Holidayed in Venice late last year and our hotel was very, very close to the shopping area near St. Marks Square. I have passed by the Hermès store every single day and was salivating (more like drooling) looking at their knee high riding boots. The photograph below was taken at the end of the trip and while I was doing so, a Japanese girl was doing the same thing.

As I was going through shoes from my favorite designers online, this Ann Demeulemeester Knee High Riding Boots caught my attention as it looked really similar to the ones I saw in Venice.  The Ann D’s are priced over $1300 and the Hermès are almost triple that.

Is there design infringement involved here or is there only so much you can do to knee high riding boots? What do you think?