Dunnes calls fashion expert in copy case

A FASHION expert told a court yesterday she found 580,000 references on the internet to the type of woman’s top at the centre of a landmark legal dispute between British fashion stores and Dunnes Stores.

Susan Maher, who runs a fashion website selling discounted high-fashion items, said the “faux shrug cami top” in question was available in the marketplace before Karen Millen launched its version in December 2005.

She said the concept has been around since the early 20th century and can be found in fashion items in the 1930s, 1950s and up to the 1990s. She said it was used during warm-up routines by ballet dancers and in the 1990s was integrated into jumpers and tops.