Ten years ago, the internet was still a relatively new phenomenon. And the venerable house of Chanel was not pleased when photographs from its collections appeared online immediately after the shows, enabling copyists around the globe to deliver those styles to stores even before the real merchandise was available. Before the Fall 1996 collection, audience members received the following warning (in hard copy, of course):
Unless duly authorized, any use, directly or indirectly, through any intermediate or not, with or without charge, in any part of the world, specifically on the Internet, on CD-ROM and on any other multimedia networks and devices, of any images of all or any part of the collection presented in this show, including any images of the models appearing in this show, is strictly prohibited.
Not satisfied with mere legal warnings, Karl Lagerfeld deluged the audience with so many looks and silhouettes that knockoff artists couldn’t select an iconic image from the collection. The next season, the designer received boos from photographers when he sent his looks for Chloe down a maze-like, difficult to shoot runway.