The Fashion Blogosphere: 1, Steve & Barry's: 0. FASHIONTRIBES FASHION BLOG

Sadly, there is no artwork to go with this post because Steve & Barry's has seen fit to send their legal bloodhounds after any fashion bloggers who published photos of the new Bitten collection - which were obtained from other widely read blogs. (Many of us are beginning to wonder if they were deliberately leaked in a hamhanded attempt to generate buzz & get coverage for this otherwise completely mediocre & uninspired collection.)

Budget chain Steve & Barry's recently launched the press blitz for the new Bitten Sarah Jessica Parker line. They promised an exclusive preview of the line to Oprah magazine and other traditional long-line media outlets - and the photos were promptly leaked onto the Internet, where they ended up widely circulated & easily accessible. The Budget Fashionista obtained the pix from the public domain, and ran them with a less than glowing review (CLICK HERE to read it).  Steve & Barry's legal bloodhounds wrote TBF (below) explaining the photos were "wrongfully obtained" from a password protected site not open to the public, and they need to be taken down. Papierdoll.net, Fashion Indie, & eBeautyDaily all posted in support, as did Second City Style, who received email from the legal brigade (below).

Not only did TBF not sneak photos off a site illegally, but hellooooooo, this is the age of the Internet, and once the fashionable cat is out of the bag, it's out. Times have changed. Interestingly, firms crave coverage of their products from the blogs, but then act like this. On a side note, something I particularly love about certain large & influential PR firms (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) is the hard-sell pitches they send to fashion bloggers, but then fail to give any of us a decent seat at one of their fashion shows, or even invite any of us to fancy product launches or events, limiting the invite list to dinosaur print editors only. These companies fail to realize the reason blogs are popular is because unlike traditional magazines with a specific "voice" and a faceless masthead, bloggers are real people - with real opinions (which companies could probably benefit from). Unlike the blogs, long-line media is beholden to their roster of advertisers; it's specious (on their part) to talk about their "editorial" content, when in truth, it should probably come with an "advertorial" warning label. 

UPDATE: Within a day of writing this & reposting some of the photos from TBF, I was contacted by phone by Steve & Barry's lawyers, informing me that if I didn't take them down, they would resort to more aggressive legal action. Given I'm but a blogger & these people have deep pockets, I was forced to comply. They may have the letter of the law on their side, but this is not really about the lawyers' letters or even the pictures themselves; after all, press pix & releases to magazines & media are meant to be disseminated & don't really fall within the typical contraints of plagiarism & photo theft. (Besides, if the photo embargo was that earthshatteringly crucial, send the pix out on CD or DVD Rom, but why on earth have photos available on the web? Duh.) The issue here is that the Internet has irrevocably changed the landscape, of which blogs are a key part.

- Lesley Scott

Letter from Steve & Barry's to Second City Style:

Steve & Barry's has discovered that images of the BittenTM collection, which have not been authorized for public release, have been posted to your website and forum "secondcitystyle.com."  We are very concerned about this unauthorized release, and would appreciate if you removed these images immediately from secondcitystyle.com, and any other site that you or your company may operate.   We ask you, as the Editor-in-Chief of Second City Style to handle this matter with discretion and confidentiality; and send an email confirmation that you have complied with the above requests.

Steve & Barry's wishes to resolve these matters amicably, and without having to resort to litigation.  We appreciate your speedy attention to this matter.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me as listed below.

Your timely and anticipated cooperation is greatly appreciated.

The letter from Steve & Barry's Lawyer to TBF:

To Whom It May Concern:

Good Morning, I am the Assistant General Counsel for Steve & Barry's asking you to please remove the images of the Bitten collection from the above captioned website and any other site or link in your control that may lead to these images. These were wrongfully obtained from a password protected website, and are not authorized for public distribution. I hope you understand, we're a company that as a mission looks out for our shoppers and the public at large. To keep our prices as low as they are for merchandise of such high quality requires that we don't advertise. We rely on mass publicity as our leading awareness builder. Having any images appear on the web prior to the launch of this collection June seriously jeopardizes agreements we have in place with global media outlets that have been promised first rights to show the merchandise. We absolutely want to work with you to provide information and/or images that are unique and special to you and your audience as a thank you for your cooperation. As a first step, we will grant permission to you to use the black/white image of Sarah Jessica Parker in a tshirt and jean jacket. But for now we are hoping you will cooperate with us and remove all the other images.

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(image: Midwest Rock Lobster)