>> In what is being alternately called "the most acidic row to hit the fashion world in 15 years," and "Trousergate," Giorgio Armani accused Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of copying his Fall 2008 quilted pants (left) and putting them on their Fall 2009 runway Sunday (right).

Armani is notoriously bold about defending his designs, and noted that Dolce & Gabbana used a design he claimed as his own no less than 16 times on the runway: "I would understand if they were nobodies. But honestly!"

It's not every day that one high-end designer will accuse another of copying — the most recent similar event occurred in the early '90s, when Yves Saint Laurent successfully sued Ralph Lauren for copying a black tuxedo dress he had created 30 years earlier — and Armani threatened: "Now they are copying. Later, they will learn."

Quick to reply, Dolce & Gabbana fired back Monday in a statement: "Surely we still have much to learn.  But definitely not from him.  Stylistically, the Armani style is not, and has never been, an inspiration source for us and we stopped seeing his fashion shows years ago."  All this over a quilted pair of pants.
*image: source