Wedding dress designer Hayley Paige Gutman appeared at a subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon about the possibility of banning nondisclosure agreements for employees.
Invited as a witness by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Gutman’s appearance before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee’s economic policy subcommittee touched on professional struggles and even the U.S. women’s gymnastics team at the Olympics. Dressed in a hot pink suit and with her blonde hair curled, Gutman’s style was reminiscent of Reese Witherspoon’s “Elle Woods” outfit in a fictional convention scene in the 2003 film “Blonde 2.”
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Smiling brightly throughout her brief remarks, Gutman, co-founder of the brand She Is Cheval, told attendees that she knew what she wanted to do with her life from a very young age. “I dedicated my childhood, education and industry experience to bringing joy to women through wedding dress design. And I loved it,” she said.
Gutman told attendees that she had “achieved international fame” after appearing on the reality show “Say Yes to the Dress” and was once a brand distributed in 300 stores, before recounting how her “journey became challenging” and the three-and-a-half-year legal battle with her former employer.
On Tuesday, the designer revealed that she signed a non-compete agreement in 2011 when she was 25. The contract was with JLM Couture, which she did not name. (She continued to design wedding dresses bearing her name until 2020. That same year, JLM took legal action against her, accusing the company of violating a non-compete agreement and locking out “Hayley Paige” from her social media accounts, among other alleged violations.)
Opening the event, the senator argued that NDAs affect 1 in 5 American workers in fields as diverse as “dog groomers” and hair salon stylists. She also spoke in favor of the Federal Trade Commission’s final rule to promote competition by prohibiting competition. Warren also reiterated the FTC’s estimates that such action would lead to the creation of more than 8,500 new businesses each year. She also praised the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket for their efforts.
Gutman is the latest millennial public figure with a strong social media following to take a public stand on Capitol Hill recently. In late June, Paris Hilton testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, detailing youth abuse at a youth treatment center and calling for child welfare reforms. Gutman’s social media outreach and appeal to a younger fan base were said to be part of the incentive to include her in Tuesday’s hearing. Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute and orthopedic surgeon R. James Toussaint were the other two witnesses.
In late May, Gutman and JLM ended their years-long legal battle. As part of the settlement, Gutman agreed to pay JLM $263,000, and the New York-based multi-brand bridal company gave the designer the rights to the name “Hayley Paige” and her social media accounts. It also paved the way for her to return to the bridal industry and design wedding dresses. The designer, who has more than a million followers on Instagram and Pinterest, has used those venues—albeit under different names—to periodically air her legal troubles, just as she has used them to attract shoppers.
JLM CEO Joseph Murphy did not accept a request for comment Tuesday regarding Gutman’s appearance at the Capitol.
Over the weekend, the designer used her Instagram to post an invitation for Warren to speak at the hearing, letting fans know about her plans to visit the Beltway. Before the subcommittee, the designer spoke of the “disproportionate bargaining power” that “many young employees and young creatives” are subjected to. Without naming JLM Couture, Gutman outlined all the legal wrangling and how she went seven years without a paycheck in her chosen profession and was forced to give up her heavily-followed social media accounts. Gutman claimed that she “refuses to bow down to victimization,” publicly changing her name and opening an Instagram account, but she is not willing to change her profession after dedicating her life to the necessary skills.
She and JLM Couture have been battling in court since 2020. In January, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a six-factor social media account ownership test and vacated a preliminary injunction that gave JLM control of her social media accounts. At the time, the court supported her lawyers’ argument that ownership should be determined “like all other forms of ownership,” by determining who owned the account when it was created and then considering whether that owner sold or transferred it. The designer was barred from competing with JLM or using “Hayley Paige” in advertising until the end of her contract in 2021. Earlier this year, a federal court ruled that Gutman had to wait until the end of that non-compete agreement in 2025. But a settlement reached by both parties in late May eliminated that, giving Gutman the green light to return to the bridal industry.
Gutman spoke Tuesday of the “persistent stress” they have experienced over their daughter-in-law’s condition. “What I’ve learned is that there are very effective legal measures you can take to protect your intellectual property. There are privacy policies, fiduciary duties, and also ways to effectively enforce nondisclosure agreements to effectively protect trade secrets,” said Gutman, who now owns a small business.
In one of the more unexpected parts of her statement, the designer drew attention to the Summer Games in Paris. “The irony is that this trial is taking place during one of the greatest competitive days in the world — the women’s team gymnastics finals at the Olympics. I was a competitive gymnast for 16 years, so you can only imagine the poetry that I’m experiencing right now. I can tell you, the pride and the patriotism that you can feel when there are no limits to what you can do — that’s where the magic is,” Gutman said. “…so, long live the fair competition and let a girl design the dress.”
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