In a phone call, however, Mr. Gordon said that the label was in internal talks about what actions it would take in response.

“We want to do what it takes to make everyone feel the same joy about this collection we felt when making it,” he said, noting that he and Mrs. Herrera had not talked at length about the issue since, as creative director, it was his responsibility.

“We are going through a big social shift in how we talk about gender, culture and identity,” he continued. “These are important discussions to have. We take this very seriously.”

As should others, since the Herrera issue underscores the way that traditional fashion practices are increasingly problematic and out of date. See, for example, the fact the industry has been paying “homage” to various cultures and ethnic rituals since at least Yves Saint Laurent’s Russian collection in 1976. The Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute staged an entire blockbuster show in 2015 dedicated to Western designers’ visions of China that was practically a study in appropriation over the last century. For years the “inspiration trip” to a far-flung location in search of new materials, shades and shapes to expand a repertoire was a basic practice of most houses (at least until the internet made actual physical movement unnecessary).

Indeed, in many ways that has been the designer formula: Take a smidgen of silhouette from here, a dash of decoration from there, sprinkle with a touch of art or architecture and voilà! — new collection. That is certainly what happened at Herrera, where Mr. Gordon took the signature vocabulary of the house — its uptown, gala-on-the-lawn essentials — and mixed those up with more unexpected designs to give it new life.

It’s just that now, because of our connected world, those who provide the “inspiration” are more aware of it than ever, and have begun to think of the result less as a tribute than as stealing — and to call it such. Those unexpected other designs happen to be someone else’s signature. Just because that signature does not belong to a particular designer doesn’t mean it’s fair game.