Original entry: http://cherry-teresa.livejournal.com/36112.html
Taken from: http://omg.yahoo.com/gwen-stefani-sues-forever-21-over-fashion-logo/news/1052
(CLICK HERE to view the lawsuit against Forever 21)
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (July 17, 2007) -- It appears Gwen Stefani doesn't "Heart" Forever 21.
Gwen's Harajuku Lovers fashion line is suing popular retail outlet Forever 21 for trademark infringement, claiming the clothing chain allegedly stole designs from the Harajuku Lovers line, Access Hollywood has learned.
In papers filed in Los Angeles Federal Court, reps for Gwen's Harajuku Lovers claim Forever 21 is marketing, promoting and selling products featuring a design "virtually indistinguishable" from Harajuku's signature heart/box logo.
The lawsuit claims Forever 21 "changed a couple of words in the Heart/Box Trademark, which are inconspicuous and likely to go unnoticed by a consumer."
Specifically, the lawsuit claims Forever 21 used the design but changed the word "Harajuku" to "Forever" and the word "Lovers" to "Love."
As a result of the chain using a similar image, Harajuku has allegedly "suffered and continues to suffer damage to its business reputation."
Gwen launched the accessory line in 2005 to coincide with her Harajuku Lovers Tour.
Here's what I think:
1). How about Asians and Asian-Americans sue Gwen for defamation of character? Those stereotypical, "Harajuku" girls are a disgrace, a minstrel show, and just plain horrible. She practically has them made up in Yellow Face. (Don't tell me "Well, they are getting paid well to do this". Prostitutes are also getting paid, but that doesn't make it right. Maybe if Asians had more fair opportunities in the entertainment industry, they wouldn't feel the need to do this). I could go on and on about this topic. But many others have done so far me already:
Margaret Cho's Blog Entry
Several entries about the this on Disgrasian (Disgrasian's Myspace profile lists her as the worst offender).
Salon.com article
The Gwen Stefani Rant! - Livejournal entry (Yes - Caucasians from Europe are upset about this, too!)
Free The Gwenihana Four
There are many other articles, blogs, and sites regarding this issue, but you get the point.
2). Gwen is guilty of ripping off others, making this hypocritical. Sure, many if not most celebrities have copied something from others, but Gwen is worse than most. When I first heard No Doubt, the first thing I thought about Gwen's voice was "Oh great, another female ska singer who tries to sing just like that. Boring!".
Her clothing, accessories, and make-up is just generic copying of cultures:
-She stole generic trends from subcultures: She normally dresses like your typical teenaged alternative culture chick (punk/rude girl/goth/raver/freak/etc) who hangs out at the mall or at show. Yes, we dressed like this before No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom" came out. To most of the mainstream culture unaware of the alternative scene, Gwen was original and some even thought she invented this style. The truth is, a lot of this was already out of style and overdone in the subculture, and Gwen re-hashing it a couple years later was just a joke to us. Even in middle school, I thought Gwen's style was equivalent to when Seventeen magazine put out articles/pictures about "How to dress like a rock chick". Her style is not very original and it's watered-down.
-She has stolen from Jamaicans, African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians. (See the article above "The Gwen Stefani Rant!" for some evidence of this if you don't remember or just plain didn't notice this before).
-At red carpet events, she wears very typical 1940's fashion or complete Marilyn Monroe rip offs. This is much of what the L.A.M.B. (L.A.M.E.) line has. Wal-Mart and cheap mall stores (such as Rave, Divah, and Forever 21) have been selling basically the same things as L.A.M.B for years and for much cheaper.
-Her Harajuku Lovers line of clothing is a bad rip-off of clothing and accessories that already exist in Japan! She does a bad job of just copying off styles that already exist - either clothing sold in stores in Japan or looks that real Harajuku girls created themselves. Calling her dancers "Harajuku" girls is an insult to the real ones.
Yes, I realize she's not the only fashion designer or singer to steal things from others. But don't sue a company for doing the same thing when you are guilty of it, too. Gwen most likely would never admit that she steals ideas.
At least Forever 21 is known for being a cheap place to buy knock-offs. Which brings me to my next point...
3). Almost every designer gets their ideas stolen. We could discuss whether or not it is right to sell knock-offs at an affordable price so that the less wealthy can afford the clothing. And we could discuss whether or not the designs were even stolen from her clothing line since the designs already existed before she created her line.
But let's just pretend that she did create completely original designs. How often do you hear about real, reputable, respected high fashion designers suing? You rarely, if ever, hear about them doing this. So why is Gwen - not a reputable or highly respected designer - doing it?
Miranda (Meryl Streep) from "The Devil Wears Prada" explains it like this:
"This… 'stuff'? Oh… ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff."
A cheap-looking tank top that I've basically seen being sold at Divah, Rave, and Forever 21 four years ago is being sold by L.A.M.B. for 138.75. Pathetic.
Maybe if Gwen was ever an actual rude girl or punk in the first place, she would not only be more original, she would sell her clothing more affordably. Then again, she did grow up a rich, spoiled girl from Orange County and only ever joined a band because her brother, Eric, started the band and wrote most of the lyrics before leaving the band.