Alexander McQueen’s label is being sued by a bridal designer who claims that the fashion house’s creative director Sarah Burton “copied” her ideas for the wedding dress worn by Kate Middleton that were sent to the palace for consideration nearly five years ago, The Sunday Times reports.
Christine Kendall says she received letter from a royal official in January 2011 that thanked her for the sketches and mentioned that the Duchess of Cambridge was “most interested” in her work. She claims the final design incorporates some of the concepts that she submitted.
A spokesperson for the Duchess of Cambridge told The Times that the royal never saw the sketches, while a spokesperson for Alexander McQueen told the paper that the label is “baffled” by the claims, dismissing them as “nonsense” and “ridiculous.”
Her solicitor Humna Nadim confirmed that legal proceedings had begun because Kendall is “certain” that her concepts were “unfairly taken and copied.”
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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com