You wouldn’t think an innocuous, oversized, and rather slouchy thick-knit coat from Libertine’s runway a year ago would be especially ripe for imitation, but someone at Valentino apparently thought otherwise. The similarity is striking — really, there can be no arguing that the former informed the latter. But is it copying or tweaking an idea? Does the fact that it’s an established house doing the appropriation lend credence to the original? And is this kind of ‘influence’ as pervasive as people say, and does that make it ok?