Hailey Clauson's T-shirt war

16-year-old face of Topshop, Hailey Clauson, in $28 million legal battle over T-shirt range featuring 'salacious' unauthorised images of her.

 
A T-shirt brand and the photographer at the centre of a $28 million legal battle lodged by a 16-year-old model have spoken out to give their sides of the story.Mitra Khayyam, founder of T-shirt label Blood is the New Black , had produced and sold - though both his own website and via fashion giant Urban Outfitters - a top emblazoned with a photo of model Hailey Clauson provocatively posing aboard a motorbike. Clauson's family were reportedly shocked to see their daughter, in a pose they described as "blantantly salacious" due to her "her crotch area the focal point of the image", upon the T-shirts.
In pictures: Controversial fashion moments
Los Angeles-based photographer Jason Lee Parry, who took the images of Clauson when she was aged 15, claimed the images were stolen from him ( the image is still on his website ). Khayyam meanwhile, claims that Parry had emailed him the pictures of Clauson for use on his tops after several meetings at the designer's office.
"Jason was paid for several of his images, including the image in question of the model," said Khayyam.
Parry appeared on American news channel ABC to defend the images, saying that Clauson "posed herself; she's a professional model". Asked if he found the image in any way salacious, he said: "I didn't see it that way, and I think if people do, it's bad on them. I feel it's a really good shot."
Parry added that if the model has been showing any "private parts", then he could "completely understand" the root of the scandal. He confirmed that her parents were present while the shoot took place.
In another image which found its way on to a selection of T-shirts, Clauson is shown aboard a skateboard in denim cut-offs, swinging a six-pack of beer.
The Californian teenager, who was one of the faces of Gucci's spring/summer 2011 campaign and is currently starring in ads for Topshop and Zara, is not only suing Parry and Khayyam for using the image, but Urban Outfitters and two smaller retailers who stocked the T-shirt, report the New York Post .
Blood is the New Black believe they sold 500 of the T-shirts before pulling them from stores and now hold the remainder in their warehouse.

                              In pictures:  fashion moments