The Met Gala’s IP Mystique: What’s Protected, What’s Not, and What Should Be

The Met Gala’s IP Mystique: What’s Protected, What’s Not, and What Should Be

When Cardi B stepped onto the 2024  Met Gala red carpet in a sculptural black tulle gown by Windowsen, complete with a towering silhouette and a sweeping train that required five attendants to manage, the internet lit up. Within 24 hours, TikTok and Instagram were flooded with recreations inspired by red carpet looks. Some were dramatically simplified, others impressively close. Influencers and creators on YouTube and TikTok have gained traction by emulating celebrity looks from past Met Galas, often using thrifted or altered materials to capture the essence of couture on a budget.

These posts, widely shared under themes like “Met Gala at home” or “budget gala looks”, sparked a viral wave of DIY mimicry.  Fast fashion retailers soon followed. Examples include listings on platforms like Cider and AliExpress that mirror high-profile event looks.

The Met Gala once again delivered its unofficial encore, not on the red carpet but in the global ripple of replication that followed.

While many view these recreations as celebratory or aspirational, others question whether they exploit the goodwill and creative labor of the original designers, particularly when they are commercialized by fast fashion brands without attribution or consent.

For the designers behind the original, the performance often ends at the red carpet. So where’s the legal protection? Under current U.S. intellectual property law, their options for protection are limited and, in many cases, untested in court.

At the heart of this spectacle, there is a quiet but consequential disconnect between fashion and the law. In the United States, copyright protection excludes “useful articles,” including clothing. As the Supreme Court explained in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., only artistic features of a design that can be imagined separately from the garment’s function may be copyrighted. A graphic design/image screen-printed on a T-shirt would qualify for protection. A sculptural bodice might qualify, as illustrated by designs like Iris van Herpen’s 2019 Met Gala creation for Joey King, which featured detachable, artistic elements. A tailored jacket, however, will not.

That legal gap leaves designers vulnerable. They may spend hundreds of hours crafting original looks for a single night, only to see their work replicated by fast fashion brands and social media creators. These companies, often overseas and out of reach of U.S. enforcement, can reverse-engineer designs within hours. The resulting products are not direct counterfeits but dupes that closely resemble the originals and raise questions about the limits of lawful imitation.

Trademark law can sometimes help, but only when a design has acquired secondary meaning, as in the case of Burberry’s plaid or Louboutin’s red soles. Most Met Gala outfits are worn once and lack that kind of brand identity. Design patents are another option, but they are expensive, slow, and poorly suited to short-lived trends.

Some scholars and industry advocates argue that fashion deserves stronger protection under U.S. law. Europe offers one model with its unregistered community designs right, which provides automatic, short-term protection for new designs. Similar bills have been introduced in Congress, such as the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, but none have passed.

For now, the Met Gala remains a paradox: one of the most celebrated showcases of fashion originality and also one of the most widely imitated. Designers continue to push creative boundaries, even as the law struggles to keep up. The future of fashion protection, and the line between inspiration and infringement, remains unsettled.

Kimberly McLean is Of Counsel with Fishman Stewart and has over 20 years of experience in IP law, focusing on patent prosecution and counseling in electrical arts, including software, cloud computing, blockchain, multimedia systems, autonomous vehicles, and artificial intelligence.  As a former primary patent examiner at the US Patent and Trademark Office, she leverages her knowledge and experience to achieve successful outcomes for her clients.