Coutorture's community has plenty of material to work with this week thanks to the nearly instant access we all enjoy to images and reviews of Milan Fashion Week so its little surprise that the catwalk was on everyone's mind.

Chic and Untroubled has a few trenchant remarks about billowing dresses at Gucci, Catwalk Queen is sorry they haven't given more time to Alessandro Dell'Acqua in the past, The Fashion Pad has a bazillion (OK more like 6-7) Milan show reviews, J'Adore Couture thinks Milan goes from bad to worse, Senora Carter reviews the bags at Burberry, Season Five Style wonders why everyone is hating on Gucci, and finally for something positive Fashionation writes a love letter to Prada.

And in case you just can't think about Milan anymore Business of Fashion has a report on the new H&M in Japan. Very informative and quite detailed so we highly suggest checking it out. Need something really happy making? Temptalia has reviews and swatches of Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte Lipstick.

 

Plagiarism is a hot topic these days, and the fashion cognoscenti are taking notice. The Business of Fashion ponders a very relevant question: at what point does "referencing" another designer's work start to infringe on intellectual property? As Imran Ahmed points out, it's one thing to be inspired by someone else's design, but wholly another to blatantly rip it off. He turns a critical eye to the subject, highlighting a case of obvious copycatting by Steve Madden, as well as a subtler, "did-she-or-didn't-she" case involving a Diane von Furstenberg design. For the past several years, it's become a heated moral issue in the fashion world. Having seen clothing in just about every possible incarnation, it's increasingly difficult to produce something new and innovative. Therefore, almost all design is referential in some way, and a designer's inspiration can often involve revisioning and putting a new spin on an existing look. In this world of the postmodern pastiche, as fashion cycles become shorter and shorter, and modern media allows for immediate, worldwide access to the fashion world, it becomes difficult for the designers themselves to even distinguish whether or not the inspiration truly came from themselves, or whether it was tucked away somewhere in their mind after having glimpsed another person's work. For the more brazen cases of outright theft, there seems to be little consequence. The dizzying pace of fashion and the costs of taking legal action make it difficult for designers to stop the unauthorized duplication of their work en masse, as the legal process will take far longer than the fashion season and won't happen in time to stop the copycats.

Our network partner, The Business of Fashion, recaps Stella McCartney's store openings in India and Asia. Recent partnerships will put her silk trousers, her breezy dresses and studded platforms in all of the major cities. As Business of Fashion reports, this venture may or may not be a risky one as the luxury market, in both India and Asia, faces a unique set of challenges and consumer discrepancies. He writes, 'recent questions about the impact of a global economic slowdown in Asia don't seem to be holding luxury brands from aggressively betting on these markets to get them through the economic dip'. Check out this interesting report from Business of Fashion, as well as our coverage of McCartney's collaboration with one of many emerging New Zealand brands, namely, the lingerie line Bendon.