Left: E-label's legging. Right: Deréon leggings.

JUST as the fashion world looks past leather biker jackets, studs and rock and roll into 50′s femme fatale glam, images of Beyoncé modelling a new pair of studded leggings from the latest Deréon Fall/Holiday 2010 campaign made its way across the internet. But that didn’t fly past Icelandic fashion brand E-label, who is concerned that one of their designs was ripped off by the house that Bey built.

Compare the pair: to the left are E-label’s “heavy metal” leggings, and to the right is Beyoncé in her version, complete with tattooed spine and all.

“This is naturally huge, and I am still half in shock,” said E-label’s Helba Hallgrimsdottir. “I didn’t twig straightaway that this was her own label, I just thought she was wearing our leggings.”

“It is practically just copy/paste.”

Although we do see a conundrum, we must say there is more than a few differences between the two—the studs on Bey’s pair are larger, and they aren’t placed uniformly like those on the E-label version. Then there is the lack of a gathered waistband.

Hallgrimsdottir theorises that Bey might have purchased their pair from Topshop’s Edit section—which features up-and-coming designers of their choosing—last November. But even if the Grammy-winning singer did rip the design off, there aren’t any laws that will stand up to the claim because the Reykjavik-based designer didn’t copyright her design (oops!).

In other news, just as Beyoncé has to deal with these claims, Madonna faces the music on the use of her “Material Girl” line for Macy’s as well.

According to RadarOnline, the original Materical Girl has been slapped with a lawsuit from clothing manufacturer LA Triumph, who says it has been using the registered named for its juniors line since 1997.

The court documents cite direct competition from Madonna’s line as a threat to the LA Triumph label, sold at Nordstrom, and that the “plaintiff’s Material Girl clothing line retails at the same price point and in the same general retail space as the Defendant’s infringing clothes”.

The lawsuit also hints that they will next target retailer Macy’s for promoting Madonna and Lourdes’ teenage clothing line.

Ouch.

Find out what's hot in the world! Get the latest fashion in your email! Join our newsletter: