I think we are ALL tapping into the same pool of creative influences and impulses. None of us "own" any of it, and none of it originates with any of us. But I am torn, because part of me wants to see someone like Colette stand up to Gaga and get legal on her, so that Gaga will have to really put her story together and think about whether or not she is in fact (seems so) appropriating other people's work. One could argue that everything she does (but this goes for Beyonce and others too), taking this and that from all over the place. It just shows that there are really no "new" ideas. Just new ways of presenting them. And there should be room for everyone. I think the issue for me comes where there are cases where artists become aggressive in their "taking", manipulatively call it "inspired by" but in the process are demoralizing the people whom they are taking from. Because it can feel like true disrespect if an artist steals. It can also feel like a true compliment "imitation is the highest form of flattery". Both are valid reactions, i think.

If doing a victorian boudoir in a window, one must cover the walls with fabric. Likely that fabric would be curtains, if it's supposed to be "victorian" and the choice of white could be a coincedence. Gaga might have changed the color scheme, but the objects in the setting are not the same anyway, so does one have to change the color, just to avoid confusion? What if using white makes the most sense for other reasons?

Fashion designers, for one example, as everyone knows, are usually all doing the same designs each season. It's never one designers "big idea" to use stripes or fringe. It's a reaction to last season's emphasis on pastels and lace, and the stripes come in, as the antidote. This zeitgeist predicts what will become the next cultural, fashion, style movements.

Everyone is reacting to the same exact influences. There are usually two main trends always going on, all the time, throughout history which is, the decadent styles and the minimal or industrial styles. Those are always there, no one is brilliant for bringing back historical looks and then bringing back modern looks, etc.

To try to claim ownership of these ideas, I often believe, gets to be a battle of egos, ***with ALL due respect to each individual artist***.

I am an artist myself and I feel I have been through the same thoughts in the past. The negative feelings that arise from feeling "stolen from" can be a real thorn and can even make one feel paralyzed with disbelief. But it takes energy away from talking about and doing other things.

In the end, how much does it matter? I've seen Gaga take ideas from performers who make very little money in comparison to Gaga. But I've also seen those very underpaid performers take ideas from other peers, who have more experience or are older, then claim it's their idea and go on to become very popular after doing so. This can feel undermining. And it stinks. Seems born out of a competitive drive more than anything. Like a race to "who can do it first". The trick is to put things out there first, with your name on it, so since Colette did it first, i'd say her career will be ok. And yes, Gaga looks more like "the daughter" of art concepts, not the originator. I also think Gaga is using the ideas of marketing and appropriation to her benefit by having her identity be a personification of the capitalism we are surrounded by, which includes art. This irony can be delightful where i am rooting for her, and it also makes me angry because it comes off as 'appropriating'. Sometimes it's "inspiration" and sometimes it's "stealing".

I think we respect a person less if it's an obvious "copy", but the truth is, the thief never has an issue with stealing, I do. So I lose. I dont get ahead by being upset by others taking, they get ahead for just using everything around them and forging ahead. Artists can be like machines, they suck up things they see around them like a vacuum cleaner that has no filter and sometimes other people's stuff gets taken into the hose. Bits of costumes and set designs, choreography and song phrases, paintings and photographs all get used by one person and she gets credit for putting it together.

What helps me is to remember we are all part of the same creative wave and the same world looking at the same palettes and the same fabrics and same inspirations. Everyone can feel special, but no one is, in the end, more special than any other person and if you want to argue that one person's ideas are better than another's it gets into all kinds of "superiority" complex discussions. If someone takes an idea I liked, I try to feel relieved that it is one less thing I have to spend time on, and am therefore freed up to move onto a newer fresher idea. "boudoir" is not a unique idea, again, all due respect to the artist Colette.

The artists I've seen out there in the world, generally take ideas from each other, and simply cannot always give credit from where the ideas came from, because they are all pretty grateful and thirsty for any publicity that they get. So in their minds to constantly nod to other artists in interviews and on their web pages, might be like giving away their once chance for attention that they cannot afford (literally) to do. With Gaga it's different and maybe when she gets older she'll credit the real individulas whom supply her inspiration. Or maybe ***start doing things that look unarguably distinct.***

Here is a quote from Elizabeth Murray, which I really think could help people to keep their egos in check:

"Sometimes you use it and it's yours; another time you do it and it's still theirs."