Soon after Chanel's Resort 2018 collection, Stefano Gabbana turned to social media to complain about the fact that Karl Lagerfeld seemed to have stolen one of their ideas – the column-shaped heels of the shoes accessorising some of the looks – and replicated it on the Chanel runway.
One of the highlights of the Chanel Resort 18 collection were indeed the sandals, but Gabbana pointed out that D&G had the same idea for their S/S 14 collection.
It can't be denied that the column sandals already appeared in D&G's collection, but, before that, Miu Miu's S/S 2008 collection featured a pair of shoes with a stylised metal column heel and the same brand's Resort 2015 collection included sandals with colourful straps very similar to the ones seen on Chanel's runway.
So, you're wondering, did Lagerfeld recombined a few elements together and then came up with Chanel's Resort 2018 sandals? It may have happened, after all, a while back Chanel copied a Fair Isle-based designer, but we should remember that column-heeled shoes are not a new idea.
Such sculpted heels were already popular between the late '30s and the '40s and in Italy they were inspired by the reborn myth of the Roman empire relaunched by Fascism. At the time the revisitation of classical Roman dresses and architectures such as columns inspired indeed pleated garments and sculptural silhouettes and accessories.
For example, Salvatore Ferragamo has been producing column-shaped heel sandals and shoes since the '40s and the brand has relaunched the idea for the next Autumn/Winter 2017 season. 
Funnily enough, after accusing Lagerfeld of copying them, Gabbana reposted a comparison between Vivienne Westwood's 1989 "Sex" necklace and a choker from a 2003 Dolce & Gabbana collection from the account @whodiditfirst, admitting that D&G had actually copied it, explaining that they "were stupid and ignorant" when they did it.
So what did we learn from this story? That you only admit you copied someone when somebody else copies you? (maybe Gabbana hoped that his confession may have helped Chanel admitting of having stolen the idea?) Well, yes, but the final lesson is that, if you think you have an original idea, you should patent it.
See, if D&G had done it, they may have even sued Aliexpress, currently selling the above version of their column-shaped heel shoe in different colours.
One final note: if you fancy opting for the column shoe trend do so, but avoid ending up looking like one of the etchings out of Masquerade à la Grecque by French architect Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot.
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