Fugitive Julian Assange to star at London Fashion Week
JULIAN ASSANGE is still cocking a s nook at t he establishment. The Australian founder of Wiki-Leaks, who has cost the British taxpayer £6million in police bills since seeking asylum in t he Ecuadorean Embassy two years ago, continues to receive celebrity visitors such as Lady Gaga and hold press conferences via video link.
But in his most brazen move yet, I hear he is planning to take part in London Fashion Week as a model.
Assange, wanted for extradition to Sweden on sex assault charges, will not even have to risk arrest by leaving his bolt-hole, as the catwalk is coming to him.
Assange, 42, will be joined at the embassy — opposite Harrods — by six models to show off outfits designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood’s son, Ben.
The clothes have been i nspired by actor Cli nt Eastwood’s costume in his spaghetti western films, and the show will be accompanied by music from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.
Hollywood actor George Clooney and his lawyer fiancee, Amal Alamuddin — who has acted as part of Assange’s defence team — have been invited to attend.
Ben Westwood, 51, says: ‘I want to highlight Julian Assange’s plight. What happened to him is totally unfair.’ He adds that inspiration for some of the clothes on show has come from Assange himself and his combat/ beret look.
‘I’ve designed something f or him along those lines and will be getting him to wear it,’ says Ben. ‘I’ve got another garment with a Julian Assange print.’ The show, in September, will be a fringe event for London Fashion Week. ‘Julian’s been in the embassy for two years and it’s important that he doesn’t sli p i nto obscurity,’ adds Ben. Assange (left) is not known for having any fashion sense. Author Andrew o’Hagan, who was hired to ghost-write his memoirs before falling out with him, noted how Assange wore suit trousers over a pair of Tesco tracksuit bottoms. Which might explain his appeal to Ben’s mother Vivienne, who was an early supporter of Assange and designed an ‘I am Julian Assange’ T- shirt with which she closed her London Fashion Show two years ago.