McQueen Is the Real McCoy

Please take a close look at these two logos: Do you think they look similar? The invitees to Mr. McQueen's launch of his line McQ were also confused.

Mr. McQueen apparently was getting tired of the British discount chain ripping off his designs. The chain called their designs as being "inspired" by Mr. McQueen's work on the runway, but failed to compensate Mr. McQueen. He decided rather than fight the often futile fight of intellectual property rights litigation, he would fight back with his own knockoff. He took the font used by Topshop for their logo and did a play on words for his own invitation. The invitation looked like the logo on the left. It said "Chop Shop: Higher Street Fashion". The term "higher street fashion" is a mocking spin on Topshop's use of the term "high street fashion".

While I did an earlier post disparaging Mr. McQueen's offering of what looked like prison wear sweaters, I have to give Mr. McQueen points for striking back at Topshop with such a clever little invitation! Maybe his designs for the McQ line are really just items he wanted to offer any of the offending knockoff artists who rip off his designs when he finally does try to prosecute them?

All Hail The McQueen: Coming to a Target Near You

*Photo courtesy of WWD*

After almost a year of lauding designer efforts to stave off the knockoffs by creating diffusion lines, one of our favorite designers Mr. Alexander McQueen has decided to work in conjunction with Target in order to bring you a diffusion line of his own called McQ.

While I am thrilled that Mr. McQueen has embraced versioning in this rather dismal economy, I am a bit thrown off by the name: McQ? Is it me, does it sound like a trademark ripoff of the famous nickname given to McDonald's: McD's? Clearly someone who was branding for Mr. McQueen was not really paying attention to the connotations of this new line's name. Is this a sign of clothing going down the fast food trails? The last thing we need is for diffusion lines to be the equivalent of disposable clothing.

My idea of versioning is taking a designer's work and reworking it in more accessible fabrics in order to help create a more affordable collection in order to capture consumers who would never purchase the high end look but may be inclined to purchase the cheap knockoff. For example, taking a crocodile bag and using the same look working with affordable leather instead.

However, the whole idea of disposable clothing runs counterintuitive to how the economy is flowing right now. The last thing any consumer (rich or poor) wants is a closet full of clothes that you can only wear a handful of times before they become utterly useless. Designers need to start thinking of offering more recession proof pieces. While I admire Mr. McQueen's designs, I am a bit disapponted at his offering of the sweater in the above picture. The colors are downright depressing, the sweater material looks cheap, and the shape is not flattering. The only thing keeping this whole look from falling apart is the chic belt which actually gives the sweater some shape. Has anyone been watching the styles on AMC's Mad Men? We need more clothes like that.

I think that while Target has been on the money with its Go International initiatives and pairing with hip young designers like Proenza Schouler, Behnaz Sarafpour and Holly Dunlap, this upcoming collaboration has me a little nervous. I hope that we can see some designs from the McQ line that knockoff artists will want to knockoff, not run away from.