There was a time when having a signature clothing line was a perk reserved for designers themselves or maybe Oprah. Today, it seems that because my grandmother sings in the shower, she could soon have a line of velour muu-muus. Yes, muu-muus on grandmas are funny, but therein lies the co-dependent nature of the signature clothing line: The brand must fit the name it represents and the name must represent the brand it endorses.

Two of the most popular female performers today now have clothing lines, J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez and, more recently, Fetish by Eve Jeffers (better known simply as Eve).

To those who follow pop music, Jennifer Lopez and Eve are vastly different; one fundamentally saccharine and Hollywood despite lip service to a former normal life as “Jenny from the Block”; the other a foul-mouthed admitted former stripper also known as “Eve of Destruction.” J. Lo is the epitome of pop while Eve flirts with pop, but is much more comfortable in hip hop. Seemingly of trivial significance, these differences are huge when it comes to the personality-defining subtleties of women’s fashion. Wearing J.Lo or Eve isn’t just about how you look in that skirt/top combination, but also about identifying yourself with the artist’s persona as a whole, which includes such details as her most recent film role, who she’s dating and/or if she’s recently punched him out.

Beginning where all style ends – PR – these two brands are all but indistinguishable through their official statements. Terms such as “individuality,” “reflect her personal style” and “self expression” are interchangeably used to such a degree as to bring to mind another term “irony.” Fetish goes the furthest in actually committing to any description by declaring itself “urban activewear.”

However, fashion is visual and the differences between these two brands begin to become evident at their websites, www.shopjlo.com and www.fetishbyeve.com. Both sites splash the artists full screen. But whereas J.Lo is all perky smiles and colorful playfulness, Eve is gray-filtered and unsmiling saucy. Caught in mid-air frolic and showing just a sliver of skin, J.Lo is the epitome of flirty. Eve on the other hand manages to look beautiful and dangerous at the same time as silhouetted barbed wire washes each image into the next.

Here, on their respective sites, both of these brands have done a commendable job of differentiating their namesakes’ respective styles with clean and simple still images – a feat much more difficult than it might appear.

Funny enough, the clothing offered by both labels appears almost identical – low-rise jeans, tops, jackets, sweat-suits. J.Lo’s fare may be slightly more chic, but only by a garment or two. Without the labels, I would challenge anyone to determine which was which. This is not surprising though; with signature fashion labels “style” is determined more by the association one’s brain makes with the perception of the celebrity than it is on the actual cut of the fabric.

One giant paradox of celebrity-based franchising is that typecasting, which most modern celebrities react to in the same way as us commoners react to drowning, is limiting in terms of career potential but absolutely necessary in terms of merchandising. In other words, nobody would want to look like Jennifer Lopez if Lopez’s look changed so quickly that buying her signature clothing meant that you would only ever look like she did last month. Therefore, when stars get big enough to have a signature clothing line they must begin a balancing act where keeping one image too long is bad for the name power, but keeping one too short is bad for the name brand.

So far J.Lo has posted impressive numbers – US$130 million last year (gross) – despite only having been in business since 2001, and the line has branched into swimwear and perfume. However, two years is hardly enough time to tell whether or not the brand will survive the long haul. The obvious danger is that Jennifer Lopez herself may become less popular. A worse fate for Lopez is the possibility of overexposure, a risk she seems to be running with the profuse media coverage of her and her fiancé Ben Affleck, with whom she recently starred in the much-lamented film “Gigli.” Eve appears to be jeopardizing herself much more deeply by starring in an upcoming TV sitcom, a medium notoriously unfavorable to style-setters.

Needless to say, the field isn’t about to get less crowded. Gwen Stefani, lead singer of the band No Doubt (and one-time collaborator with Eve), recently agreed to cooperate with LeSportsac to release accessories inspired by her own look. Additionally, Stefani’s style will soon be marketed under the label L.A.M.B. (Love Angel Music Baby), an acronym that aches for a joke about S.H.E.E.P.

Abram D. Sauer, former columnist for The China Daily and co-founder of Chopstickfactory.com, lives in New York and welcomes freelance opportunities.