So far in previous posts we have looked at a couple of S/S 17 collections in connection with the possibility of copyright infringement. Yet there are other ways to do a collection and still use somebody else's work: acknowledging sources and paying for licenses.
During Paris Fashion Week, Chitose Abe employed a wide range of icons for her new Sacai collection. The main idea was to pay homage to a series of game changers, including Jane Birkin, Pablo Picasso, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, The Clash and Joe Strummer, John Lydon and English tailor Tommy Nutter.
Abe acknowledged them all without any fears of being sued for copyright infringements because she didn't break any: first of all, she took elements from the styles of these icons and filtered them through her vision. She also deconstructed, tweaked and recombined some key elements from the looks of her icons of choice and then innovated them.
The opening headgear called to mind the iconic image of Kate Moss taken by Corinne Day; Jimi Hendrix was evoked via dip-dyed vintage scarves and a white Hussar General jacket with frogging.
Jane Birkin's trench coat was given instead a new silhouette that upped its original volume and Picasso's Breton-striped shirt was reinvented via innovative techniques and fused with a laser cut plaid skirt.
Joe Strummer's kafiya scarves inspired embroidered organza pieces and a tiger-stripe camouflage print evoking The Clash circa "Combat Rock" also appeared on the runway, while Strummer's quote "Passion is a fashion" was subverted into "Fashion is a passion".
Tommy Nutter’s houndstooth suits and bow ties were broken, shattered and recombined, while the styles of the handbags on the runway (made in collaboration with Katie Hillier and debuted for the first time with this collection) echoed these hybridization exercises (a convertible bag featured removable straps for example).
Kurt Cobain was a chapter on his own: Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean Cobain may have been at the Chanel show, but here the celebrated hero was Kurt Cobain via his layered grunge aesthetics and leopard-print shearling vest with denim at the hem.
Though there were echoes of Cobain's sweaters in tatters in the Mongolian jackets as well, the most recognizable reference to him was Cobain's fave T-shirt with the original artwork by Daniel Johnston created for what became the cover of the latter's seminal "Hi, How Are You?" album. Cobain donned it for various occasions – also at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards – inadvertently turning the then little known outsider artist and singer-songwriter into a music sensation.
Born in Sacramento, California, Johnston started his music career in Austin, where he also developed the habit of giving out his tapes to complete strangers. Since then, he played with major bands, from The Butthole Surfers to Jad Fair and Yo La Tengo, was appraised by Sonic Youth and counted among his fans Kurt Cobain and Michael Stipe, while The Pastels and Moe Tucker covered his songs.
If The Beatles helped him discovering music, The Bible, comic heroes and monsters formed the mythical world of Johnston's drawings that seem to have a proper mythology, a bit like William Blake's.
In 2012 Supreme teamed up with Johnston for a series of T-Shirts; for this collection Sacai executed a license with Johnston to use his drawing in the label's designs from the S/S 17 collection.
Abe was clever to mention a series of varied muses (rather than using one garment donned by a specific icon) that allowed her to introduce a mix of stylistic references and create a hybridic style and a wearable and free spirited collection that could be considered as one of those rare cases of imitation generating innovation. Looks like fashion is a real passion then.
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