Almost 3 years ago, Beyoncé’s legal team, troubled with a new brand that had popped up in the market, filed a lawsuit. Consumers are likely to believe that Beyoncé was in some way tied to an array of bridal-themed wares with the word Feyoncé on them, the 37-year old music mega-star’s attorneys argued in the federal trademark infringement and dilution, and unfair competition suit they filed in April 2016 in a New York federal court against Andre Maurice and Leana Lopez. Even if consumers are not confused by the similar-looking, similar-sounding products, they claimed, the Feyoncé products dilute the value of Beyoncé’s wildly valuable name and so, the defendants should be forced to pull them from the market once and for all.  

Azealia Banks, Grimes, the New York Times, Gizmodo, and Business Insider are set to be pulled into the case that investors filed against Tesla, after a “false and misleading” tweet from founder Elon Musk impacted stock prices and garnered Securities and Exchange Commission scrutiny. Despite pushback from Musk’s counsel and from Banks, herself, who lashed out at the 47-year old South African billionaire on social media recently over the case, a federal court in Northern California has approved the investor plaintiffs’ motion to preserve evidence held by the two musicians and three publications.

Nick Knight, the British-born photographer and fashion/music filmmaker (known for shooting the works of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, and Yohji Yamamoto, among others, and directing music videos by Lady Gaga, Kanye West, and Massive Attack), and founder of award-winning fashion website, SHOWstudio, spoke to SCMP about how social media has drastically shifted the relevance of fashion magazines. Here’s a striking excerpt …

“I #flash in my Calvins,” reads a Calvin Klein ad campaign from the spring of 2016. An airy-hued photo taken by photographer Harley Weir depicts – for fashion purposes, of course – actress Klara Kristin in a less-than-ordinary way. The image was captured from an angle that places the viewer’s focus almost exclusively up Kristin’s skirt. In other words, the ad campaign – which was splashed around social media and plastered on the sides of buildings and walls in many cities as part of a global marketing effort – consists of an “upskirt” shot. 

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Rihanna are said to be expanding their partnership beyond her hot-selling Fenty Beauty to a full-fledged fashion line. Women’s Wear Daily is exclusively reporting that the Paris-based luxury goods conglomerate (which is parent to Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy, Celine, and Marc Jacobs, among other brands) and the multi-hyphenate Grammy winner “have been in secret discussions to launch a luxury house under her name.”

Rwanda is putting its foot down on the widespread use of skin bleaching products. The East African dictatorship first made strides to cut down on the use of products, particularly those that include topical skin-bleaching agent hydroquinone, in 2016 with an explicit ban on all non-medical uses. Late last year, government officials from the densely-populated country escalated their efforts, extending the ban to all uses of skin bleaching creams, following in the footsteps of Ivory Coast and Ghana, both of which have banished legally-accessible skin-lightening creams from their markets. 

Late last year, the highest court in the European Union was considering one of the legal question on its plate. However, instead of determining the validity of Christian Louboutin’s famous blood-red shoe sole trademark or whether notoriously image-conscious and protective luxury brands should be able to block the sale of their (authentic!) goods on platforms they do not deem to be worthy, this was something of a different issue. The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) was tasked with considering the protectability of cheese. 

Rihanna is suing her father for allegedly using their family surname to “solicit millions of dollars from unsuspecting third parties.” According to the complaint that Rihanna filed against her dad Ronald Fenty and his business partner, Moses Joktan Perkins, in a California federal court on Tuesday, the two men are on the hook for “fraudulently misrepresent[ing] to third parties and the public that their company, Fenty Entertainment, LLC, is affiliated with Rihanna, and has the authority to act on her behalf.” 

In the sleepy days between Christmas 2017 and the early days of 2018, Forever 21 set into motion a plan to defend itself against the headline-making legal battle that Puma had thrust upon it months earlier. That spring, Puma filed a strongly-worded lawsuit against the Los Angeles-based fast fashion giant, calling out its “systematic infringement” of others’ intellectual property, and in particular, alleging that it had run afoul of trade dress, design patent, and copyright law by selling copycat versions of footwear from Puma’s much-hyped collaboration with Rihanna.

Louis Vuitton appointed Virgil Abloh, 38, to the top spot of its menswear division to cater to the burgeoning — and very valuable — global demand for street-inspired wares, and the DJ-slash-master collaborator-slash-former Kanye West creative is doing just that. While Abloh’s full Wizard of Oz-themed collection, itself, is not slated to hit stores until this weekend, the 185-year old luxury brand has been quietly testing the waters (following the logistical nightmare that was the Supreme x Louis Vuitton launch) with a handful of pop-up shops across the globe. So far, at least one of those temporary outposts is boasting record-breaking numbers.