Dolce & Gabbana are suing a costume jewelry retailer for naming her store Dolce and Banana. The luxury Italian label have decided to take legal action against Mijou Beller - who has owned the shop in a fishing village near Cape Town, South Africa, for 12 years - after accusing her of "objectionable conduct" and of "diluting" the luxury brand's name.

The 300-page affidavit - which was filed in the Cape Town High Court by Cristiana Ruella, a board member of Gado, the holding company of Dolce & Gabbana - also alleges that "the name Dolce and Banana makes a mockery of the well-known trademark Dolce & Gabbana."Beller said she didn't have the means to fight the lawsuit, and responded by rebranding her store, calling it Banana.

The label's law firm Spoor & Fisher, which said Beller had ignored two previous warnings, the first one sent six years ago. She has tried to reach out to Stefano Gabbana by sending him a message on Twitter, that read, "Dear Stefano, please let us be. And visit us in Cape Town. I have always admired your famous sense of humor so present in your brand and in your designs. And although I appreciate that Dolce & Gabbana is a very successful commercial enterprise, I fail to understand why Dolce and Banana is a threat."

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