A simple Seventies-style yellow mini-dungaree dress is the subject of the latest copyright skirmish between fast fashion and haute couture.

More than 1,000 £35 copies of this £185 dress from Chloé’s See cruise collection are to be destroyed, following an action brought by the achingly hip fashion house against Topshop, part of Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia.

Topshop – which owes its preeminent high street position to its uncanny ability to intepret catwalk trends – has bowed to pressure and is to £12,000 compensation and legal costs to Chloé, a label worn nowadays by Natalie Portman and Kirsten Dunst, and in the past by Jac-queline Kennedy and Maria Callas.

The case is the latest battle in the struggle between designers and chain stores over versions of couture looks demanded by pennypinching followers of fashion. Exponents of this trade include Primark and Asos.com, although no one, of course, would admit to involvement.

This is an area of the law where solicitors go under cover in high street stores and regularly scan the celebrity magazines such as heat, Look and Grazia to seek out pictorial evidence of counterfeits selling for £10.

It is not known whether this is how Shoosmiths, the legal firm acting for Chloé, part of the Richemont luxury goods group, tracked down the See moody (aka rip-off). But yesterday the firm was keen to emphasise Chloé’s determination to stifle counterfeit competition. It’s zero-tolerance time in the high street and in the mall.

The house has been especially brisk in its treatment of copies of its £700-£900 handbags, the highly influential Paddington, with its characteristic padlock, as sported by hedge fund managers’ wives, and the slouchier Silverado, as carried by footballers’ wives and girlfriends.

Bananasoup, an internet retailer, ceased trading following action from Chloé over a wannabe Paddington. Kookai also felt Chloé’s wrath over a homage to the Silverado, which cost more than £1,000 in its authentic snakeskin version.

Chloé’s zero-tolerance stance is likely to be tested further as the racks in most chains are full of its trademark smocks. Topshop declined to comment last night.

Sir Philip last night said: “We paid them £12,000 without any admission over whether it was or it wasn’t [a copy]. We felt it was easier to do that and get on with the rest of our lives.”

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