Earlier this week, reports that the prestigious fashion house Alexander McQueen was to design her dress created quite a stir.

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In particular, a designer may first seek and secure a design patent and then secondary meaning for trade dress protection of the design can be developed during the 14 years of design patent protection.

FORBES: Protecting Fashion Designs

Celebrity stylist and designer Rachel Zoe wore an oversized black floppy hat and a black and white maxi dress of her own design to stomp the divots on the polo field.

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Instead, trademark law protects brand names, logos, symbols, designs and other optional elements of apparel and accessories, and trade dress law protects the design, packaging or appearance of apparel and accessories, solely to the extent they identify the source and origin of such products.

FORBES: Protecting Fashion Designs

In this respect, design patents can work well together with trade dress rights.

FORBES: Protecting Fashion Designs

But down in the detail there were complex issues surrounding which elements of a design (in the form factor, in usability, and in what was called the trade dress) were truly protected by law.

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