Chanel is unimpressed with a T-shirt depicting its famous double C logo as the Ghostbusters sign, so much so that it is taking legal action against the garment's makers. Jeanine Heller, the founder of "parody" streetwear brand What About Yves made famous for its "Aint Laurent Without Yves" merchandise has been served with a trademark infringement suit by Chanel.
Filed last week in New York, the suit asserts that Heller is "displaying, offering for sale, and selling on her website, and selling to third party retailers, a T-shirt and a sweatshirt bearing Chanel's CC monogram mark with an image of an animated ghost commonly associated with the motion picture Ghostbusters," The Fashion Law reports. The company says that, far from "transforming the mark", which is a standard defence for parody products, Heller is using the "clearly recognisable CC monogram mark [on] her own clothing precisely because of the iconic status of the mark, with knowledge of its association with Chanel, in order to call to mind Chanel".
Heller's brand made fashion headlines last year when it was found to be at the root of a disagreement between Saint Laurent and Parisian boutique Colette. Heller's "Aint Laurent" merchandise which passed comment on creative director Hedi Slimane's decision to drop the word Yves from the brand's logo was stocked by Colette, leading Slimane to pull his Saint Laurent collection in its entirety from the store.
The website, which is still offering the "Official Chanel X Ghostbusters" designs for sale, also stocks products which parody or infringe (depending on your point of view) the famous logos of brands including Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Dior. Whether any of these brands will take legal action remains to be seen, but Chanel is seeking damages that amount to up to "three times the amount of actual damages sustained".
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