We’d have thought a whole heap of graduates and fashionistas-in-the-making would give up their Hermes bag to nab an internship with The Row.

But it seems that one disgruntled former employee is less than happy with her lot.

Indeed, Shahista Lalani is suing Dualstar, the parent company run by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen which also oversees The Row – for wage theft.

Now a designer herself, Shahista also reckons that around 40 past and present interns are in her position: overpaid and underworked.

A graduate of the prestigious Parsons School Of Design in Manhattan, she worked under The Row’s head technical designer for five months.

“She was very demanding,” Ms Lalani recalled. “I was doing the work of three interns. I was talking to her all day, all night. Emails at nighttime for the next day, like 10pm.”

Ms Lalani even claimed she was hospitalised for dehydration because of the job’s demands: the 29-year-old stated that she worked in 38C New York summer heat, carrying “like 50lbs worth of trench coats”.

The Canadian native also said she put in 50-hour weeks “inputting data into spreadsheets, making tech sheets, running personal errands for paid employees, organising materials, photocopying, sewing, pattern cutting, among other related duties”.

“You’re like an employee, except you’re not getting paid. They’re kind of mean to you.

“Other interns have cried. I’d see a lot of kids crying doing coffee runs, photocopying stuff,” Ms Lalani furthermore claimed.

And while she never worked directly for the Olsens, both 29, she said she saw them occasionally at meetings.

“They’re really nice people,” she said. “They were never mean to anyone. They’re business people.”

Former child-stars the Olsens launched The Row, named as an homage to the precision of Savile Row tailoring, in 2004 with a simple white t-shirt. 

The label now turns over tens of millions annually creating uber-expensive, high-end clothing and accessories.