While the 2025 Met Gala dazzled with its celebration of Black dandyism and bespoke tailoring under the theme “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” the event also unearthed pressing legal questions.
Chief among them: who gets to own style? And how can we protect the cultural and creative labour of Black designers in a system that often fails to recognise them?
Fashion’s IP Problem
Fashion law remains a relatively niche area, and yet it’s increasingly crucial in the age of fast fashion, global branding, and digital design.
In many countries, including the UK, the legal frameworks available to protect clothing designs are limited.
While trademarks can safeguard brand logos and trade dress, and patents can cover technical inventions, clothing designs themselves often fall through the cracks.
Copyright law, for instance, does not extend to clothing designs unless they amount to a “work of artistic craftsmanship”—a rare and difficult threshold to meet.
This means that for many Black designers, whose work is often copied by high street brands or large fashion houses, there is little recourse beyond social media backlash or expensive legal battles.
Cultural Appropriation vs Cultural Appreciation
The Met’s 2025 theme was a timely acknowledgment of the profound impact Black style has had on global fashion. However, the issue of cultural appropriation remains a significant concern. In legal terms, appropriation is difficult to regulate: while plagiarism in music or literature can lead to swift lawsuits, borrowing stylistic elements—such as patterns, motifs, or cultural dress—is rarely actionable.
This lack of legal clarity often leaves Black creators vulnerable. Their aesthetics are borrowed without consent or context, repackaged for profit, and sold back to a market that too often erases their contributions. Without stronger legal frameworks, appreciation risks becoming exploitation.
Time for Reform?
There are growing calls within the legal community to reform intellectual property laws to better support fashion creators, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds. Proposals include:
- Expanded design rights with longer protection periods and broader definitions of originality
- Stronger moral rights to ensure designers retain credit and control over their work
- Community ownership models to protect traditional and cultural designs, especially those with deep historical or regional significance
In the US, the Design Piracy Prohibition Act has been repeatedly introduced but never passed. Meanwhile, in the UK, unregistered design rights offer some protection—but only for three to fifteen years, depending on the jurisdiction and registration status.
The Legal Legacy of Superfine
What “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” ultimately teaches us is that fashion is not just about aesthetics—it is about authorship. And authorship demands protection. As the law catches up with the complexities of fashion, it must also reckon with its history of exclusion.
Black designers deserve more than celebration. They deserve recognition, remuneration, and legal protection. The Met Gala spotlighted their artistry—now it’s time for the law to do the same.
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