A single mother of four from New York is accusing Victoria’s Secret of ripping off her bra.

Katerina Plew says that the lingerie maker’s real secret is that they stole her patented design for a better bra that can be adjusted to prevent the straps showing.

Ms Plew, 38, has filed a suit in New York seeking triple damages after discovering a display for the company’s “Very Sexy 100-Way Strapless Convertible Bra” in a shopping mall near her home in Selden, Long Island.

“It’s my bra,” she told The Times yesterday. “It’s my patent. I am the one who invented it and I had an appointment to meet with them about it.”

The paralegal says that she came up with the idea for her adjustable bra when she was trying to decide what to wear for the christening of her children – David, Thomas and Alexis.

The divorced mother, who also has an 11-year-old daughter named Paris, could not find a bra that would allow her to wear either of her two favoured dresses without the straps showing.

“That is my pet peeve,” she said. “I hate bra straps hanging out of women’s clothing. I’m sure many women do. But you will see it all the time in summer.”

Her answer was to devise a bra that allows women to hide the straps by clipping them to any of a series of loops along the front and back.

She spent $12,000 (£6,000) registering her invention as Patent No 6,733,362, and developing a prototype.

“Now you do not have the strap hanging out,” she declared proudly. When she realised the costs of production, she began contacting lingerie companies about her invention.

She says that she set up an appointment to meet a Victoria’s Secret executive to whom she had mailed a copy of her patent.

She claims that the appointment was cancelled.

A year later Ms Plew walked into a Victoria’s Secret shop and saw the “VS-Bra”, which has detachable straps and numerous eyelets that allow the user 100 different ways to wear it.

“The moment I walk into the store and saw a large display in the centre of the store, I cried,” she said.

“That was my initial reaction. I bought one. I cried when I bought it.”

Victoria’s Secret, a unit of Limited Brands, advertises the $50 product on its website as “the bra that does it all”.

The company declined to comment on the pending litigation.

Charles von Simson, Ms Plew’s lawyer, says that his client stands out from the usual inventor.

“Everybody sits on the couch and says, ‘I have an idea’ and sees it a year later and says ‘that’s mine’," he said.

"But this is a woman who devoted the time and money to get a patent. And she was ripped off.”

Times Recommends

• C&G axed - 1,660 jobs to be lost
• UK house prices rise 1.1% as buyers return
• Mixed reaction to US banks repaying bailouts