In House Counsels Wear Marc Jacobs: A conversation with Ava Farshidi on how to represent iconic fashion brands and make your mark in Fashion Law

Armani’s Living Legacy: Behind the scenes of Giorgio Armani. Milano Per Amore in Milan with the Deputy Director of the Pinacoteca di Brera, Arch. Chiara Rostagno

The exhibition, Giorgio Armani. Milano Per Amore at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy opened shortly after the Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani’s death in September 2025. The exhibition was planned closely with Mr. Armani, in collaboration with the Giorgio Armani Foundation, and with Mr. Armani’s team. What is the origin story of this exhibition? How did it come about and what can other fashion designers learn from this collaboration between the Pinacoteca and Mr. Armani? How do we value the emotional impact of Mr. Armani’s legacy, and the preservation of Mr. Armani's legacy through the Giorgio Armani Foundation? Mr. Armani left us a Fashion Law legacy, with his will, creation of a foundation, and through his collaboration with the Pinacoteca di Brera, a historic picture gallery and museum in the heart of Milan. At this Fashion Law Dinner Party the Deputy Director of the Pinacoteca who worked directly with Mr. Armani and his team, the Architect Chiara Rostagno, shares aspects of the exhibition’s negotiations, Mr. Armani’s ideation of certain installations, and the importance of the complimentary heritages of fashion and art between a public museum like the Pinacoteca and a private foundation like Mr. Armani’s.

A Special Edition Fashion Law Dinner Party: The 2026 Met Gala

This year’s Met Gala, with the dress code “Fashion is Art”, celebrated The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s exhibition “Costume Art”. As the official description notes [https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/costume-art], the “exhibition explores depictions of the dressed body across The Met’s vast collection, pairing garments with artworks to reveal the inherent relationship between clothing and the body.” The Met Gala isn't just a celebration of an exhibit, however - it's the best Fashion Law hypo! In this episode, we take a law and humanities approach to the 2026 Met Gala looks with Maria Sole Costanzo, Assistant Professor of Italian at Boston College. How could so many celebrities from Kendall Jenner to Hunter Schafer and Gracie Abrams be inspired by great works of art, from the Nike of Samothrace to works by Gustav Klimt? What parts of Madonna’s Leona Carrington-inspired look could be appropriated without permission from Leona Carrington’s estate? What fiduciary duties do the trustees of the Met, the museum’s curators, and even sponsors of the Met Gala have when culture meets commerce. Pop the Prosecco - and listen to the "hot takes" on this episode! More Fashion Law academic reading related to the Met Gala and the themes discussed in this episode: Felicia Caponigri, The Ethics of the International Display of Fashion in the Museum, 49 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 135 (2017) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol49/iss1/10 [https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol49/iss1/10]https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol49/iss1/10/ [https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol49/iss1/10/] Litman, Jessica D. "The Public Domain." Emory L. J. 39 (1990), https://repository.law.umich.edu/facarticles/222/ [https://repository.law.umich.edu/facarticles/222/] Mala Chatterjee, Conceptual Separability as Conceivability: A Philosophical Analysis of the Useful Articles Doctrine, 93 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 558 (2018).Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/3584 [https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/3584]

In House Counsels Wear Marc Jacobs: A conversation with Ava Farshidi on how to represent iconic fashion brands and make your mark in Fashion Law

20 years ago The Devil Wears Prada took us behind the scenes of the job a million girls would kill for. In this episode, looking forward toThe Devil Wears Prada 2 ,we focus on the job a million fashion law students would kill for - an in house counsel position at a major fashion brand. Ava Farshidi, the Global In-House Counsel at Marc Jacobs, shares how she landed a job in-house as a confident law student by networking and building a book of contacts. We also get a behind the scenes look at what legal issues most often cross Ava's desk, and what legal issues she’s following the most for the fashion industry’s future. Avocate, the legal women's mentoring network Ava founded to build a community by connecting law students with attorneys, is also part of our conversation. You can learn more about Avocate here https://www.avocateforwomen.com/ [https://www.avocateforwomen.com/] .

The Chiara Ferragni Case: Fashion Influencing between False Advertising, Criminal Law, and Rebranding

On January 14, 2026, the fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni was cleared of criminal charges in Milan, Italy. The charges stemmed from what has been known as "Pandoro-gate", a campaign Ferragni created in collaboration with the Italian brand Balocco to promote an Italian Christmas cake in pink with Ferragni's logos. The specifics of the case were complex, and included a number of actors and forums, from administrative fines, to public regulatory bodies and non-profits, consumers, and a public prosecution. Why was this case such a flashpoint in Italy? What is the difference between the fines Ferragni paid to regulatory authorities in Italy and the criminal charges which were dismissed? How important was the legal strategy of Ferragni's lawyers, and what can we learn from this case? In this episode, Felicia speaks to Marco D’Ostuni, a partner at the international law firm Chiomenti in Rome. The conversation explains the difference between the competition and communication authorities in Italy who regulate fashion influencers' false advertising and public prosecutors' charges of simple and aggravated fraud that may be related to the same campaigns. The conversation also takes a deep dive into the legal strategy of Ferragni's lawyers and why it was so successful. Listeners might find the following articles of interest in light of this episode: * Alexandra Roberts, False Influencing, https://www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-law-journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2020/11/Roberts_False-Influencing.pdf [https://www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-law-journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2020/11/Roberts_False-Influencing.pdf] * TFL, In Light of Continued Violations, How Effective Were the FTC’s Letters Really?, https://www.thefashionlaw.com/in-light-of-continued-violations-how-effective-were-the-ftcs-letters-really/ [https://www.thefashionlaw.com/in-light-of-continued-violations-how-effective-were-the-ftcs-letters-really/]

What’s in a Fashion Collab Contract? Behind the Scenes of Fashion Industry Negotiations with Beatrice Grifoni

This holiday season you're like seeing celebrities and influencers collaborate with brands in an attempt to secure your purchase of the perfect branded holiday present. Brands take advantage of the celebrity connections and visual references we have in our consumer minds. The collaboration contract is the main legal document that cements the duties and obligations of both brands and talent for the holiday marketing campaigns we see today. Who owns intellectual property rights when a fashion brand collaborates with a celebrity? How did models negotiate fees for their appearance in social media posts, before social media marketing exploded? How do you negotiate with entertainment lawyers who make Ari Gold from Entourage look like a reasonable counterpart? How do you get a Creative Director and the CFO of a brand on board with demands that talent might make to appear in a brand’s latest marketing campaign? And what are some over the top requests celebrities make? To answer these questions, Felicia speaks with Beatrice Grifoni for a behind the scenes look at negotiating in the fashion industry. Formerly the Associate General Counsel at Warnaco and the Senior Counsel and then Legal Director of Intellectual Property, Communication and Design at Valentino for over 12 years, Beatrice now serves as Legal and Business Affairs Executive with EB Brands&Talent, a management agency that has access to celebrities and other top talent for brands’ campaigns.