Thursday, August 13, 2009

Funny :->

The sarcastic old fox I am is amused...

An 18 years old girl has uploaded tons of photos from fashion magazines and labeled them "Don't Steal". She has NOT taken ANY of the photos herself and she does NOT have the permission from the fashion magazines nor the photographers nor the models to use the photos at Polyvore or even on her blog. So, she has stolen them herself. I just assume she has labeled them thus so that others would not use the same photos in their sets...

She also has this on her profile page:
**Support the campaign "BE ORIGINAL" DONT COPY sets or … ideas of other members**

Girl... if you put together an outfit which I think is otherwise great, but the shoes you have chosen are not good, or in fact, only the jacket and belt look good, I think it's my duty to put together an outfit that uses the parts of your set that actually do work together. But, sure, you're 18, so you believe to be infallible, perfect and that there is no way anyone can improve your work, or that you could have made a wrong choice or decision.
I am also always happy to see the slight alterations to my sets, sometimes they work better and we are all winners.

Also, artists have been stealing each others compositions for centuries. That's the way non-geniuses learn the composition. You might be a genius and I might be a genius, but 99% of the world is not. You might not like seeing art by anyone else but geniuses, but I do.
I think creativity in all its forms is a wonderful thing that should be encouraged and not limited. I think the idea of "copyright" has been taken too far, and support "copyleft" thinking.

I also think it's great to be inspired by others. I think it's great I'm not alone in this world, but there are others who design clothes, for example, so that I don't need to learn to how to make shoes - handbags, hats, belts and clothes I already know how to do, and sometimes it feels like a great idea to learn how to make shoes as well, so that I could design my own outfits all together - but the thing is that even the most celebrated and original and creative designers get influenced and inspired by others...

EACH AND EVERY DESIGNER WORKING TODAY IS A DESIGNER BECAUSE THEY COPIED ANOTHER DESIGNER'S WORK AT SOME POINT OF THEIR LIFE.

It might have been as simple as sewing clothes to dolls or drawing outfits to paperdolls, or dressing up to a popular fashion trend when teenager, but they did copy.
So do you. You have not composed the photos you use, you have not designed the clothes you use in your composition - not one single belt, piece of jewelry or scarf in your sets is your design. It's all someone else's work YOU stole. Why do you appreciate YOUR work higher than the work of Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Domenico Dolce or Stephano Gabbana? Why do you protect YOUR copyright like a tigress, when it is build on stolen rights? You are a hypocrite, dear 18 years old.

Then, the third thing - copying IS a form of compliment. Sure, it would be nice, if the copier also gave credit, but - I'm sure you get enough fame as it is already, and as there is no damage to you, your economy, your reputation or your images, I think you're ridiculous.

Use what talents you possess:
The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
-Henry Van Dyke

No comments: