A stand-off has taken place at the Anaheim headquarters of the iconic theme park Disneyland.

A Muslim restaurant hostess, who has worked at Disneyland for over two years, has rejected what was termed a ‘compromise’ offer from her employer over a dispute involving her wearing of the traditional hijab.

Imane Boudlal, who has been aggrieved after being told that she would not be allowed to wear the hijab at work, said she has rejected management’s solution of wearing a hat which covers a makeshift head covering. Boudlal has filed a formal complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Disney, saying the compromise offer was offensive.

Boudlal has worked for the company at their Grand Californian hotel’s Storytellers restaurant since 2008, and said through a statement by the Local 11 union Unite Here that the latest dispute was the seventh time in the past two years that she was ordered to leave the workplace and return home due to her refusal to remove her hijab. Boudlal called the directive ridiculous, claiming that the alterations made by Disney not only made her look silly but made a mockery of her as an individual and of her religion.

Officials at Disney say they had met with Boudlal and talked through several options as a way of reaching a compromise. They argue that it was Boudlal who requested the costume, which is reminiscent of the Wild West, and this was done in line with the group’s costuming guidelines and in such a way that her religious beliefs were accommodated. Boudlal said she would be happy to wear a simple headscarf with a Disney logo.

The man behind the expansion of Marks and Spencer into India has teamed up with a local competitor.

Mark Ashman, who oversaw the establishment of the joint venture in India between M&S and Reliance Retail, will become the chief executive at Hypercity in the autumn.

Hypercity is a rapidly growing local chain that has since 2006 sold Waitrose products to millions of Indians under an exclusive supply agreement. Waitrose and M&S are already renowned for their UK rivalry, and now the battle has spilled over onto the subcontinent the focus is firmly on India as a producer.  Last year, Mark Price, Waitrose’s chief executive and Sir Stuart Rose, the chairman of M&S, became embroiled in a public slanging match over which company’s products were cheaper.

Mr Ashman held the role of chief executive of Marks & Spencer Reliance Retail, which, in collaboration operated 18 stores across India, with 15 more set to open over the next two years. The partnership said that there will be an estimated 50 M&S stores in the country by 2015. Ashram had left his position in April to return to Britain to lead M&S’s European and Middle Eastern operations. He was wished all the best for his new role by his former employers.

Meanwhile, rival Hypercity operates seven hypermarkets across India, with the group being part owned by another of India’s leading retail organisations Shoppers Stop. The country has had its fashion production industry come increasingly under the media spotlight in recent months, as allegations of poor working conditions have led high street retailers such as Next and Gap to launch independent investigations.

Leading fashion retailers H&M and Zara will both go live online in September.

From next month, shoppers who are based outside of the London store range will be able to buy their favourite outfits via the internet as the clothing providers attempt to buck the increasingly dour trends hitting the high street.

Zara, which is owned by the Spanish company Inditex, will launch its new website simultaneously across the UK, Spain, France, Portugal and Italy on September 2, and while they have previously offered a range of homewares online, the revamped website will mark the debut of fashion lines that have in the past been only available in-store. H&M will launch its new online venture a fortnight later, offering men’s, women’s and children’s clothing in addition to their own range of homeware.

The current gloom facing that has beset consumer confidence in the UK and across Europe has led several major retailers to warn that widespread cuts in public sector spending will have a knock-on effect for individual customers. The recent austerity budget from Chancellor George Osborne had created increased worry across the UK over employment and wage prospects, leading to a tightening of the purse strings.

Both Marks & Spencer and Next have warned that consumer spending is likely to be constrained in the coming months as the new coalition government’s emergency budget combines with the rise of VAT at the end of the year to keep customers out of high street shops.

Several of the leading British fashion retailers are launching inquiries into allegations of substandard working conditions in India.

The move comes at a time when the same high street stores, including Marks and Spencer, are embroiled in a wage dispute crisis in Bangladesh that has seen garment workers stage violent protests.

Marks and Spencer has been joined by other well-known stores Next and Gap in launching investigations into their Indian suppliers, after allegations have emerged that young children have been left unattended as parents work in factories on the outskirts of the capital Delhi. According to a report by the London Observer, the fashion houses are responding to claims that these factories have been using middlemen to hire workers for just 25p per hour for Next and Gap, and 26p per hour at for Marks and Spencer. Some workers have also alleged that they have been paid under half of the legal overtime rate.

The trio of retailers have each pledged to end the practice of reportedly excessive overtime which Indian labour laws states is a clear breach of the ethical trading initiative (ETI). The three have apparently advised the Observer that abuses in their supply chains would not be tolerated and that they are 100 per cent committed to ethical trading.

While Marks and Spencer has stated it has not as yet been presented with the appropriate evidence to support the allegations, Gap has advised that it had discovered irregularities with wage violations and ordered its supplier to pay the appropriate compensation to those affected immediately.

Samantha Cameron, Carla Bruni and Michelle Obama have all been voted onto the style elite of Vanity Fair’s 2010 International Best Dressed List.

The eight-month pregnant UK prime minister’s wife joins regulars Bruni and Obama along with other notable UK style icons David Beckham and Lady Gaga. According to Vanity Fair, Mrs Cameron is the ‘UK First Lady’, and wears the ‘realpolitik’ look. The magazine also lists Mrs Cameron as employed by upmarket stationers Smythson as a creative director.

In a comprehensive detail of the PM’s wife, Vanity Fair says Mrs Cameron, 39, is often seen in numbers from Erdem and Phillip Lam, accompanied by bib necklaces, brooches and chain pendants. When it comes to dressing down, Mrs Cameron can be seen sporting a pair of sneakers and more often than not, a pram. Tickets for Troops, the returned services organisation set up by the Tories last year, is listed as her favourite cause. Mrs Cameron is known to have close ties in the fashion industry, with her sister being deputy editor at British Vogue.

Aside from her fabled dolphin ankle-tattoo, Mrs Cameron is best known for sporting a £65 grey polka dot dress from high street retailers Marks and Spencer to augment the austerity theme of last year’s Conservative Party conference.

The Vanity Fair list, which has been one of the key indexes for fashion heavyweights for the past 71 years, also featured Princess Mary of Denmark, Helena Bonham Carter, John Galliano, Martin Scorcese, Alec Baldwin and Javier Badem.