The night of the Academy Awards sets in motion the shadow industry of copycat artists working around the clock to be the first to offer the best knock-offs from the hottest celebrities.

Since designers can’t copyright dresses, knock-off artists are only limited by the cost of their materials and labor.

Elaborate pleating is often lost and the lace or silks used are no longer referred to by heritage.

For instance, here Kate Winslet’s Yves Saint Laurent five-figure couture gown from Sunday’s awards ceremony is reproduced by edressme.com for $375.

The site has an entire page of celebrity-inspired attire, but no apologies to the original designers.

Faviana knocked off most of the same gowns for even less. Their version of the Kate Winslet dress (at left) is made of satin charmeuse, instead of the edressme silk and sells for only $298 (available in sizes o to 14). This version looks a tad closer to the original in color, but that could just be the shading in this photo.

The copycat designer, Faviana, also reproduced the dresses worn by Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Sarah Jessica Parker and Viola Davis which are all available for pre-order at Unique Vintage, www.Unique-Vintage.com. You can still get you’re hot from the manufacturer.

The reproductions are always a pale comparison, but at a slim fraction of the price the huge copycat industry has some obvious appeal as women look to stretch their dollars. And since the Oscars end just before most girls start planning for prom, there’s a huge surge of interest in fast, cheap replicas.

But us common folk, who want to look like Kate Winslet or Angelina Jolie the knocked-off designers put there operations into overdrive and many looks are actually well-tended. On www.edressme.com’s YSL copy, the designers offered up a nice floral detail along the back that makes for a nice surprise.