Actress and fashion influence in Ghana, Nana Akua Addo, has responded strongly to a lawsuit from Cambodian luxury fashion house, Alme Couture, in relation to the viral cathedral dress she wore to the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards 2026.
The now-viral dress, one of the most talked about of the night, has now led to a clash over ownership and creative work.
The celebrity, in a statement she made on her Instagram page, denied using and plagiarizing the dress design of the fashion house and says that it was her own concept. She stated that the mood board and design for the cathedral gown was presented to the fashion house before a proposal for collaboration, which was later turned down because Alme Couture claimed it was “impossible to pull off at that time”.
According to the story she told, her dress designer was Mohammed Abbas, a designer in Nigeria.
She went on to show screenshotted chat logs of a conversation between her and the luxury fashion brand in which they discussed the proposal before cancelling their collaboration, and then questioning why Alme Couture would be claiming ownership after sending her refund and putting an end to their project with her.
“I showed you exactly what I wanted and explained how. The creative process, concept, artistic direction, structure of my outfit came directly from me”, she concluded, while Alme Couture had first released a statement saying that the dress was a creation of their brand without giving her credit and that they have had Sketches and couture direction for it prior to their withdrawal from working with her.
