Kim Kardashian West is studiously preparing to become a qualified criminal justice lawyer, but she’s already winning cases.
The reality star turned business mogul has won $3.8 million AUD in damages in a knockoff lawsuit against fast fashion retailer Missguided USA, after accusing the online brand of using her name and likeness to sell budget-price imitations of her designer clothing.
WATCH Kim talk about her iconic sense of style:
The 38-year-old wife of Kanye West, who has become a global style icon and fashion trendsetter in recent years, initially sought more than $10.2 million AUD but was awarded $3.8 million in default plus attorneys’ fees after Missguided failed to acknowledge the suit, TMZ reports.
Kim – along with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian, Kendall and Kylie Jenner – regularly promote brands and beauty products on their much followed social media accounts.
But in February, the 38-year-old KKW Beauty founder publicly slammed Missguided for marketing a perceived cut-price knockoff of a custom gold Yeezy dress made for specially for her by Kanye West.
After sharing the look in an Instagram post, the mother of North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm West took to Twitter to plead with fast fashion companies to hold off on copying high-end designer looks.
“Going through old fitting pics and found this gold look that Kanye made for me for my Miami trip last summer… Fast fashion brands, can you please wait until I wear this in real life before you knock it off?”
Less than 24 hours later, Missguided had uploaded photos of a model bearing striking resemblance to Kardashian wearing a near carbon copy of the vertiginously cut out number.
Missguided repeatedly tagged the Keeping Up With the Kardashians queen in their social media posts, which Kim claimed gave a false impression that she was collaborating with them on the looks.
Kim also lashed out at US retailer Fashion Nova after the brand plugged a knockoff of a rare laser-cut Thierry Mugler dress from the esteemed French designer’s archive, hours after she wore the gown to the Hollywood Beauty Awards in February.
The California native lambasted the popular site for copying the “blood, sweat and tears of true designers”, tweeting:
“I’ve watched these companies profit off my husband’s work for years and now that it’s also affecting designers who have been so generous to give me access to their beautiful works, I can no longer sit silent.
“Only two days ago, I was privileged enough to wear a one-of-a-kind vintage Mugler dress and in less than 24 hours it was knocked off and thrown up on a site – but it’s not for sale. You have to sign up for a wait list because the dress hasn’t even been made to sell yet.
“This is a way to get people to sign up for their mailing list and make people believe there is some kind of relationship between me and this fashion site. There is not.”
Notably, one of Kardashian’s most vocal critics – anonymous fashion industry Instagram account Diet Prada – has yet to comment on her lawsuit win.
