Christine Kendall is a bridal designer who is based in Hertfordshire, UK and she is suing design house, Alexander McQueen, for allegedly stealing her ideas and sketches to create the wedding dress worn by the Duchess of Cambridge when she married Prince William back in 2011.
She argues that the dress that Sarah Burton created for the Duchess featured some of her own design ideas, which she submitted to the palace five months before the wedding. She also claims that she even received a letter of thanks from the Duchess at the time; however a spokesman for the Duchess told The Sunday Times that she had never seen the sketches.
The legal proceedings have started against Alexander McQueen at the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, with Kendall’s lawyer stating: “Proceedings have been issued because our client is certain that her company’s design was unfairly taken and copied. The claim is not against the Duchess and there is no allegation of wrongdoing against the palace.”
A spokesperson for Alexander McQueen has denied the allegations and also revealed that this isn’t the first time Christine Kendall has come after them, saying: “We are utterly baffled by this legal claim. Christine Kendall first approached us almost four years ago, when we were clear with her that any suggestion Sarah Burton’s design of the royal wedding dress was copied from her designs was nonsense.”
They also claim they had never even heard of Christine Kendall, adding: “Sarah Burton never saw any of Ms Kendall’s designs or sketches and did not know of Ms Kendall before Ms Kendall got in touch with us – some 13 months after the wedding.”
“We do not know why Ms Kendall has raised this again, but there are no ifs, buts or maybes here: this claim is ridiculous.”
This story originally appeared on cosmopolitan.com.au.
