Former Sydney ‘It’ girl Kelly Smythe has been accused of selling Luxe Listings star D’Leanne Lewis a Chanel handbag that Lewis claims she later discovered was fake.
The Daily Mail understands that Smythe, 49, whose formerly successful company KS Style & Co has recently fallen into liquidation, sold the designer bag to Lewis, 53, for $4,000 in 2023.
However, a source with knowledge of the dispute says that Lewis discovered in April this year that the bag was allegedly fake when it began to fall apart and she took it to the Chanel store in Bondi Junction to be mended.
The ‘buckle’ apparently fell off the bag, prompting Lewis, who is the Principal of Laing+Simmons Double Bay, to take it for repairs.
According to the source, Lewis claims a Chanel staff member told her the bag had an incorrect serial number, which the celebrity real estate agent understood to indicate the item was not authentic or had been altered.
‘The bag came in a Chanel box. It’s wrapped like a Chanel box. It’s got Chanel all over it,’ the source claimed.
Former Sydney ‘It’ girl Kelly Smythe (left) has been accused of selling Luxe Listings star D’Leanne Lewis (right) a Chanel handbag that Lewis claims she later discovered was fake. Smythe tells the Mail she has now refunded Lewis
‘D’Leanne trusts people and Kelly wasn’t a dodgy stylist. She had a really good reputation,’ they added, suggesting Lewis had no reason to think the bag was fake.
The source went on to claim that Lewis called Smythe after her visit to the Chanel store and Smythe allegedly told her that she would ‘sort it out’.
Lewis is said to have then asked Smythe for a full refund.
She subsequently received $1,000 from the stylist out of ‘goodwill’. Smythe then offered to provide Lewis with $3,500 in Coco Republic vouchers, as well as an ongoing 30 per cent Coco Republic discount in place of the remaining $3,000 refund.
Lewis is understood to have declined the offer and earlier this week had been considering legal action to recover the remaining funds.
However, shortly before publication, Smythe provided the Mail with documents showing she transferred Lewis a further $3,400 on Friday morning, with the payment reference: ‘KS Style & Co refund – final’.
Smythe said the payment brought Lewis’s total refund to $4,400, including GST, meaning no money remained outstanding.
When contacted by the Mail on Friday afternoon, Lewis confirmed she had received the payment and would discontinue legal action in the small claims court.
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The Daily Mail understands that Smythe, whose formerly successful company KS Style & Co has recently fallen into liquidation, sold the designer bag to Lewis for $4,000 in 2023
However, she said the dispute nonetheless marked ‘the end of our friendship’.
When the Mail reached out to Lewis for comment earlier in the week – before Smythe had supplied a copy of the payment transfer – Lewis confirmed the account provided by our source and said she was ‘disappointed’ by what had happened.
‘This is someone I trusted. I never thought this would happen to me,’ she said.
It’s understood Smythe maintains she was unaware of any authenticity issues and said the bag had been purchased through Vestiaire Collective, a global luxury resale platform.
When asked directly on Friday if the bag she sourced was fake, Smythe told the Mail: ‘It’s too early to make that call at this stage, as I don’t physically have the bag so I can’t have it authenticated.
‘I will have it authenticated once [Lewis] returns it to me and before I send [it] back to the US.’
According to our source, Lewis alleges Smythe told her the bag was brand new when she purchased it. Screenshots supplied to the Mail show Lewis making that allegation directly to Smythe.
It comes after news broke that Smythe’s formerly successful company KS Style & Co owes creditors up to $253,425 and has fallen into liquidation.
Smythe founded the company in December 2017 after gaining international recognition for her work in the 2000s.
The Point Piper stylist began her career at Channel Seven and has since gone on to dress high-profile names such as Sonia Kruger, Jennifer Hawkins, Rihanna, Miranda Kerr, Melissa George, Chris Hemsworth, Kim Cattrall, Kelly Rowland and Eva Longoria.
A source says that Lewis discovered in April this year that the bag was allegedly fake when it began to fall apart and she took it to the Chanel store in Bondi Junction to be mended
‘The bag came in a Chanel box. It’s wrapped like a Chanel box. It’s got Chanel all over it. D’Leanne trusts people and Kelly wasn’t a dodgy stylist. She had a really good reputation,’ the insider said, suggesting Lewis had no reason to think the bag was fake
However, a director’s report recently lodged with ASIC revealed Smythe’s company owed more than $84,000 to the ATO and almost $25,000 on an AMEX Platinum Business credit card.
KS Style & Co is also said to owe $77,000 in secured debt for a 2023 Lexus NX350 F Sport.
Cathro and Partners liquidator Andrew Blundell was appointed by the NSW Supreme Court on May 11 to wind up the company.
‘My investigations are ongoing in relation to the reasons surrounding the appointment,’ he told The Daily Telegraph.
Meanwhile, Smythe told the publication she has ‘co-operated fully with the appointed liquidator from the outset and will continue to do so throughout the process’.
‘The company’s financial affairs are now being administered by the appointed liquidator through the formal liquidation process. There are no outstanding employee entitlements.’
Smythe was previously swept up in controversy when she faced criminal charges related to the misuse of pharmaceutical scripts.
The one-time 2000s ‘It’ girl was arrested in May 2025 for allegedly forging prescriptions and was taken into custody at Surry Hills Police Station in Sydney’s inner east.
Lewis asked Smythe for a full refund, which she received on Friday after we made enquiries
Smythe was previously swept up in controversy when she faced criminal charges related to the misuse of pharmaceutical scripts. (Pictured: Leaving a pharmacy in July last year)
She spent the night at the station before appearing before Downing Centre Local Court via video link, where she made a release application while being held on remand.
The New Zealand-born socialite’s glamorous life unravelled overnight after she was charged with two counts of using a false document to obtain property and two counts of obtaining or attempting to get a prohibited drug by false representation.
A charge sheet showed Smythe allegedly used a false letter and two fraudulent scripts to get dexamphetamine and lisdexamfetamine from the Paddington Compounding Pharmacy on Oxford Street on February 21 and May 15 last year.
Dexamphetamine medication is used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy (sleep disorder) while lisdexamfetamine treats moderate-to-severe binge eating disorder in adults.
The charges were dropped in January this year on mental health grounds, under the condition she received psychiatric treatment, psychological therapy, pharmacological treatment and ongoing monitoring.
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