‘Botched copy’: Qld personal styler dressed Olympic great in $4000 knock-off

A dress worn by Olympian Sally Pearson to the ritzy Magic Millions on the weekend has been outed as a $4000 rip-off.

Sally Pearson at the Magic Millions race day. Picture by Luke Marsden.

A dress worn by Olympic great Sally Pearson to the ritzy Magic Millions on the weekend has been outed as a $4000 designer copy supplied by a Gold Coast personal styling business.

Australian artist Melanie Vugich, whose paintings have been commissioned by Oscar de la Renta for its fabric since 2021, says the blue floral frock worn by Ms Pearson is a “botched copy” of an original – which retailed for $3825 in 2022 and has since sold out.

“I was horrified when I saw Sally Pearson’s post on Instagram,” Ms Vugich said.

“My work had more green stems on the strawberries, and the jug above it looks wrong – I know my own hand,” she said.

A dress worn by Olympic great Sally Pearson is claimed to be a “botched copy” of an original – which retailed for $3825 in 2022 and has since sold out. Picture Instagram

“I have a very good reputation and I never on-sell my work to a cheap manufacturer.”

The manufacturer of the dress has not been identified.

In the post, Ms Pearson credits Life Is A Party: Dress For It, a styling and retail business run from a townhouse complex in Coombabah, “for first of all THAT DRESS!”

There is no mention of Oscar de la Renta in the post, and Ms Pearson, now a sports presenter with Channel 7, said she was not aware at the time that the dress was a copy, but declined to comment further.

Oscar de la Renta, who gained fame in the 1960s for dressing Jackie Kennedy, is a favourite of US President Joe Biden’s wife Jill, and celebrities including Taylor Swift, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicole Kidman.

Sally Pearson at the Magic Millions race day. Picture by Luke Marsden.

A dress worn by Olympic great Sally Pearson has sparked fiery claims it is a $4000 designer fake. Photo – Instagram

On its website, Life Is A Party dresses sell from $64.50 to $249, and no designers are named.

After being alerted to Ms Pearson’s post by friends and fashion aficionados, Sydney-based Ms Vugich and her manager Lisa Doust requested an explanation via the Life Is A Party Instagram page.

Ms Doust said their comment was quickly deleted and Ms Vugich’s account blocked.

“Sending a TV personality out to an event in a fake dress is just a terrible thing to do,” Ms Doust said.

“It is such a distinctive dress – you’d think it would be a stylist’s nightmare.”

A post seen by The Courier-Mail on Ms Pearson’s page on Tuesday – in which someone tagged Ms Vugich, “is this you?” and Ms Vugich replied, “unfortunately it’s a copy … am very unimpressed” – has also been deleted.

Josephine Dewe, owner of Life Is A Party: Dress For It, said “we were unaware of any issue until recently” but the dress had been removed from its collection. Ms Dewe declined to answer questions about the label of Sally Pearson’s dress or where it was sourced but said: “We are reviewing our processes, especially regarding items sourced from third-party suppliers”.

The Courier-Mail can confirm the authentic Oscar de la Renta dress was made in Italy while Chinese knock-offs have been selling on AliExpress for $53.

Following contact by the newspaper, Ms Dewe messaged Ms Doust and unblocked Ms Vugich’s Instagram account.

“We have contacted the artist and her manager, engaging in positive conversations with them. We sincerely apologise for any communication oversight,” she said.