Inspired by…

At the end of last year New York based designer Maryam Nassir Zadeh made headlines by accusing accessories label Mansur Gavriel (mostly known for their bucket bags) of copying one of her designs, a pair of mule sandals. Mansur and Gavriel denied the allegation and claimed that it was a mere coincidence and that they cannot claim ownership of a mule, slide, block heel or colour. 

Now, I totally get that you can’t claim a heel, material or colour but when you combine these design elements in a certain way it can be hard not to draw any similarities. When I spotted low-heel suede pumps at MANGO and H&M, they immediately reminded me of Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s very popular and hard to come by Roberta heel (pictured above). If you’re an avid Instagram user or blog reader, I’m sure you’ve come across a pair of these shoes. Of course, this could all just be a coincidence but it’s much more likely that everyone’s favourite high street stores decided to do their own version of the ‘original’.

How you do feel about items that walk a fine line between blatant copy and original design?