Happy Holidays and welcome to the last issue of Flavorfull of 2021! Thank you so much to everyone who subscribes and has supported me this past year, I’m excited to continue on in 2022 and grow this fashion community.
Some housekeeping: Thanks to Substack’s new format, both the free and paid subscriptions can now exist in one email therefore, book club will kick off each issue followed by (for $5/month) the long-form articles and then anything else I may like to add! This week I’ll be discussing the legality and social status of the Metabirkin.
And on a final introductory note— I have indeed hopped on the balaclava train.
Book Club #009
Dune, Frank Herbert: (4/5)
I finally gave in and read Dune. Admittedly, I had tried reading it earlier this year and left it after a few pages; however, after watching the movie my interest was renewed. I do think that there is an advantage in watching the movie first, as much of it is based on world-building so there’s not many spoilers and it ends up providing good reference for characters and locations that may otherwise seem to confusing to keep track of in the book. Overall, I liked both the movie and the book and can see why it is considered such an iconic piece of sci fi literature. I’m not particularly motivated to read the next four books, but my roommate has said that they’re worth it.
Freshwater, Akwaeke Emezi: (5/5)
Akwaeke Emezi’s debut autobiographical novel, Freshwater, is a chilling depiction of spirituality, insanity, and self-actualization. Each chapter is told through the eyes of each of the spirits that inhabit Ada’s mind and body. Ada was not born of this world and as a result, she spends her entire young adult life fighting and coming to terms with the Nigerian gods and spirits who have laid claim to her consciousness. Each of her alters dangerously take the reins of her life leaving inhuman cruelty and destruction in their wake. A terrifying and untraditional novel, I definitely think that this is one of my favorite reads this year.
Harlem Shuffle, Colson Whitehead: (4/5)
A very unique and lighthearted departure from Whitehead’s previous works, Harlem Shuffle portrays a dynamic puzzle that is Harlem in the 1960s. Ray Carney, who always tries to do right by his family, exists in the grey go-between of the smuggling market and his upstanding furniture store. A social satire, built into a crime novel, built into a family drama, this book provides exactly what the title promises: an eternal shuffle which encapsulates the many different aspects of Harlem life. The book is divided into three distinct, albeit close together, time periods in Ray Carney’s life; my only wish is that the novel took place a little more continuously for narrative’s sake but it was an enjoyable and surprising read given Whitehead’s past books.
Can you own the hypothetical?
So we’ve discussed how the metaverse is all the new craze in fashion, and discussed how precursors of this now Web 3.0 have existed in the borderlands of the internet since its conception; however what remains increasingly unclear as fashion brands, artists, and crypto investors alike, forage into the new digital sphere, is the issue of licensing. An apparel company may trademark the brand’s logo, but even today, protection over specific designs and motifs, however recognizable one may think these are, remain legally difficult to protect. Fast fashion giants such as Zara and H&M operate frequently within this gray area of design in the American copyright market, often hinting (very obviously) at which designer they are taking from. In past cases, particularly with luxury house mega-names such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton, cases in the US have been varying successes or, more frequently, big losses in their legal battles which points towards the glaring lack of protection when it comes to fashion and design in the American copyright system.
Historically, American apparel has been more store/brand based rather than design based. This is not to say that there isn’t a large repertoire of American designers throughout the 20th and 21st centuries– it merely points to the more business based model that exists in the industry in this country. In Europe, the copyright game is a little bit more extensive. These houses, many of which are based on family legacy, have had the opportunity and length of time to dispute and establish legal design integrity.
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