Tyler Cowan has an interesting post on the fashion industry, where one sees "innovation" without copyright. Though not, I might add, without trademark and patent, particularly for new materials.

A further caveat to keep in mind while pondering what policy lessons might be derived from observations about fashion:

The characterization of fashion as "innovative" does not seem to me to be true of fashion writ large--especially mass market fashion. It seems to be true mostly of haute couture, where the object is to set oneself apart rather than to merge comfortably into a community. Mass market fashion is in fact highly imitative, much more so than it is innovative. Think of the ubiquitous blue-jeans and T-shirts.

And ultimately perhaps haute couture is imitative as well, with the innovation being just skin-deep. Haute couture in a given season may recall a past decade, the "army" look, or a certain ethnic look. Seasons and decades are associated with certain colors. Many designers get inspiration from walking the streets, looking at the way young people in the streets of Italy are wearing their trousers or hair; underclass subculture is a common source. I think a truly "innovative" fashion industry would have successfully introduced skirts for men, or moved women out of dresses centuries earlier.

Bottom line: The "innovative" nature of fashion is somewhat exaggerated--even in haute couture. One might even say, greatly exaggerated. Fashion is "innovative" in the same sense that language is innovative. Novelty is relative--innovation within narrow bounds of acceptability, constrained by all kinds of cultural, economic, and other factors (including biological factors... why is most lipstick reddish, not blue?). But if it were not mainly imitative, it would lose much of its value as a marker of communities and a communicator of status.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 1:43 PM | Art, Big Tent, Liberty and IP, Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment(0)