When fashion is a circus, are we then clowns?

EVERY time I go to watch a Malaysian designer fashion show, I constantly have this hope that maybe (just maybe) I would see something real, fresh and new.

After reading about Dame Vivienne Westwood’s advice on dazed digital.com telling fashion students to copy, copy, copy, I feel that there won’t be any new designs or take in fashion any longer, now or in the near future.

On an international level, where fashion cycle, marketability and profitability is vicious, imitation can be a form of insult rather than flattery. Just look at the amount of fake goods we have all over the world.

In KL alone, we have a whole street to trade these sad, sad pieces of imitation goods.

It is very common for creations paraded on the runway be copied in no time. It is very common as well for designers and brands to be offended by this form of flattery.

For instance, there are cases where designers sue other designers for imitating their creations. Like Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) versus Ralph Lauren when the American giant brand copied YSL’s tuxedo dress from his 1992 couture collection.

The French won the case.

Another would be British’s Topshop case versus Chloe over their dungaree-look yellow minidress in 2007. Topshop lost the copyright case and again the French won.

Meanwhile, back home we constantly hear and see (on social media) the rants of our local fashion maestro, Rizalman on how new designers now are constantly copying his masterpieces and creations.

After some small chats with Rizalman, I found out that though he is not solely mad at the act of copying. Indeed, he is mostly angry at the lack of skills, craftsmanship and workmanship that most new local designers failed to follow, and producing pieces that just do not make sense (Yup! He got a point there).

But beyond these rantings and sarcasms, what Rizalman failed to notice is that he too is somewhat 'guilty' with the whole copying act. I noticed a lot of Valentino in his creations especially the lace collection and some of Karl Lagerfeld’s.

But the thing that made Rizalman rises to the occasion would be the flare and the immaculate workmanships of his pieces that are highly plausible. This includes his international standard of fashion show production - on point, all the time.

It shows that Rizalman understands the market and the meaning of it. He knows what the people want and most importantly he knows what he loathes, hence year on year, he successfully controls the flow of his creative juice as to not cross the fine line of class and cliché in his creations and production.

And then there are designers who did exactly the opposite just to create the sense of originality in this challenging retail industry.

Like having a circus-themed Raya fashion show.

READ: Melinda Looi's 'Colourful Journey' Raya Collection

Melinda Looi’s current Raya collection with a circus theme, to me, in all honesty, is blatantly an act of ignorance and close to being insensitive to the whole notion of Hari Raya.

If that’s not the reason then, she must be trapped in some kind of pressure from either the sponsors or what not.

Or, she might just be inspired Viviennne Westwood’s punk tones, eccentric pieces fashion show enthused by a Circus Ringmaster in 2010 and need a reason to carry out just that.

Well, I didn’t get to ask her personally, so these are just my (personal) theories. I might be wrong.

I have always been a real fan of Melinda Looi. In my eyes, Melinda is my ‘Queen of Avant Garde’. She to me is like a hybrid of Galliano meets Ellie Saab.

Melinda has contributed a whole lot to the local fashion industry, but this one is just off track.

Even if she did want to bring the circus fun into her collection, choosing to have to do it with Raya collection is just not apt.

Melinda and her team should have done some research.

Aidilfitri is the biggest celebration for the Muslims. It is the time where families and friends seek forgiveness from each other.

It is about celebration in full humility, a time to reflect on the past and ponder the future, a time to celebrate the ones we love and pray for the ones we lost.

Going to the circus or thinking of the circus fun would be the least or even the last thing that Muslims would like to imagine or think about during this holy festival.

Some were even offended by the whole 'clowning' around theme and styling of the whole fashion show.

But then again, those who got offended by this sort of things are themselves living in hypocrisy. The types who don yards and yards of cloth as hijab on their heads, who love maxi dresses and robes that are yes, fully covered, but yet made out of fabrics that are clinging and see-through just so in the name of trend.

So before I (myself) go off track with this, let's face the fact: copying is not a new problem.

Now that Vivienne Westwood has spoken to copy, copy, copy, I am guessing it won’t be a problem now. Soon everybody will be copying everyone and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

But, in the meantime, I plea to all designers, young and mature, old and new to reflect on the roles you play as a creator of the object of necessity in our lives – that there’s a lot more to fashion than just money making and marketability.