Innovation, Creativity and the Post-Original: Reporduction and Knock-Offs in the Luxury Sector

In this paper I extend Rehn and Vacchani’s (2006) idea of the “post-original” in the examination of fakes and reproductions of luxury goods. I argue that a consideration of the after life of products through its transformation as fakes or reproductions allows us to reflect on what constitutes innovation in the first place. Fakes and reproductions can be seen as the “other” in the definition of the original and calls into question the idea of permanence associated with the original. The effort to call something an innovation –moralizing on its newness and originality- is also an attempt to negate the “other.”

Citation:

Jamy A. Joy (2007) ,"Innovation, Creativity and the Post-Original: Reporduction and Knock-Offs in the Luxury Sector", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 362-365.