Stories about Suri and/or Coco (hence this thread being cross-posted!) are more likely than many to involve the fashion community - particularly the puzzling question of what turned Suri from a Ponyville knitting-clatch kind of mare into the hard-hearted, conniving mule she is today!

Well, since not everybody who's writing pony-fics is necessarily familiar with the crafting/fashion community, I thought I might kibitz a bit. My mother's a semi-professional jeweler; she makes jewelry from beads and semi-precious stones, and generally undersells herself. That's given me a bit of an insight into the unsavory side of professional work in a field that's all about appearances.

What Suri did in the episode is a glaring example of the sort of intellectual theft and backstabbing that can happen. However, it's not the most common sort of example, simply because most people in the fashion community aren't inventing new types of fabric the way Rarity did.

Side note: Does it occur to anybody else that Rarity apparently invented spandex after her adventure in Maretropolis?

Back to the topic at hand, however....

Suri took a bolt of fabric and, with Coco, apparently managed to reverse engineer it and create as much as they needed overnight to create a new line of clothes. But even if we say it was just a REALLY generously laden bolt, it's obvious that what she did was theft by deception; she implied to Rarity that she would only use the material for accents, and then used it for her whole line. It's the sort of thing that's actually incredibly ballsy; unless she or Coco really could reverse engineer and mass produce the fabric, she'd be screwed as soon as she was asked to produce so much as a swatch, let alone another set of that line of clothing for resale.

By contrast, Rarity probably has all of her design notes, prototypes, etc. - Rarity, if she wanted to, can easily prove that she created the fabric, and Suri just used it to produce the clothes, with further testimony to the effect that she did so under false pretenses. So while Rarity would've been sunk in terms of the contest, in terms of long-term damage to her career she has Suri by the tail.

Much more common, however, is the sort of thing that probably resulted in Suri's downfall from a kind-hearted Ponyville knitter and designer into... well, Suri Polomare, consummate credit claimer.

As a pony who was apparently primarily involved in knitting (take a look at that flank, and the decidedly folksy buttons adorning it), there are a couple of ways that she could've been completely taken advantage of very easily.

Of course, there's all the usual ways one can take advantage of a pony's generosity for your own gain, but I'm focusing on ones that would be career-related.

In Manehattan, she might have given/sold some of her pieces to a designer (possibly unknowingly), only to have them turn up on the runway as accessories that "just came to" the designer who's now attached his/her name to them. This most directly parallels what she does to Rarity - see something you like, ask to use it for something small, and claim full credit for the design.

She may have also been in Coco's position - as a knitter, she apprentices to a more well-known designer to learn more about other techniques, and is shamelessly abused and taken advantage of, possibly even worse than she evidently treated Coco! After all, consider that she tells Coco that she's lucky Suri is there to show her the ropes - it could be taken as "you're lucky I put up with you, don't even dream of leaving my employment or you'll never get anywhere," or it could be taken as "because I know how badly you could have it, and I'm not doing that to you."

But while either of these could be devastating, they'd be fairly unlikely to actually take a nice pony and turn them into a heartless whorse. For that, you'd need something more personal, which brings me (FINALLY) to the raison d'etre for this post.

Technique theft.

In beading, in knitting, in crochet, in painting, in any of a number of artistic fields, any one specific design can make you a lot of money.

It can't make you a legend. Not even a series of hit designs can do that, though they can come close. And stealing them can (literally) land you in prison, though more often it results in hefty fines if you're caught and successfully sued.

A technique is what makes you a legend. Expanding the limited world of what can be done with your medium. Solving a problem with a particular material or stitch. Making the impossible possible.

The problem is, it's also at least 99% legal to steal, even unintentionally.

Suri was involved in knitting, which I'm not so familiar with as with beading, so I'm going to stick more to the beading end of things. There's a type of design called an illusion necklace (or bracelet). The concept is that, using very fine thread, crimps, and spacer beads, you create the illusion that the more noticeable beads and focal pieces are literally hanging, suspended in place on nothing more than thin air. It's a very striking technique when used well, and having been developed decades ago it's gone public domain. But there are still variations that people come up with, and that's where the problem comes up.

Patenting a beading technique is pretty well impossible, simply because most new techniques are basically minor variations on older methods that have gone public domain. Minor variations, but very important ones if you're looking at the visual impact they can have.For example, finding a way to conceal the thread better would make a typical illusion necklace even more striking. "Waterfall" necklaces, where multiple strands are used and carefully arranged so that it looks like the beads are cascading down the body, can be positively gorgeous as long as you don't get them tangled up.

But ultimately... none of these are really specific enough designs to press a suit if somebody makes off with the idea. Sure, those in the know might call you an imitator, or if you claim to have invented the design somebody might be able to push a libel/slander suit, but it'd be pretty damn hard. As a result, most of these variations are very hard to protect... and can make or break a designer.

So, just to repeat - being the person who invents a new way to do something is very important in these communities. People publish books full of specific designs built around a new technique in order to capitalize on this sort of thing.

So, let's say that Suri - being a knitter - had a particular trademark technique that she'd been developing for some time. Something she did that nopony else did. Something that most knitters thought you couldn't do, like (according to my brief Google research) knitting blocks of different colors into a project while knitting 'in the round.' This combines two different techniques (intarsia stitching and stitching in the round) in a very tricky way that most people think you can't do, creating a novel combination of methods. There are apparently only three known ways to do this, and only one way that works "in all applications," whatever that translates into.

So, what if Suri was the pony who figured out how to do that one technique. She's talking to one of her Manehattan knitting-clatch buddies about it, all excited, and goes and shows them how to do it.

And, just before she perfects the technique and completes her big project to show it off... this other pony debuts the technique at their next meeting, claiming the technique herself.

That's a much more direct version of what Suri did to Rarity, but it lacks the aspect of being easily caught doing it, especially if the member who debuted the technique is already on a higher position in the local circle than Suri is.

That's the sort of thing that could be extremely embittering, especially if it's not a random mare you used to know but not well who's doing it, but somepony you trusted and respected prior to this.

Of course... this didn't necessarily have to be something that happened entirely in Manehattan. Suri seems to me to be just a bit older than Rarity... let's just toss out a fun little hypothetical, shall we?

Suri figures out a technique that can be used to stitch gems into a project, without having to use special fittings or settings. How?

Magical. Pastel. Ponies. Shaddup.

At any rate, she figures out this new technique, and she scrimps and saves and collects every gem she can find, knowing that this could make her legendary, especially as an earth pony! She's planning on debuting a line of outfits in Manehattan that showcases her work, that will be the most fabulous thing in knitting EVER! This is it, her one chance, her golden ticket to the Wonka factory!

While she's wrapping up her affairs in Ponyville, one of the fillies from her knitting group asks for some help. She's working on the costumes for her school play, and she wants to work some of these fabulous gems she found into them. Could nice Miss Polomare help her before she leaves forever and ever?

Well, of course, nice Miss Polomare thinks nothing of it. She shows the little filly her technique, figuring that that'll be the end of it - a few gems suspended on school costumes, probably nopony's even going to notice, and besides - it's the daughter of her dear friend Perl, whom she may never see again!

Look familiar?

And so, sweet Miss Polomare goes off to Manehattan, stars in her eyes, planning on becoming the toast of the town just as soon as she gets a few last threads wrapped up!

And then she sees the fashion magazines start to come out. Fashion magazines talking about this amazing wunderkind designer out of Ponyville. This darling little unicorn filly who designed these absolutely fabulous costumes for her school play, of all things, practically encrusted with gems, gems that seemed like they were set into the fabric itself!

When she was asked who designed the costumes, she said it was all her ideas.

Of course, being a little filly, she didn't realize that what the fashion magazines from so very long ago were asking about was who designed the idea of setting the gems in that dazzling way. And being a little unicorn filly, she could do the technique so much quicker and more naturally than sweet Miss Polomare's clumsy hooves and mouth. And being a generous little unicorn filly, she was oh so happy to show the ponies who asked how she did it.

Why... if Suri debuted those folksy little outfits now, with just little stones here and there as focal pieces... she'd look like she'd just managed to muddle through how an earth pony could imitate Rarity's technique. At best she'd look like she'd had the germ of the idea, and that Rarity had perfected it.

Of course, Rarity's memories of those heady days of early, fleeting fame (for really, who would pay attention to a filly like that for more than a few months when you have Hoity Toities and Photo Finishes to follow) much more fondly than poor, bitter Miss Whatsername. Oh, she made her way in Manehattan, making it into the bush leagues of designers by expanding into haute couture.

But she remembers Rarity much better than Rarity remembers her. And when Rarity turns up with this fantastical new fabric... well, fair's fair, isn't it...?

2535303

Does it occur to anybody else that Rarity apparently invented spandex after her adventure in Maretropolis?

2535303
Interesting bit of musing. It would be quite interesting to see this idea explored more fully.

Expanding on that, how much of Suri's background does Coco know about? I imagine not much, if she were willing to help out Rarity in the end. What kind of fallout would happen the next time Suri gets to talk to Coco. If she tells about what Rarity did to her in the past, I wonder how Coco would take it, and if she'd regret her decisions?

2535508
An excellent question worthy of a story, don't you think?

2535503
I know! I thought of it, and -

2535508
Of course, it's even more interesting if instead of seeing it in black and white, you keep in mind that (A) Rarity was a little filly in that scenario, and didn't know any better, (B) Rarity honest-to-Celestia does not remember that, and would be personally horrified if Suri were to remind her, and/or (C) Coco is/has been romantically involved with one or both of them in the past.

Coco might regret acting on Rarity's behalf, but... Suri's *still* been a bitch to her for who knows how long. It's just that, now, that's Rarity's indirect fault.

2535303 My mind just got blown so hard.

2536051
Goddamn, I wanna make a joke so bad right now... but I won't.

At any rate, I hope this helps anybody writing about our newest fashion ponies!

2536466 Oh god, I just now realized the implications of my previous post.....

2535527
Yes. Good story ideas are good. If only someone would write them!