By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK - A woman sued Victoria's Secret Monday, claiming the lingerie company's latest secret is that they stole her idea for a strapless bra.

Katerina Plew, a 38-year-old mother of four, said she filed for a patent for her invention in the hopes of making some money to help her raise her kids on her own.

"I thought it was the answer to my dreams, but it was the answer to their dreams," she said.

Frank Colucci, a lawyer for Victoria's Secret, did not immediately return a telephone message for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

She is seeking unspecified damages, and an order to force the company from infringing on her patent.

Plew, who works as a paralegal in a law office, said she created the bra in 1999 after she became frustrated that she could not hide her bra straps.

Her design calls for a strip of fabric loops along the top of the cups and torso band so the straps can be detached and reattached in different ways to hide them under the outer garment. She said she filed for a patent for the bra in 2002 and received it in 2004.

Plew said she arranged a meeting with Victoria's Secret to pitch the product two years ago, after telling them she had secured a patent and e-mailing them a mock-up of the bra she had made.

She said the company canceled the meeting as she was driving into Manhattan from her home on Long Island.

"They said their legal team advised them against it. Then a year later I walked into Victoria's Secret, and guess what I saw on their shelf?" she said.

Victoria's Secret sells a 100-way strapless convertible bra that it describes as having three sets of straps that hook into eyelets to wear 100 ways.

"That's my bra. They made my bra," Plew said.