Sixteen-year-old model Hailey Clauson is suing hipster apparel chain Urban Outfitters for selling a “salacious” t-shirt that capture the Californian with her legs in a “spread eagle” position.
Clauson’s parents are going after the clothing company as well as photographer Jason Lee Parry for $28 million for using racy images from the teen’s photo shoot on shirts and other products.
“She is posed in a blatantly salacious manner with her legs spread, without a bra, revealing portions of her breasts,” the lawsuit states. The suit further claims that the photo depicts Clauson in “a spread eagle position, making her crotch area the focal point of the image.” (RELATED: Concerned Women for America: French kid’s lingerie line ‘a pedophile’s dream’)
Clauson, who has modeled for fashion big names Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Oscar de la Renta, can be seen on the Urban Outfitters shirt with her legs open in tight-fitted short shorts on a motorcycle. Clauson claims the snapshot was taken when she was 15 and that the picture has ruined her reputation. The suit also suggests that the picture could possibly run afoul of child pornography laws.
According to E!, the lawsuit describes Parry as a professional photographer whose “unconventional body of work” includes “nudity, semi-nudity, sexually suggestive situations involving only women and what appear to be underage girls, many with bloody noses as if incurred as a result of repeated drug use and/or physical violence.”
The suit alleges that Parry agreed not to release the photo after Clauson’s former agency, Ford Models, voiced opposition. The risque picture of Clauson has also popped up in the German magazine Qvest.
The current lawsuit is not Clauson’s first encounter with scandal. Earlier this year, a then-15-year-old Clauson strolled across the catwalk at three big shows during New York Fashion Week despite the fact that models under 16 are prohibited from participating in the high profile event.
Clauson began modeling at age 14 and has appeared in catalogues for popular clothing store Forever 21. But despite participating in the grown-up profession, Clauson told New York magazine that she still sleeps with her “baby blanket.”