Can Marchesa survive the scandal?
As more sexual harassment claims against Harvey Weinstein emerge, Bethan Holt looks at the effect it is all having on his designer wife, Georgina Chapman
In 2016, Marchesa claimed to be the most-worn designer label on the red carpet. It was certainly a stellar year: the supermodel Karolína Kurková wore a silver, petal embellished dress infused with LED technology that became the standout look of the always madly extravagant Met Gala, at the Oscars Heidi Klum divided opinion in a one-shouldered lilac chiffon creation, and Katy Perry exuded classic glamour in a scarlet lace gown at the amfar gala at Cannes Film Festival.
Now, the label’s reputation as the A-lister’s go-to for dreamily feminine dresses looks to be in tatters, with its co-founder Georgina Chapman reportedly holed up with her husband Harvey Weinstein, who is facing accusations of sexual harassment and rape after an exposé by The New York Times, followed by a fresh series of accounts published yesterday in The New Yorker.
As the story broke last week, Chapman, a former model and film costume designer, was presenting Marchesa’s autumn/winter 2018 bridal collections in New York. Her latest Instagram posts, from last week, show romantic mises-en-scène with groups of models wearing elaborate clouds of tulle, bows and silk.
It appears, however, that many of the comments on the posts have been deleted, with only some of the more supportive observations left in place. “Everyone really needs to leave her be!” reads one.
In an interview responding to the initial allegations, Weinstein told The
New York Post’s Page Six that Chapman was supporting him. “She stands 100per cent behind me. Georgina and I have talked about this at length… Georgina will be with Lisa [his lawyer until four days ago, when she resigned] and others kicking my ass to be a better human being and to apologise to people for my bad behaviour, to say I’m sorry, and to absolutely mean it.”
Chapman herself has yet to comment on any aspect of the everescalating scandal, but her reputation and business have, until now, been intertwined with Weinstein’s success. He has long been credited with persuading actresses to wear his wife’s designs and connecting her with some of the most powerful and influential people in fashion – he is often seated beside Anna Wintour on the front row at Marchesa’s New York fashion week shows.
“Georgina would never have met so many celebrities without being Harvey’s significant other,” was how one New York film publicist put it.
Chapman launched Marchesa with her friend Keren Craig – whom she met at Chelsea College of Art and Design – in 2004, at the behest of the stylist Isabella Blow, who had spotted their talent and asked to borrow an early design she saw Chapman wearing at a party.
“I’m a true believer that if a woman puts on a dress and she feels wonderful that resonates in the photographs,” Chapman told The Daily
Telegraph last year. “So that’s where you have to start – does she feel confident?
That’s the ultimate goal.”
Conveniently, 2004 was the same year that Chapman began dating Weinstein. They got off to the kind of start that would
‘Georgina would never have met so many celebrities without being Harvey’s significant other’
have most fledgling designers green with envy, as Renée Zellweger and Cate Blanchett – both starring in Weinstein-backed films at the time – wore Marchesa to big premieres. “Getting Renée was enormous,” Chapman told The Australian Daily Telegraph in 2014. “We actually made three dresses for her, and Cate Blanchett ended up wearing one of the others.”
“Maybe I helped, but just very, very little, with Renée Zellweger,” Weinstein later admitted. Over the years, Naomi Watts, Sienna Miller, Elle Fanning, Sandra Bullock and Kerry Washington have all worn Marchesa, which is named after Marchesa Luisa Casati, the eccentric 20th century Italian aristocrat.
“It sort of becomes white noise after a while, because you hear it so much,” Chapman has said of insinuations that her husband helped her business. “I think it’s rare to find a man who allows a woman to fulfil her ambitions and also be supportive of that.”
Recently, Marchesa’s links to Hollywood seem to have waned somewhat with few A-list actresses wearing the label to this year’s major awards ceremonies. The highlight of 2017, so far, has been the Duchess of Cambridge wearing a dress from diffusion line Marchesa Notte to the opening night of the musical 42nd Street in April.
A much-feted revival of the couture house Charles James, which the Weinstein Company bought in 2014 amid rumours that Chapman would be appointed creative director, seems to have come to nothing thus far. Less than a week after the news broke, and with allegations emerging on a near-daily basis, Chapman may still be considering her options. She’s built a aspirational-meets-accessible image of herself as someone who celebrates feminine, old-world glamour while also showing herself working out in her opulent home or taking her daughter riding – it’s a kind of lo-fi Victoria Beckham celebrity-meets-designer vibe. Weinstein may have been instrumental in helping her to build her empire, but the power is now in Chapman’s hands. She could yet save herself – and the brand she has worked so hard to build.