MODELS’ ANGUISH
Will tell of abuse at Fashion Week
AT A RECENT gathering of models held to discuss general issues in the fashion industry, the young women were asked a question: Who has been caught offguard by a request to pose nude in a photo shoot?
Every hand in the Manhattan meeting room shot up.
The #MeToo movement galvanized Hollywood after sexual misconduct allegations emerged against disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein last October, prompting a flood of change, from new guidelines to prominent firings.
But in the fashion world, a similar sea change has been slow to happen.
“It’s clear that this is a pervasive problem and in some cases it goes beyond simply being caught off guard and asking to take nude or seminude photos,” said Sara Ziff, founder of Model Alliance, an organization that helps models and members of the fashion industry report complaints and seek out legal options.
“Models put up with so much crap, and models are silent,” designer Norma Kamali said. “We don’t ever want them to speak.”
The faces of fashion, however, will get a chance to make their voices heard at this year’s New York Fashion Week, which begins Thursday and ends Feb. 16.
During the second night of the show, on Friday, models will hit the catwalk in a special #MeToo-themed show — and end their power struts with emotional accounts of sexual abuse and rape.
“It’s not just going to be a bunch of women walking the runway; there’s a twist to it,” show organizer Myriam Chalek told The News. “It’s going to be very emotional . . . . Some are actually going to speak for the first time about their experiences.”
The 30-year-old designer’s show is one of the only Fashion Week events to address #MeToo — a movement insiders say is long overdue in an industry that has freely preyed on young women and men.
Comedian Sabrina Piper is among the models who’ll take the stage and share disturbing stories — in her case, being raped by an ex-boyfriend.
The 21-yearold said she hopes the #MeToo show will encourage others to speak up. The culture seems to be shifting in the wake of Weinstein. Models have recently come forward to accuse prominent photographers Terry Richardson, Bruce Weber and Mario Testino of sexual assault. On Wednesday, model Kate Upton went public with details of alleged groping and kissing by Guess co-founder Paul Marciano. Kamali, an outspoken voice of feminism in the industry, launched the website Stop Objectification eight years ago as a platform for women like Piper to recount their own experiences. The designer, 72, said the number of stories her site has received since Weinstein’s downfall has skyrocketed.
“(Abuse) will still happen, but it certainly isn’t going to happen in the same way it has in the past,” she told The News.
“The secret’s out . . . . I would really be surprised by anybody who had the nerve to attempt to in any way take advantage of male or female models who are vulnerable.”
Chalek knows her event Friday won’t change things overnight, but she believes awareness can lead to change.
“I have a fashion platform. . . and if I can use it to share the stories of women who have been victims and are survivors of sexual misconduct and sexual abuse. . . then of course I will do it,” she said. “It’s my duty as a woman.”