Fashion Controversy: Is It Still Fashion Design If You Use a Butterick Pattern?
Edited by Saynt
A few weeks ago we posted a story on a St. Louis designer, AFV by Ashley Dayley, who was set to showcase her looks with 5 other designers at an event at the contemporary art museum. Well, according to an outraged reader of Fashion Indie, the designer is a “ripoff” for using a Butterick pattern (specifically number 6015) to create her dresses. We have the Teresa H’s comment below…
Many of us in the online design/sewing community were flummoxed, and some rather outraged, when a very popular reissued pattern (Butterick 6015) showed up on the runway – credited to Ashley Dayley as an original design but was a complete ripoff (and copyright infringement) of this pattern and its original designer.
It’s astonishing the lack of integrity, and utter cluelessness that this designer showed in presenting this as her own “design”.
“Dayley called it vintage sexy.” the St. Louis Times wrote. We call it “ripoff.”
Now we’ve done some research (shockingly we do try some actual reporting sometime) and we found the original Butterick pattern that one of our readers referenced.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any photos of AFV by Ashley Dayley to prove our reader correct, but we’re working on it.
Aside from that, is it really cheating when a designer uses a pattern from a company like Butterick? Isn’t the whole “Vintage Revival” movement all about using these patterns with new fabrics to make them modern? I personally don’t see anything wrong with a designer using a Butterick pattern since these we’re sold for the purpose of creating clothes. Yes some one else designed the pattern, but you designed the dress by picking the fabrics and crafting the dress, right?
Fortunately another Fashion Indie reader agrees with me. Read her comment below in response to Teresa H…
Someone here must be the Rainman of fashion…or a chronically bored person with too much time on their hands. Ashley, and other designers world wide have used shapes as well as patterns to design or create a newer, fresher version of a garment. If this blogger comment was given by a professional whom is a judge or editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine…I can understand to some degree. But why were THEY not featured at fashion week? Why were they never sought after for their amazing original clothing line? Hmmmm sounds to me like they are what I like to call being their “internet” self. How dare to comment about this young designer to ruin her good name. I thought her clothes were fresh, fun and frankly….better than a Butterick pattern.
Touche.