I’m not sure whether this is a kind of sadness or not. When I introduced Maftei signature style, I said that if this style is copied by many people one day, I won’t be embarrassed. I just hope people will remember that Maftei made this style well-known.
In fact, as Mr. Alexandru Maftei told me, this style is the most traditional style in Vienna, and he is not original.
Jesper, the blogger of ShoeGazing, used Antonio Meccariello as example to explain this matter.
Antonio Meccariello helped set up Kiton shoe factory before setting up his own brand, where he designed the following model.
After leaving Kiton, Antonio launched a similar model in his own brand.
Kiton kept this model as its best seller. The following is the latest model.
A beautiful model, naturally there are many imitations, and the patent for appearance is almost difficult to apply for and has practical effect, because the imitator only needs to make a little change. In addition, how can you say that it is copying?
So we saw same model from Bontoni.
Bontoni is the same, even Medallion on the toe is the same. However, I think it is more exquisite than Kiton.
Next, more brands began to join, such as Magnanni.
This copy is very ugly, so it can be plagiarism. Because doing well is called salute, doing badly and ruining it is plagiarism. By the way, today’s Magnanni has its own very unique design, which should be praised.
In fact, Antonio Meccariello himself may not dare to say that it is original, because as early as the 1980s, Romano Martegani had such a style. And there were even two.
Summary
Therefore, personally, I don’t have a very negative view on the matter of model plagiarism. Because I always think that dress shoes are works of art with practical value.
It is impossible to say that Cezanne painted impressionism, so Monet is not allowed to paint impressionism. As long as it can make everyone have a better aesthetic experience, or a different aesthetic experience, it is enough.
Colleagues may not be enemies, and competitors can also promote each other.