Hells Angels Go After Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen brought down the legal fury of the Hells Angels after releasing a line of Hells Angels styled clothing and jewelry sold at Zappos and Saks Fifth Avenue. It's a far cry from the world Hunter S Thompson once described, but the Hells Angels are serious about protecting their brand, and McQueen probably should have done his reasearch on the group before ripping off their motif and slapping it on a dress.

The entire incident rather makes one scream 'what were you thinking, Alexander?' Perhaps McQueen was under the mistaken impression that the Hells Angels had given up being a fairly savage gang of bikers and instead taking to knitting booties for premature kittens. Perhaps he thought that they were too busy hitting each other with bike chains to notice that he was co-opting their brand for the purposes of personal profit.

The Hells Angels did notice though and they took fairly serious exception to pieces like the 'Hells Angels Jaquard Box Dress' being available for purchase by pampered women who wouldn't know a motorcycle from a mohawk and lodged a suit against McQueen and his distribution cohorts. Though there was initially some doubt over whether the suit would fly, it was settled with great expedience by McQueen and co, who not only agreed to pull the line, but also to recall and destroy items that already sold. So if you were one of the lucky people with the foresight to purchase the $495 "Hell's Four-Finger Ring" or the $1,565 "Hells Angels Jacquard Box Dress", your goods just leaped in value immesurably.

It's pretty certain that people won't be returning all their Hells Angels purchases, anyone who had several hundred dollars to throw away on what is essentially rip off jewelry (it doesn't matter if the person doing the ripping off is one of the most influential figures in modern fashion) is probably going to be filled with glee at the idea that they now own one of the few surviving McQueen Hells Angels pieces in the world.

Of course, you might not want to be seen out and about wearing a Hells Angels ring if you're not actually a member of the Hells Angels, they tend to take exception to people outside the group wearing associated clothing and not all of the Hells Angels settle their disputes via lawyers, if you know what I mean. If you don't, go read Hunter S Thompson's Hells Angels. If you can't be bothered doing that, then you'll have to heed the warning from Fritz Clapp, himself a Hells Angel and also a lawyer "This isn't just about money, it's about membership.If you've got one of these rings on, a member might get really upset that you're an imposter."

Let's just say that you wouldn't like the Hells Angels when they're really upset.