Do you believe imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

[parrot tulips]

I recall seeing posts where individuals were upset that a friend/acquaintance would copy their engagement ring design, which got me wondering. There are so many gorgeous, gorgeous pieces here on Pricescope, many of which are more unique than others. Would those of you with more unique designs (custom pieces with original details, antique pieces, etc.) be put off if another Pricescoper copied your design? While most people here are essentially strangers, it is a community where there is a sense of familiarity with other members. Does this make "stealing" designs/ideas different than if a "real" person in your life did it? I''m not currently in the market for an e-ring, but if I were, I have to admit, there is a ring or two on this board I''d love to have...

 

[rockzilla]

For me, there is a difference between imitation and trying to out-do. So, if a friend got a ring like mine, in, say, a similar size, I would have no issue. But, if she specifically went out of her way to get a ring just like mine EXCEPT it was like 3 cts whereas mine is 1.4 - I''d be a little annoyed, and feel like she was trying to show mine up. If it was a different style I''d have no issue.

Online, no big deal - we share here and when it comes down to it, everything is inspired by something else!

 

[brooklyngirl]

For me I think it would depend on the intent/who is copying the ring. If it''s a person who is really smitten with my ring, and decides they want the same or similar, I would be thrilled for them, and quite frankly flattered, even if their ring was bigger than mine. However, if someone is trying to one-up me, I''d be pretty PO''d.

 

[Ninama]

If I knocked off someone''s unique ER, I would find a way to mention it when I got compliments.

I''d be okay with someone copying my (future) ring - unless it was someone I spent a great deal of time with. A sister, coworker, very best friend... I think it could get weird. That''s pretty unlikely, though. I don''t have a sister. I had a friend once.... and it didn''t work out.

Neither did that working thing...

 

[777_LDY]

My ring was custom, and I think it''s unique, but it wouldn''t bother me if someone on PS decided to replicate it. I think I would definitely be flattered and want to have a GTG to take group shots!!

However, if someone close to me did it I would be a little annoyed. Not sure why, I guess it would just seem strange to me...

 

[purrfectpear]

I think 99% of us would be flattered. There was someone on here who pitched a hissy fit when the vendor decided to continue to offer the ring that they made for him (as a custom order). IMO much ado about entirely nothing. Certain rings are quite popular like the Ritani endless love or Vatche x prong, so several PS members own them.

Some people are more drama prone than others I guess.

 

[Circe]

I''d be immensely flattered! IRL, if it extended to a generic copy-catting, I''d be ... well, somewhere between irritated and skeeved out, depending on how SWF it got, but online? It''s a compliment to your taste and originality, pure and simple.

 

[princesss]

I have to say, I''m happy to see all of these responses, as my dream ring happens to belong to somebody on PS. Hopefully she''ll join in on the "Sure, it would be fine!" bandwagon. (Unfortunately, I don''t see her posting around here too often.)

 

[iheartscience]

I think if you post your ring on Pricescope, you do so knowing that anyone who belongs to PS or lurks here can see it and replicate it. It certainly crossed my mind before I posted pictures. So if someone who is basically a stranger to me (here on PS) wanted to copy my ring, I don''t think I''d really care.

If my best friend or sister wanted to copy my ring, I might care more because a major part of why I like my ring so much is that it''s quite unique in real life. (It''s a radiant set in a custom halo with tapered baguette sidestones and three sided pave.) But luckily neither scenario has happened yet, so I guess I don''t know exactly how I''d react!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 6/16/2008 7:28:52 PM
Author: rockzilla
For me, there is a difference between imitation and trying to out-do. So, if a friend got a ring like mine, in, say, a similar size, I would have no issue. But, if she specifically went out of her way to get a ring just like mine EXCEPT it was like 3 cts whereas mine is 1.4 - I''d be a little annoyed, and feel like she was trying to show mine up. If it was a different style I''d have no issue.


Online, no big deal - we share here and when it comes down to it, everything is inspired by something else!

I totally agree with this. It''s the desire to get the same thing, BUT BETTER that bothers me. If a friend gets a bigger ring, normally I am super happy for them. But if someone gets a bigger ring and specifically copies my ring and then says "but mine is bigger/better, etc", THAT bothers me.

 

[Lynn B]

Interesting thread.

Random thoughts, in no particular order...

My feeling is that there is really very little (if anything) that's truly, absolutely one-of-a-kind/world-wide. So it's not worth getting all worked up about, IMVHO.

Personally, I am always flattered and thrilled when someone loves my rings enough to consider getting something like that for themselves. I don't have any problem at all with any "copycat" issues.

And if someone got a setting like mine, but with a much larger stone (say like some gorgeous, honkin' 4-5 carater

) I'd probably be insanely jealous

but honestly, I wouldn't take it personally, and I'd be thrilled for her!

 

[Kaleigh]

I''ve always been flattered.

 

[Gypsy]

Ditto Lynn.

 

[diamondfan]

I think on line is a bit removed from real life. Of course I have a really typical ring setting, so no one could really copy it, it is all over the place. But I would hope if someone here loved someone else's ring, it would be discussed, and that if it were copied, no biggie, since you do not see most PS'ers in life.

In real life, though, the honest thing is it depends on a lot. A couple of my friends and I have similar tastes and end up coincidentally with the same purse or top or sunglasses, and sometimes we KNOW it, a pal will love my top and I will tell her where I got it. Then if we go out we try not to wear the same thing. One of my closest friends and I have the same Dior purse, the same Tom Ford sunglasses, the same diamond earrings and the same Tory Burch sandals. And it is fine, since they are not one of a kind items or something very special or unique. But I do have friends who are SOOOO beyond the pale when it comes to copying, and when you wear something, the next time you see them they have it on. And this is from shoes to bags to glasses and tops...nothing is sacred. And while I have bigger fish to fry on one hand, and it is not worth raising blood pressure over on one hand, there is something a bit odd and weird about it and it gets old after a while, trust me. It stops being flattering and becomes annoying. My friend goes through this too with someone, and she says all this girl now does is copy her, she goes into all the stores my friend shops at and asks for the same stuff. It is sad in a way as well. I feel yes, it can be flattering here and there, but there is a line. Get your own style, be confident in your own taste, look for inspiration from many sources. My pal now feels a bit invaded and does not wear new things around this friend anymore because of this whole thing.

If it were my engagement ring, and it were not a common style and a good friend or someone in my circle suddenly showed up with something very similar on her hand I WOULD feel funky. To me, an engagement ring that is unusual or not something that is typical or easy to find should be special and left to that person, unless the ring owner is asked and does not mind.

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 6/16/2008 10:24:35 PM
Author: diamondfan

In real life, though, the honest thing is it depends on a lot. A couple of my friends and I have similar tastes and end up coincidentally with the same purse or top or sunglasses, and sometimes we KNOW it, a pal will love my top and I will tell her where I got it. Then if we go out we try not to wear the same thing. One of my closest friends and I have the same Dior purse, the same Tom Ford sunglasses, the same diamond earrings and the same Tory Burch sandals. And it is fine, since they are not one of a kind items or something very special or unique. But I do have friends who are SOOOO beyond the pale when it comes to copying, and when you wear something, the next time you see them they have it on. And this is from shoes to bags to glasses and tops...nothing is sacred. And while I have bigger fish to fry on one hand, and it is not worth raising blood pressure over on one hand, there is something a bit odd and weird about it and it gets old after a while, trust me. It stops being flattering and becomes annoying. My friend goes through this too with someone, and she says all this girl now does is copy her, she goes into all the stores my friend shops at and asks for the same stuff. It is sad in a way as well. I feel yes, it can be flattering here and there, but there is a line. Get your own style, be confident in your own taste, look for inspiration from many sources. My pal now feels a bit invaded and does not wear new things around this friend anymore because of this whole thing.


If it were my engagement ring, and it were not a common style and a good friend or someone in my circle suddenly showed up with something very similar on her hand I WOULD feel funky. To me, an engagement ring that is unusual or not something that is typical or easy to find should be special and left to that person, unless the ring owner is asked and does not mind.

I totally agree with you about the clothes! I don''t care if me and my friends or coworkers have a few of the same things, but I worked (and LIVED!) with a girl who was the WORST at running out and buying everything I bought. She would see something new I had and her next words would be "I''m getting it!" And I am not kidding. It finally started to get on my nerves so much that I would hide new stuff for a while and not wear it around her or just lie about where I got something. I would just say "Oh, I got it in NYC/LA" because at the time I was traveling to both places quite often.

One time I bought a pair of black boots and not 1 minute after I reluctantly showed them to her she got on the phone with the shoe store right in front of me, asked if they had her size and had them hold the boots for her! I called her out on it and she actually ended up not buying them, but it irritated me soooo much!

 

[parrot tulips]

Date: 6/16/2008 8:47:29 PM
Author: princesss
I have to say, I''m happy to see all of these responses, as my dream ring happens to belong to somebody on PS. Hopefully she''ll join in on the ''Sure, it would be fine!'' bandwagon. (Unfortunately, I don''t see her posting around here too often.)

I was thinking the same thing.

My dream ring belongs to someone on PS as well, and it''s not a mass produced item, but it''s just soooooo gorgeous!

I don''t mind if a friend gets something similar to me if it''s a relatively generic item, but if I went out of my way to find something unique and different, I''d be a little...irritated if they had a replica made. Especially with something that has as much emotion behind it as an e-ring. However, if I posted something on PS that I was particularly proud of, I''d be flattered if people wanted the same for themselves (especially since there are so many passionate jewelry lovers here!).

 

[diamondfan]

Thing, it gets really freaky. I end up telling my friend, hey, your buddy now has your Chanel glasses or your new watch...but she never tells my friend that she went out to all the same stores and asked for what her friend just got!

I had one friend get pissy with me about a purse. We were on the train to NYC from Philly and there was a Dior handbag in an ad. I liked it, pointed it out and said I wanted one. She said, in all seriousness, Noooooo, you can''t because I was going to get one, and I do not want to have the same bag. Now, this was a purse that was in magazines all the time, and she NEVER mentioned it before. Now she has dibs on it? I told her I was getting it in a more unusual color and that she frankly could not tell me what to buy when it was in the boutiques and the major department stores and not something unique. She told me it would not be special to her if someone else had it. I was thinking, better not shop in LA or NY then, since you will likely see it all over...it is in their national ad campaign for pete''s sake. I thought she was being ludicrous.

However, if every time you see someone they rush out and become your clone, heck yeah, even if it is not a significant piece of jewelry it would still irk me.

I love the boot story. I too would have given her a piece of my mind. It was not the first time she did this, and I would start to feel funky about going out where she might be, you would end up looking like twins. It somewhat has a sinister feel to me when it gets soooo out of hand (Single White Female?) and becomes upsetting rather than flattering.

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 6/17/2008 12:07:35 AM
Author: diamondfan
Thing, it gets really freaky. I end up telling my friend, hey, your buddy now has your Chanel glasses or your new watch...but she never tells my friend that she went out to all the same stores and asked for what her friend just got!

I had one friend get pissy with me about a purse. We were on the train to NYC from Philly and there was a Dior handbag in an ad. I liked it, pointed it out and said I wanted one. She said, in all seriousness, Noooooo, you can''t because I was going to get one, and I do not want to have the same bag. Now, this was a purse that was in magazines all the time, and she NEVER mentioned it before. Now she has dibs on it? I told her I was getting it in a more unusual color and that she frankly could not tell me what to buy when it was in the boutiques and the major department stores and not something unique. She told me it would not be special to her if someone else had it. I was thinking, better not shop in LA or NY then, since you will likely see it all over...it is in their national ad campaign for pete''s sake. I thought she was being ludicrous.

However, if every time you see someone they rush out and become your clone, heck yeah, even if it is not a significant piece of jewelry it would still irk me.

I love the boot story. I too would have given her a piece of my mind. It was not the first time she did this, and I would start to feel funky about going out where she might be, you would end up looking like twins. It somewhat has a sinister feel to me when it gets soooo out of hand (Single White Female?) and becomes upsetting rather than flattering.

See, I totally agree with you about stuff like the Dior bag. If it''s in a national ad campaign and all over the magazines, she really can''t have dibs on it!

And if we were going to follow dibs rules, *technically* you have dibs since you mentioned it first!

Yeah, the boot thing really pushed me over the edge. I couldn''t take it anymore because she would do it all the time! If it was just a few things of mine that she loved and had to have I would not have cared at all. But it was the kind of thing where she only really wanted it because someone else had it and she wanted to have it, too, so no one would be better than her. It was a very weird competitive vibe. Ick.

 

[trillionaire]

I don''t have an e-ring (whoa is me! lol) But I wouldn''t mind other PS''ers copying my ring hypothetical. I would only mind if some of my "real life" friends or family copied my ring!

But then again, I love Trillions, and no one here seems impressed by them...

I think they are exquisitely unique!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

Nobody has ever wanted to copy anything of mine, but it wouldn't bother me at all if they did. If someone wanted to outdo me, that would be OK too, as long as they don't ask me to help pay for it.

 

[Pandora II]

I wouldn''t mind anyone I didn''t know doing so - I used the Pokey Special as my own inspiration.

I would be a bit upset if a friend copied my exact ring with a 5ct tsav instead of my 1.42ct.

One of my friends did tell me that she wanted an e-ring just like mine. When her FI asked for my help, I designed her an oval tsav in a pave halo with a plain plat. split shank - she had all the elements of mine but in a different package and fortunately she loved it.


With other things, I knew a girl who bought everything I bought, right down to the same perfume. I did find it a bit ''Single White Female'' to be honest. I''ve also had another girl tell me that I''m her ''role-model''

.

I just told her that that was a very, very bad idea - I wouldn''t even want to be my own role-model!

 

[butterfly 17]

I guess for me it really depends on who is the one imitating me.

Like, if it''s someone on PS, I would not be bothered at all. In fact, I would feel honored that they like my ring so much they wanted the same exact thing. It also helps that I would not see them IRL anyway.

Now, if it was my SIL, yes, it would bother me, esp. if she were to get more compliments than me or she didn''t give me credit for the ring design.

It would just bug me too much.

I kind of have that dilemma right now. I really love the halo setting that my sister got. She has a cushion and I have a round, so it would look different and there are some aspects that I would have redesigned anyway, but I love how the designer set the diamonds, etc.

Now, My SIL just ordered a new setting and she is getting a halo too. When I mentioned to my sister that SIL was getting a halo setting also, she said something like, why does she always have to copy me, why can''t she just do her own thing. The thing is, my SIL is not getting her exact ring, she didn''t even know how my sister''s ring looked when she ordered her''s because my sister received it afterwards and then went away on vacation.

So, I don''t think SIL based her ring on my sister''s ring at all. It''s not like she saw it and said, oh, I am getting the same exact thing, but now my sister seems to think so.

Now, I might want a halo too, but I don''t want to be accused of copying someone else''s ring, which would not be the case really. And if we went by that train of thought, since I did show my Ritani sapphire ring to both of them first, at the same time in my house one day, perhaps they copied me first?

But, what do you do when you absolutely fall in love with something that someone else has? Just skip it altogether?

 

[Miranda]

Hmmmm...this is hitting a bit close to home right now. I''ll tread lightly.

No, it wouldn''t bother me in the tiniest bit. Even if someone were to get my exact same ring and even if it were a whole lot larger. If their sole purpose was to out-do me, it still would not bother me. That is their issue, not mine. I would feel sad for them that they need to one-up somebody to feel better about themself. Now, I''m speaking of a real life friend/family member. If a PSer would use my ring as inspiration, I''d be flattered. After all, that''s what PS is here for. Motivation and inspiration.

 

[musey]

For me, imitation is most often the sincerest for of annoyingness

There's something flattering about someone wanting to emulate you or something of yours, sure, but I so very firmly believe in being one's own unique that I honestly can't really understand copying something of someone else's.

One of my friends said that she'd like an engagement ring "just like [mine]" soon after I got engaged. My internal reaction was... umm, really? JUST like mine? With all the other options out there, you just happen, through your own personal taste, to want something EXACTLY like my ring?

I don't get it!


ETA: Yes, on PS I do think it's different... there are soooo many variations of rings on here that it's easy to find something that is the realization of what you'd have picked/designed on your own, if you hadn't seen it here first.

But in the case of friends IRL, I think it would be an awfully big coincidence if my ring just happened to be the realization of what my friend would have picked/designed on her own.

 

[kcoursolle]

If someone said to me that they loved my ring and wanted one like it I would personally be flattered and wouldn''t care. It might be strange if it was one of my really good friends or something and we had the same ring, but in general I''m fine with it and would probably still be fine with it if it were someone I see all the time. As far as people on ps goes, it''s absolutely fine with me. The way I see it PS is a way to get educated about purchases, but also to find design ideas that a person likes...and many of these ideas come from other psers.

 

[lovewhitediamonds]

From someone who has a custom setting (and not from any PS vendor), I covet that my ring is a "two of a kind" in the world.

One of my best friends recently got engaged and she loved my setting so much (she asked if she could copy it and I said yes) she had the same jeweler make her ring. Normally, I would be annoyed, but I love my friend and was flattered she loved my ring so much she wanted her own.

But I don''t think I would want a copy out there of my design....

 

[Bliss]

I think it's very flattering. My mom has a friend who runs out and buys exactly the same thing she does. And Mom actually thinks it's hilarious and very flattering! In fact, she tells me the things I buy her must REALLY be awesome -- she grades it on the total time it takes for her friend to rush out and buy the same thing! If it's truly immediate, as in WOW I LOVE IT (turns and runs to her car to drive to the store)... She's like - that was an awesome buy, F went craaaazy! LOL.

For e-ring style, why not? Unless it was a very unique design that we dreamed up just for us... but honestly, that's hard to do these days due to the huge variety out there. I say, the more the merrier. Besides, it's how I rock it that makes it unique. A dress on me is not going to look the same on any of my friends.