton at age 66. Dakota Fanning, at 16, is the youngest. And there is only one man: Tom Cruise, on Harper’s Bazaar Japan. And as previously noted, this is the first time in 21 years that a black woman — Halle Berry, in this instance — scored the September cover of American Vogue.

So while there isn’t a ton of gender or racial diversity (and regrettably, zero plus-size models or celebrities made a cover this month), at least there’s some variety this year as compared to Septembers past. Progress is slow but it’s a-coming.

(Courtesy of Vogue.com)

If you’ve ever watched the documentary The September Issue, you know just how important the fall fashion is at Vogue headquarters — and by extension, for fashion followers around the world.

So with Halle Berry gracing the cover of the biggest issue of the year, it’s somewhat mystifying why it’s been 21 years since a black woman had the honor. Naomi Campbell appeared on it in 1989, and since then? Nada.

Really, Vogue? No Beyoncé, no Rihanna, no Liya Kebede, not even Michelle Obama had the opportunity in the ’00s? Or going back into the ’90s: Tyra Banks, Alek Wek, and Ms. Berry herself, all blacklisted, as it were?

Speaking of Halle, even she acknowledged in the interview that it was long overdue:

The only reason she is submitting now, she says, is that Vogue made her an offer she couldn’t refuse: the September cover. ”What that means for a woman of color and what that means in the fashion world, what that means to pop culture, there was no way I could say, ‘No, I’m not going to be on the biggest issue of the year.’”

There’s no good reason for such a long drought, and with so many accomplished black women working in Hollywood and the fashion industry today, it would be shameful if we have to wait until 2030 for the next September cover girl of color to appear on the newsstands.

(via The Cut)

Today the New York Times has a thoughtful piece on people who have gone on self-imposed “shopping diets” and reduced their wardrobes to six items, due to a challenge by the website SixItemsOrLess.com.

The “Sixers,” as they call themselves, have drawn some interesting and eco-applicable conclusions from the experiment:

[Stella] Brennan did sound ripe for some kind of fashion intervention. In a recent interview, she spoke of a rack of clothes in the back of her closet that still had the tags on them, and clothes that she has not worn in 15 years but that she cannot stand to part with, and her 72 pairs of “active” shoes (meaning those that she actively wears, not the ones still in the boxes), and a closet full of clothes for her 3-year-old daughter, and, lest she forget, a wardrobe of clothes for her dog.

“My daughter doesn’t care what she wears, and I’m turning her into a monster,” Ms. Brennan said. “We’re ruining the next generation of girls with fashion.”

And here I thought I was being hardcore by limiting myself to 10 pieces for the summer.

I like the message that refutes the idea that new always equals better, and that simple can still be stylish (as evidenced by Kate Moss’s put-together-but-basic ensemble at right).

So as I like to say: There’s always more room on the bandwagon! Join the Summer Light Challenge today — we may be a third of the way into summer already, but the last two months will surely be the toughest.

Grotesque photoshop jobs are most often a women’s issue, affecting more female models than male. But now athlete Lance Armstrong — who is currently competing for his eighth Tour de France title — knows what it feels like to see the finished product bear little resemblance to reality.

And he’s not happy about it.

On the July cover of Outside magazine, the cyclist poses in a tee-shirt that reads “38. BFD.” (That is to say, he is 38 years old and is still a big freakin’ deal.) Only problem is, the shirt he really wore was blank; the editors added in the copy in post-production.

Annoyed at the revisionist history, Mr. Armstrong used his Twitter account to call the retouching job “lame” and “weak.”

And if he was really unaware that he’d be depicted wearing something with an arrogant slogan, we’re inclined to agree.

We love Christina Hendricks for so many reasons, but now we have a new one: She has enough body confidence that she doesn’t let the fashion critics get her down with insensitive, body-shaming comments.

The 35-year-old star of Mad Men tells the July/August issue of Health magazine:

“I made the grave mistake after one awards show of reading comments online about what I wore, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, people are so mean!’” Hendricks reveals. “I still remember all those negative comments, despite all the wonderful positivity. That’s why we’re all in therapy!”

Because of the criticism, the newlywed admits she’s surprised to learn she’s often cited as one of the most desirable bodies in Hollywood.

“Really? They dont say Jessica Alba? ‘Cause that’s what I say!” she laughs. “It’s such a compliment, because of all those times I had agents who were like, “You have to lose some weight,” and all of a sudden, people are celebrating it.”

We understand why she doesn’t read blog comments about her looks anymore, but we hope she wouldn’t mind ours. We are big fans of any intelligent, confident actress who is willing to stand up and say she’s healthy and proud of her body, damn the torpedoes.

It’s been a few months since it was published in Forbes magazine, but we only just now saw this profile on eco-designer Susan Woo. We were impressed by the ways she’s imbued her designs with her personal environmental and moral values as well as her sense of style.

Observe:

Does the greening of fashion cause you to shudder as thoughts of hemp and recycled underwear cross your mind? Not to worry. Susan Woo–that is, her eponymous label–is proof that the right design can transform the usual sustainable fabrics like alpaca wool, vegetable-tanned leather, organic cotton jersey and sustainable silk crepe into clothes that make a woman look glamorous, sexy and in control.

Also striking is her commitment to fair labor. All her clothes are designed in a workshop in New York City, under her watchful eye. Born to Korean-immigrant parents, this Manhattan native says she always keeps the difficulties that immigrants face in perspective–doing so diminishes the challenges she faces in keeping her business alive. After all, tripling her first-year revenues in the face of a recession is no mean feat.

This is precisely what more designers ought to consider doing, we’d argue, especially because it make the delineation between artist and person seamless. Meaning: As people, all designers have their individual causes and principles. Why not structure their work in such a way that they can bring the spotlight to their personal priorities?

Summit Entertainment, the production company behind the Twilight movies, is suing juniors apparel designer BB Dakota for copyright infringement after the brand renamed its hooded cargo jacket after the heroine of the vampire books and movies.

However, it’s not a clear-cut example copyright infringement, since the Twilight costume designer has said that she bought that same BB Dakota hoodie at Nordstrom Rack to fill an urgent wardrobe need during the filming of the first movie. Meaning it was a commercially available product long before Twilight hit the big screen.

However, now BB Dakota includes a Twilight hang tag on every “Bella” hoodie featuring an unlicensed image of Kristen Stewart. Therein lies the problem.

Summit is asking that BB Dakota not only pony up all the profits from the jacket’s sales, but also surrender all remaining “Bella” hoodies for destruction. We understand both sides of this conflict, but really, creating all of this unnecessary waste seems far too extreme a way to protect profits.

What do you think?

The Los Angeles Times this week reviewed some of the newcomers to the eco-beauty bandwagon, and they all have one unique trait in common: a food-based ingredient list.

“It’s happening like crazy,” Karen Young, chief executive of the Young Group, a consulting company that works with beauty brands, said of the increased prevalence of food in skin care. “We’re learning more and more about skin and nature, and about the interaction between the two.” Young said segments of the U.S. beauty industry are increasingly leaning toward natural, organic and homegrown products as customers veer away from chemicals and synthetics.

“In other parts of the world, it is normal to use food and elements of nature for medicinal or beauty purposes,” she said. “In America we are just waking up to that now.”

The article cites brands like the Body Deli out of Palm Desert, Calif., and Farmhouse Fresh from Frisco, Tex. One maker we can vouch for is Elique Organic Skin Food, which sources its foodie-quality ingredients from Los Angeles’s famed farmers markets. And coming this summer, Elique’s founder Elisha Reverby will be offering classes out of her salon in Venice, Calif., to teach students how to make their own eco-beauty products at home (details TBA here). Sign us up!