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Alexander McQueen ready to wear spring/summer 2013
British fashion house Alexander McQueen is accused by a former intern of not paying four months of wages. Photograph: Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images
British fashion house Alexander McQueen is accused by a former intern of not paying four months of wages. Photograph: Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images

Unpaid intern takes on British fashion house Alexander McQueen

This article is more than 10 years old
Former intern at Alexander McQueen files case for "lost wages" from four months of unpaid work

Read more: intern protest at London Fashion Week

The fashion house founded by the late designer Alexander McQueen is being sued by a former intern who worked unpaid for four months.

Rachel Watson – not her real name but the one her lawyers want used – is claiming up to £6,415 in "lost wages" and says the fashion house broke the law by not paying her the national minimum wage.

Watson's internship in 2009-10 included drawing artwork for embroidery, repairing embellished clothing, and dyeing large quantities of fabric.

Watson's lawyer, Wessen Jazrawi, from Hausfeld & Co LLP, says that when interns do "real work under a contract", they should be entitled to be paid at least the national minimum wage.

Watson says she accepted the internship because she saw "almost no other way into the fashion industry". In a statement through her lawyers, she says: "I quickly realised I was being exploited. How could I confront my employer at the time when they held all the cards to my future in the industry?"

Watson eventually decided to approach the campaign group Intern Aware, which has in the past helped interns secure payments from Sony, the Arcadia group and X Factor.

Last year Alexander McQueen's fashion house was forced publicly to apologise about an unpaid internship, after University of the Arts London student union president Shelly Asquith brought attention to its advert for a "talented knitwear student" to work five days a week for up to 11 months, without a wage.

McQueen said the advert was "issued in error and was not in accordance with our HR policy".

About the Watson case, a spokesperson at Alexander McQueen says: "We understand this relates to an intern who was with us four years ago. We had no idea until now that she had any concern about the time she spent at Alexander McQueen.
"We've paid close attention to the debate in this area and we now pay all our interns."

The case was filed on Friday, the first day of London Fashion Week, as King's College London students protested at Somerset House against the use of unpaid interns in the fashion industry.

Chris Hares, campaigns manager at Intern Aware, says: "Fashion is a competitive industry with high profits, and the idea that one of the most profitable companies in the world could have people working for free is shameful."

More on this story

More on this story

  • Pay interns minimum wage, social mobility adviser urges

  • Work experience: 'There was a cleaning rota for the unpaid interns'

  • Internships: pressure mounts on employers to pay young workers

  • Push for paid: a student guide to internships

  • Unpaid internships – no wonder my grandmother doesn't understand them

  • 'Join the fight against unpaid internships'

  • Today's young workers will decide the future of unpaid internships

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