I have a friend that hates my Damier Speedy too - called is a checkerboard and says it's masculine. I don't let it bother me.
Sounds like your friend was feeling stung and probably a little embarrassed so she was lashing out to make you feel bad. I think you did right in warning her not to tell people it was real, to save her from embarassment. That's a hard thing to do and I would want a friend to tell me something like that. Sounds like she just was lashing out. I had one friend one time, after I lost a lot of weight, tell me my face looked old without the weight!