Knock it off with the knock-offs!

I don't carry knock-off purses. I don't wear knock-off shoes. And I certainly don't produce knock-off weddings. Which is why I am here today to beg of you, please… Knock it off with the knock-offs!

Today I want to talk to you about the difference between inspiration and interpretation and a very derivative knockoff. The first is an essential element of being an artist, and the second absolutely disregards and disrespects the idea of art as a unique interpretation of life’s experiences.

Earlier this week someone sent me a photo of a wedding that was produced here in Las Vegas by another wedding planner. It was very clearly heavily influenced by my now-famous “City of Oz” emerald green wedding. To say that it was heavily influenced is actually being generous and giving the producer a lot more latitude than they deserve. The wedding was, in every sense of the word, a copy of the work that I originally did.  Everything from the drape, to the tables, to the shapes of the centerpieces were incredibly derivative of the original wedding that I had designed and produced. Now the first thing that the person who sent it to me did was make a joke. And I needed to sit with it for a little while because I want to explain how it made me feel.

The first thing I thought was wow! This looks like a budget version of my wedding. The second thing that I thought with a little bit of a laugh was, well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… And I thought that because this particular team has not always been kind to me and so to see them so heavily influenced by my work kind of gave me a chuckle. And the third thing that I felt was really sad. Because I felt like this person should have done a better job and that they really could have done a much better job at differentiating to make the inspiration their own and to have it speak much more personally to their clients.

As somebody who considers themselves a creative and as somebody who very much considers themselves an artist, I am inspired constantly. I am absolutely inspired by other wedding planners and event designers from throughout the world. I am heavily influenced by interiors and architecture, specifically what I see happening in luxury hotels. I am inspired by art and when I say art I mean canvas, sculpture, and celluloid in terms of movies. My clients are heavily influenced by pop culture and celebrities.   All of these elements converge and meet up somewhere in the space between my head and my heart and a piece of paper that ultimately is modified and edited and manipulated until it looks and feels like something new.  My hope is that if you were to look at my work and really study it, you may be able to identify different elements and different ideas that I've pulled into the process, but nothing should ever look like a carbon copy. It certainly shouldn't look like a replica. At times while designing I will be concerned that a piece looks too derivative. When that happens, I go back to the drawing board and sharpen my pencil and I ask myself how can I change the elements so that this piece feels unique to not only this specific client but to the space that I occupy in the industry. That's inspiration! That is taking the world in and bending it to my will and coming back with something that is very specific for one couple - even though the work is there for the world, it is really about speaking to the person that I have designed for.  

I do not believe in designing in a vacuum and I don't believe in creating art that is sheltered. I want to put things out into the universe and I want them to be broken apart and put back together and interesting and unique ways because when I influence the world around me it comes back and then influences me. That's the exciting part about what I do.

But that's not what we're talking about here. What we are talking about here is a knock-off, and that makes me sad. And it makes me sad for so many reasons. Number one if you are a wedding planner or an event designer or any kind of creative for that matter…and you present yourself as a creative….then the minute you knock off someone’s work you are breaking your most basic promise which is that you will create!  To present yourself as "creative" when all you are doing is being repetitive is such a smack in the face to the industry. And it also disrespects the fundamental reason that your clients come to you. Clients come to you because they want something unique. They come to you because they want to tell their story. They're coming to you because they need someone to take all the things in their head and make sense of it and put it out there in a way that makes the world a more beautiful place. And when all you do is knock off what someone else has done, you are saying to your clients that they are not unique, that they don’t deserve better, and that they don’t need better.  that close enough is good enough…and it never is, which brings me to my second point….

The knock-off is never as good as the original. I am going to say that again. The knock-off… is never as good…as the original. A knock-off will never surprise and delight people because it's been seen before. A knock-off is never going to move people emotionally because they've already been in that emotional space. And knock-off is never going to dare people to ask questions or to take risks because a knock-off is the exact opposite of risk.  A knock-off is the safest place you can be because it's been tried and true and ultimately it's both boring and dull. No matter how much your client loved the original, the knock-off always falls flat.

And the third and final issue that I have is that a business rooted in knock-offs creates confusion for clients.  Couples and clients go online and they see a knock-off, especially a good knock-off.  A knock-off that is passable, like those Chanel bags that are made in China and look really, really good. They see these knock-offs on someone’s Instagram or website, they read the copy (also very likely a knock-off) and they think that they are hiring an artist when really they only rented a Xerox machine.   When this happens the work falls flat, the client is ultimately disappointed, and the entire industry suffers. 

Now the last and final thing I want to say is that a lot of people expect me to be mad when I see my work is knocked off. The truth is that I am not.  There are a lot of commodity businesses that make a lot of money knocking off art.  Zara, Guess, and H&M specializes in creating quick turnouts of couture pieces. They make a ton of money producing very close imitations of other people’s work.  But in the creative space, replicating the work of others is just not a sustainable business plan.  None of the businesses that replicate the works of others will ever grow to surpass the originals.  If you are out there, doing great work, creating amazing things, then you have to expect that people are going to copy you to some extent.  just know that the work you have done is a part of your portfolio and therefore a part of your past.  It’s behind you.  I cannot be mad that someone is always going to be behind me.  

For those of you still struggling to find or define your style as a creative and designer, I encourage you to make a lot of elements that you admire in other pieces of work, and then clearly change the element in a very specific way so that your work is markedly different.  If you find that your work is often imitated, take it in stride, enjoy your place as a trendsetter, and remember that there’s one you - try as they might - no one will ever see or interpret the world the way you do, and so you will always have a place in this community. 

Until next time my friends, celebrating life luxury and above all else love….Remember that you deserve more.

Always…a