Changing rooms for models as Guess boss faces sex assault claim
NEW YORK fashion week opened yesterday with models for the first time being granted changing cubicles in response to the outcry over sexual harassment and assault.
Sara Ziff, a former model who founded The Model Alliance six years ago, said her organisation had received one report of harassment or assault a week since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke in September.
She spearheaded the introduction of changing rooms, ending the practice of models stripping in front of agents, photographers and anyone backstage.
“Models have been dealing with these issues for decades, and this behaviour has been an open secret. Now we finally have permission not only to talk about it but to act,” she told Vogue.
Karen Elson, the British model on the advisory board of the Alliance, added: “I believe a separation between privacy for models and anyone filming or taking photos is a must. I cannot tell you, in my younger days, how many times I would catch photographers taking photos of me getting undressed.”
Ms Ziff said she hoped the initiative would spread to other fashion weeks, adding that her organisation had created a survey to ask models what other changes they wished to see.
The announcement was made as Kate Upton, the American model, broke her silence to accuse Paul Marciano, the founder of clothing brand of Guess, of sexual assault. Ms Upton, the 25-yearold Sports Illustrated cover star, had alluded to accusations against Mr Marciano in a Jan 31 tweet.
“It’s disappointing that such an iconic women’s brand @Guess is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director #metoo,” she wrote.
In an interview with Time magazine she detailed her accusations, claiming that Mr Marciano, 65, “forcibly grabbed my breasts” in front of Yu Tsai, a photographer, and harassed her. Mr Yu has corroborated her accusations. Upton was the face of Guess for 2010-11.
Mr Marciano, in a statement, called Upton’s accusations “absolutely false” and “preposterous”. A representative from Guess declined to comment.
The accusations come at a pivotal moment for the fashion industry, with the photographers Mario Testino, Bruce Weber and Terry Richardson among those accused of sexual harassment and assault.
Testino was dropped by American
Vogue after the accusations were made, but denied any wrongdoing and questioned the motives and character of his accusers. Weber said he was “shocked and saddened” by allegations against him, which he denied, while Richardson has vehemently denied committing any crime – although he admits to “interacting” with models on shoots.
Today a #Metoo fashion show will feature clothes inspired by stories of survival, and include some models telling publicly their stories of assault.
♦ The family of Jill Messick, Rose Mcgowan’s former manager, have issued an angry statement saying she was collateral damage in the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal after she took her own life at the age 50.
The veteran studio executive was Mcgowan’s manager in 1997 when she says she was raped by the movie mogul. Her family told The Hollywood Reporter that Messick, who had been battling depression and bipolar disorder, died on Wednesday. Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.