What inspires you

“What inspires you?” is a standard question in every designer Q&A and, more often than not, the interviewee will respond by name-dropping a certain collection or tastemaker from the past (the Pre-Raphaelites and Rei Kawakubo circa 1984 score particularly high points on the cred scale). Designers just love to riff off others, but at what point does referencing, remixing, taking inspiration from and “playing christian louboutin homage to” turn into blatant copying? Supreme, every style-conscious old skate heads’ label of choice, openly fesses up to “borrowing” other people’s ideas –  christian louboutin uk  beginning with its logo. 

The use of white Futura Heavy Oblique words set against a rectangular red background plays on the typography work of feminist conceptual artist Barbara Kruger. Over Supreme’s 20-year history, Kruger never said an accusatory thing (until last week), but when fellow streetwear label Married To The Mob released shirts with “Supreme Bitch” written on them in the same font against the same red slash, Supreme quickly lost its cool, christian louboutin pumps registering a copyright infringement claim against them.