Updated Thursday April 5, 10.04am: Guess CEO Paul Marciano defended his label in court yesterday, over allegations that the brand has been copying Gucci designs- including its famous logos. The luxury fashion house is seeking $221 million (£131.181 million), in damages.

"This kind of pattern is common in the world of fashion and it's not particular to Gucci," Marciano said of Guess' handbag with a diamond-logoed "G" pattern. "What I understand here, which is very frequent [in fashion], is an inspiration to create an original bag of G's with the same components. That's what design is."

Gucci lawyer Louis Ederer highlighted an email exchange -spanning from 1995 until 2008 - between Guess and the company that makes its shoes, Marc Fisher Footwear, which showed that the companies were exchanging swatches of Gucci fabrics in order to accurately mimic the logo colours.

"No one from Guess followed up [with Marc Fisher]," Ederer said. "The truth is that Guess has been knocking off Gucci for years."

"No…fashion is about trend, mood and inspiration," Marciano argued in response. "You interpret your own way with your own brand."