Ralph Lauren is a copycat.
Or so says a Paris court after Yves Saint Laurent accused the Seventh Avenue designer of duplicating Saint Laurent’s 1992 winter haute couture tuxedo gown.
The commercial court found Lauren guilty of unfair competition and counterfeiting and ordered him to pay Saint Laurent $386,000. No word on whether Lauren will appeal.
Lauren’s attorney argued that everyone copied the dress. He pointed out Giorgio Armani and Valentino showed versions of the dress after YSL’s show. He didn’t mention Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Norma Kamali, but he could have.
The judge, Madelaine Cotelle (wearing a black robe and Ferragamo pumps) slapped everyone on the wrist, really. She commented that YSL’s version was much lovelier than Lauren’s. Then she made YSL chairman Pierre Berge pay a $87,735 fine for publicly calling Lauren a thief.
Designer calls it quits
Menswear designer John Bartlett faxed a letter to fashion editors two weeks ago telling them that he and swanky retailer Barney’s New York are on the outs.
Relations between the two have been “permanently severed due to a series of personal and financial conflicts.”Editors were advised to stop giving credit for his clothes to the New York store.
It all hit the fan, according to Bartlett, in a 1993 New York Times article in which he candidly discussed the difficulties he had getting payments from the retailer. Since then, he says, his Barney’s orders have been canceled, reinstated and canceled again. “It was total retaliation,” Bartlett told The Washington Post last week. “So, I cut off ties with them just for my sanity.”
Barney’s released a statement that said, “We’re confused by John’s statements. We know of no personal conflict, and there are no outstanding invoices.”
In February, Bartlett was named Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America for his menswear.
Picture perfect dresser
He’s dressed up the stars of Fatal Attraction, The Silence of the Lambs, The Witches of Eastwick, Bitter Moon and Miami Vice.
Now fashion designer Nino Cerruti has a coffee-table worthy book of his 25 years in the world of movies.
Cinema: Nino Cerutti & The Stars (RCS Rizzoli Libri, $60) opens with actor Philippe Noiret’s preface and an intro from Esquire’s Michael Gross before delving into the 30 films and TV shows for which Cerruti has designed. Among the stars: Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, Charlie Sheen in Wall Street, Kathleen Turner in Jewel of the Nile, Sharon Stone in Sliver and just about everyone in Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, none of those famous mugs appear on the book’s cover. Instead John Barrymore and Greta Garbo are there. No one knows why.
