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Alexander McQueen ‘Utterly Baffled’ by Lawsuit Over Kate Middleton’s Wedding Dress

By Adele Chapin
Photo: Dave Cannon/GP/Getty Images

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Alexander McQueen is being sued by another British designer who is claiming that she's the one who originally designed Kate Middleton's iconic wedding gown — not McQueen's Sarah Burton.

The Sunday Times of London reports that bridal designer Christine Kendall said she submitted wedding dress sketches to the Duchess of Cambridge and that the dress Alexander McQueen ultimately produced incorporated Kendall's ideas. Five years after the royals' 2011 wedding, Kendall filed a claim at London's Intellectual Property Enterprise Court against the fashion house.

Alexander McQueen's statement about the lawsuit is absolutely scathing.

We are utterly baffled by this legal claim. Christine Kendall first approached us at Alexander McQueen 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. 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.

Kendall laid out her case in this 2013 YouTube post, so she's been at this for awhile.

In the clip, which for some reason has a soundtrack that sounds like it came from a high school health video, Kendall says: "I believe without my sketches the royal wedding dress would not have looked as it did. I was quite aware that a number of bridal designers would be sending her sketches and I thought I’m going to do exactly the same. I was lucky enough to have them appreciated and accepted by Catherine."

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