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Camellias Tower over Chanel’s Guests for Show Capping Paris

Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2023/24 Womenswear collection by French designer Virginie Viard for Chanel Fashion House during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 07 March 2023. (EPA)
Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2023/24 Womenswear collection by French designer Virginie Viard for Chanel Fashion House during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 07 March 2023. (EPA)
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Camellias Tower over Chanel’s Guests for Show Capping Paris

Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2023/24 Womenswear collection by French designer Virginie Viard for Chanel Fashion House during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 07 March 2023. (EPA)
Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2023/24 Womenswear collection by French designer Virginie Viard for Chanel Fashion House during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 07 March 2023. (EPA)

Colossal camellias served as the ready-to-wear altarpiece for Chanel’s sparkling, bloom-inspired fall display.

Meanwhile, Miuccia Prada’s baby sister brand Miu Miu — another headline show on Paris Fashion Week’s last day – presented a study in off-kilter creativity.

Here are some highlights of the fall-winter 2023-24 collections:

Chanel’s camellia

It was the flower that launched a thousand designs. Legend has it that the camellia first became Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel’s obsession in 1913 when she pinned one to her belt — seduced, the house said, by its "simplicity, shape, purity and vitality." Over a century later, the winter flower is still center stage.

"Camellia is more than a theme, it’s an eternal code," creative director Virginie Viard said. "I like its softness and its strength."

As ever, there was a restraint in Viard’s design aesthetic, for instance, in the use of a limited palette of whites, shadowy blacks and shades of pink. The camellia, too, was handled strictly, adorning pockets, buttons and jackets, prints or leather shoes.

But the ubiquitous sparkle of sequins and in plays in shape — slits in gowns, asymmetrical coats and swooshes of diagonal fabric on skirts — gave the collection motion.

Viard also dabbled in men’s styles with menswear jackets and dandy-like British dressing gowns.

"The faded colors, the dusky pink, the crafted pieces, the touches of 1960s and 70s, a certain English vibe, the comfortable enveloping coats, the authentic materials, make the collections more real, and more charming too," Viard said.

Penelope Cruz

Penelope Cruz revisited her memories of late designer Karl Lagerfeld following Chanel’s show.

At a 1999 Vanity Fair party, Lagerfeld and current designer Viard were discussing the actress becoming a Chanel ambassador. It was meant to be a secret.

"Karl and Virginie were speaking in French and they thought I was not understanding," Cruz said. "And they were talking about me becoming an ambassador to the brand. But I understood everything, pretending that I was not, and I was looking to a different place," Cruz said. "They gave me the great ‘news’ quite soon after that!"

Cruz spoke with love for the house, which feels "like a family," whose designs and magic had made her dream, even as a young girl growing up in Spain.

The Oscar winner also spoke of Viard’s tongue-in-cheek style. Tuesday’s fall-winter set was based on the 1966 movie "Whatever happened to Polly Magoo?" a satirical French mockumentary about runway hyperbole and the excesses of the fashion industry.

"But of course, Virginie does have a sense of humor," Cruz said. "You have to be brave to mix some materials and colors. It was fun."

Miu Miu’s disruptions

Nearly 50 screens lined the walls and columns of the Palais d’Iena beaming out scenes of the set construction, beside white tube lighting and a white corrugated iron backdrop.

The program notes came with a text by Korean artist Geumhyung Jeong: "There is a codependency, but in the end, machines do not need us. We need them."

The link to the decor’s theme of the off-kilter fashion display was unclear to some — but Prada seemed to want to challenge the set rules of dressing.

Knickers poked out from under a brown leather minidress, cut so short they were no longer truly underwear. The appliques on one light silk umber gown were so heavy they structured the dress rather than vice-versa. Three-dimensional flowers adorning a top were intentionally obscured by a sheer green cardigan.

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Fashion

Lululemon's Lawsuit Against Costco Highlights Rise of Fashion 'Dupes'

FILE - Lululemon signs are displayed outside a retail location in the Seaport District, Dec. 13, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
FILE - Lululemon signs are displayed outside a retail location in the Seaport District, Dec. 13, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
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Lululemon's Lawsuit Against Costco Highlights Rise of Fashion 'Dupes'

FILE - Lululemon signs are displayed outside a retail location in the Seaport District, Dec. 13, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
FILE - Lululemon signs are displayed outside a retail location in the Seaport District, Dec. 13, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Fashion “dupes,” or less expensive versions of high-end clothing and other accessories, are just about everywhere these days. They're also drawing some businesses into legal battles.

In the latest example, Lululemon slapped a lawsuit against Costco on Friday, accusing the wholesale club operator of selling lower-priced duplicates of some of its popular athleisure apparel.

Across the retail industry, it’s far from a new phenomenon. But social media is pushing the culture of online dupe shopping to new heights as influencers direct their followers to where they can buy the knockoffs. Want a taste of Hermès' $1,000 fuzzy slippers?

Target has a version for $15. Looking for a $2,800 price Bottega Veneta hobo bag? There’s a version for $99 on online clothing and accessories upstart Quince, which has become a go-to for fashionistas.

It's not even the first time Lululemon has encountered what it says are knockoffs of its clothing, which often carry steep price tags of over $100 each for leggings and sporty zip-ups. Without specifying additional sellers beyond Costco in Friday’s complaint, Lululemon noted that a handful companies have “replicated or copied” its apparel to sell cheaper offerings — including those popularized online through hashtags like “LululemonDupes” on TikTok and other social media platforms.

Dupes aren't new For years, companies have rolled out a range of cheaper option for consumers to buy instead of pricey name-brands or designer labels — often through retailers' house or generic brands. Unlike more direct copies of the product with an unauthorized trademark or logo of a patented brand, “pure” dupes that just resemble certain features are generally legitimate. They can even spark awareness of the original items.

But the rising frenzy for dupes, particularly in the fashion space, signals that many shoppers want a taste of luxury, but no longer want to pay for (or care about) getting the real thing.

Late last year, for example, discount chain Walmart created a buzz when it started selling a leather bag online that resembled Hermès’ coveted Birkin bag. The $78 item — sold by Kamugo, which doesn’t appear to have its own website — was a fraction of the price of the original, which goes from $9,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars on resale and auction sites. Influencers labeled the leather bag a “wirkin.” Other suppliers including BESTSPR, YMTQ and Judy were listed on Walmart’s site selling similar totes.

While popular among shoppers, these kind of look-alikes can frustrate the targeted companies. Following the viral fame of the “wirkin,” Hermès Executive Chairman Axel Dumas shared his annoyance, for example.

“Making a copy like this is quite detestable,” Dumas said in a corporate earnings call in February. Still, he acknowledged that it was “quite touching” to see so many consumers want a bag with the Birkin style — and that “difference in quality” was still evident, noting that nobody bought the dupe thinking it was from Hermès.

When dupes venture into uncertain legal territory Alexandra Roberts, a professor of law and media at Northeastern University, said that “the term ‘dupe’ itself doesn’t tell us much about legality," noting the word has also been used to describe more traditional counterfeits.

But overall, dupes can move into shaky legal territory, including copyright and trademark infringement, particularly if a dupe marketer makes false claims about the duplicate or the original.

“With fashion, in particular, we’re going to get into some thorny questions," Roberts said. That includes what intellectual property rights exist and how enforceable they are, she explained, and whether there is actual infringement or if a product is just “positioning itself as a less expensive alternative.”

Often such disputes boil down trademark questions around consumer confusion or patented product designs. Several businesses have already put this to the test, but not always successfully.

In December, for example, Benefit lost a lawsuit in California over E.l.f.'s $6 Lash ’N Roll mascara, which is similar to Benefit’s $29 Roller Lash mascara. The judge’s decision was “a resounding win for us,” E.lf. CEO Tarang Amin previously told The Associated Press.

“The basic reality is we always put our E.l.f. twist on it,” he said. “It’s an E.l.f. product that’s a much better value.”

Lululemon sues Costco In its lawsuit, Lululemon argued that Costco had “unlawfully traded” on Lululemon’s reputation and that it was suing as part of wider intellectual property enforcement “directed to retailers who have chosen to copy rather than compete.”

Lululemon accuses Costco of making duplicates of several products, including its popular Scuba hoodies, Define jackets and ABC pants. Lululemon says one of the duplicates that Costco sells is the Hi-Tec Men’s Scuba Full Zip, with the lawsuit showing a screenshot image of Costco’s website showing the item priced at $19.97.

Roberts said she was “a little skeptical” of some of Lululemon's claims, noting that the design patents in particular could be hard to challenge. And she pointed to Lululemon's asserting common law trade dress over a “triangle kind of shape in the crotch region” of the ABC pants.

“My first reaction as a trademark expert is that looks pretty functional,” she said, and functional matter is not protected under trademark law. “I was just cracking up because that particular claim seemed really far-fetched to me. Those pants look really basic."
Still, Roberts noted that Lululemon had some plausible claims.

Lululemon alleges that Costco is known to use manufacturers of popular branded products for its private label Kirkland brand, although the companies involved don't clearly reveal that information to customers. Due to this, Lululemon claims some shoppers may believe that Kirkland-branded products are made by the authentic supplier of the “original” products.

Roberts said this could rule in Lululemon's favor as something that “weighs toward consumer confusion.” Still, she noted that most of the products Lululemon mentioned in its complaint weren't sold under the Kirkland brand, which could undermine the argument.

A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from Costco on the lawsuit.

Lululemon found itself in a similar dispute with Peloton in 2021, when it sued the exercise bike company over alleged “copycat products” in its then-new clothing lines. Two years later, the companies announced a five-year partnership that included Lululemon becoming the primary athletic apparel partner to Peloton.