Alexander McQueen sues Steve Madden over 'Faithful' bootie design

Alexander McQueen may have just wowed us at Paris Fashion Week, but he isn't too happy with Steve Madden. The designer has filed a lawsuit against Madden for knocking off his 'Faithful' bootie. The complaint cites Madden's 'Seryna' bootie as a "studied imitation" of McQueen's design which debuted in January.

Lawyers will argue that, "in fact, the only design element of the 'Faithful Bootie,' that Madden did not deliberately copy is the zipper pull that contains the 'Alexander McQueen' trademark."

Meanwhile, Madden has since removed the design from his website, which was retailing at $129.95. McQueen's booties are still available to purchase for $1,155.

[via CocoPerez]

Johanna - MyShoebox.se

GoJane has a copy too, not as similar as this though.

Abi

I'm really not surprised this has happened - the styling is identical and I don't see how anyone can claim otherwise! Only obvious difference is the quality of the leather.

Carrie

First, I love, love, love your website!

I've read many blogs about this lawsuit in the past week. I AM THRILLED that McQueen has finally taken action against Madden. I realize most people would not be able to shell out over $1,000 for a pair of shoes. However, there is a very fine distinction between a label (Madden) taking inspiration from a designer (McQ) and a straight knock-off. And in this case, between the Seryna shoe and McQueen's Faithful bootie, Madden DEFINITELY knocked this shoe off--save the skull zipper. The design team at Madden should have had a little more originality and creativity. It angers me when I see labels/companies like Madden try to exploit the talents of truly talented designers (McQueen's design team) and tout that design as their own and make money from that. Maybe their path should have been to have "guest" designers much as H & M does with their label...

Grand Mademoiselle

That's a shame. Typically, I overlook similarities between shoe designs, but this seems like overkill. Plus, I'm not even crazy about the shoes.