It's been almost a year since a large number of fake vintage Vivienne Westwood tees were seized from the Kerry Taylor and Christie's auction houses.  I posted about this last August, when there was all kinds of spectulation about who was really involved.  Now, three defendants will appear in court on August 18, charged with fraud.

What is interesting is what this seems to have done to the market for 1970s punk clothing. According to a Christie's spokeswoman, buyers are now requiring solid proof that any such item is authentic, including documentation.  Try getting that when you are lucky enough to pull a Sex tee shirt out of a thrift store bin!

I thought the comment from Westwood's organization was the most revealing. They pointed out that even when the Westwood items were new, in the 70s, they were being copied.  So to confuse the issue even more, there are vintage fakes as well as modern ones.  No wonder collectors are being super cautious!

i wondered about the authenticity of the vintage Ferragamo and YSL pumps i got cheap on Etsy. should be easy to copy shoes too?

I kind of doubt that they are fake. Someone who was in a position to know once told me that it was so much cheaper to produce fake handbags and teeshirt, that the fakers rarely fool with shoes. Except for sneakers, for which I think there is a big problem with counterfeits.

For some reason, even very nice shoes like Ferragamo can be bought quite cheaply on etsy and ebay. I say enjoy!

thanks for the info, Lizzie! i think shoes are easily faked these days, eh? or perhaps the word is 'inspired'? i know that some of my GoJane shoes look like high-end luxury-brand shoes. i didn't know then. now that i know, i'm still not going to spend the sums these luxury brands charge for their shoes. there're people who scoff on others buying replica branded bags but they could be the same people who buy cheaper 'inspired' shoes from Zara. what're your thoughts on this?

Well, there's inspired, and then there's ripped-off. In the past, fashion filtered down from the top - from couture. You could buy a "Dior" design at $500, or you could buy it for $9.99. This is still happening today. Express has taken legal action against Forever 21 over designs, and who knows where Express got the idea. Even Diane Von Furstenberg just settled with a lesser known designer over a design. And I can tell all kinds of stories about designers who have completely taken a vintage item and reissued it under their own name.

Counterfeiting is another story. In that case, a maker is trying to be a brand they are not. If you buy a "LV" bag on the street, you are buying a counterfeit item. The sellers want the buyers to think they are getting a real LV bag for $50. But if you go into a cheaper store and buy a design that looks like the designer line, you know what you are getting. There's a very big difference. Still, that does not make stealing a designer's idea right. It's just so hard these days to even determine WHO had the idea to start with!