Designer & Fashion Insiders Behavior (PLEASE READ POST #1 BEFORE POSTING)

[Benn98]

Love how relentless Bridget Foley was!

EXCLUSIVE: Donna Karan Regrets Harvey Weinstein Comments

In her first interview following the backlash from her comments on Harvey Weinstein, Karen opens up to WWD's Bridget Foley.

By Bridget Foley on October 16, 2017

Donna Karan has remained in Los Angeles since her role in the Weinstein story erupted. On Friday afternoon, she spoke on the phone with WWD’s executive editor Bridget Foley. She couldn’t fully explain the “asking for it” comment, saying that she can’t believe those words came out of her mouth. That they did is now Donna’s albatross to bear.

Here, excerpts from the interview.

WWD: What were you asked about Harvey exactly?
Donna Karan: What did I think about what happened to Harvey. And I was confused by the question. I mean, I hadn’t been paying attention to any of the news, and you hear little stories here and a little story there. And quite honestly, it wasn’t my place to say anything. Sometimes the press can kind of gear you on, and I didn’t feel it was appropriate.

WWD: But you did say something.
D.K.: I talked in general that under no circumstances, absolutely none, whether it’s Harvey, whether it’s any man, [no one] has any right whatsoever to touch a woman, to — I mean it’s unacceptable. I mean, certainly from me. That’s just who I am as a woman, as a mother.

WWD: But that’s not what you said. So let’s go back. I understand that you’re used to people throwing questions at you on the red carpet. But, “What do you think about what’s going on with Harvey Weinstein?” If you didn’t know what was going on, why didn’t you ask for clarification of the question?
D.K.: Because I heard a little bit of rumor. It was not like I had heard the entire story. It was like a complete rumor that I had heard and I didn’t want to comment on it. So I kind of weaved my way around it. I know Georgina [Chapman, Weinstein’s wife and principal designer of the Marchesa brand], I know Harvey, and I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to be commenting on it, so I wiggled my way out of it. However, what I did comment on was sexual harassment.

WWD: But what you said…
D.K.: It didn’t come out [the right] way.

And as predicted, her foolish comments caused havoc to the company she sold. But the activist shouldve done her homework at least?? Talk about scream now, ask later.

I do smell a lawsuit coming towards Donna Karan though....

G-III Stock Drops as Calls Grow for Boycott of Donna Karan Brands

Karan hasn't been affiliated with the Donna Karan and DKNY brands since 2015.

By Lisa Lockwood on October 11, 2017

G-III Apparel Group’s stock, owner of the Donna Karan and DKNY labels, fell Wednesday following designer Donna Karan’s remarks over the Harvey Weinstein scandal, which she later retracted and apologized for. The stock declined 4.11 percent to close at $26.61 on the Nasdaq.

At the same time, there were growing calls for a boycott of the Donna Karan and DKNY brands, even though Karan is no longer affiliated with them. A Care2 petition also is demanding Nordstrom drop designer Donna Karan’s products. Some 4,939 people have signed the petition.

Julie Mastrine, a spokeswoman for Care2, said they haven’t presented the petition to Nordstrom yet, and expect to keep the petition up for about a week to gather signatures. When told that Karan is no longer involved in the company, Mastrine wasn’t aware of that but said she saw that Nordstrom’s web site sells the Donna Karan Cashmere Mist perfume. “It’s about them being associated with her brand when she’s made these comments,” she said.

G-III acquired Donna Karan International for $650 million from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in December 2016. Morris Goldfarb, chairman and chief executive officer of G-III, has declined comment on the controversy. The first DKNY and Donna Karan collections under G-III were shipped to stores this fall. DKNY, which is sold exclusively in the U.S. at Macy’s, is featured in the retailer’s Herald Square’s 34th Street windows.

Soon after Karan made comments in support of Weinstein Sunday night to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, she issued an apology, saying her statement “unfortunately is not representative of how I feel or what I believe.”

“I have spent my life championing women. My life has been dedicated to dressing and addressing the needs of women, empowering them and promoting equal rights. My statements were taken out of context and do not represent how I feel about the current situation concerning Harvey Weinstein. I believe that sexual harassment in NOT acceptable and this is an issue that MUST be addressed once and for all regardless of the individual. I am truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim,” she said.

Source for both articles: WWD.com

 

[dsamg]

Love how relentless Bridget Foley was!



And as predicted, her foolish comments caused havoc to the company she sold. But the activist shouldve done her homework at least?? Talk about scream now, ask later.

I do smell a lawsuit coming towards Donna Karan though....



Source for both articles: WWD.com

Wow, you would have thought she would have prepared ONE THING to say for that interview. Digging herself a bigger hole!

I have noticed how many Instagram commenters do not seem to realise that she has no affiliation with the brand except for her name. I guess that is the risk you take when you buy a brand connected to a name and you have no control over the individual.

 

[Benn98]

Ad Execs Weigh In on Sexual Harassment in Fashion
Advertising executives said they haven't personally witnessed sexual harassment on their sets.

By Lisa Lockwood on October 18, 2017

While no industry is immune to sexual harassment, the modeling/photography world has always been rife with stories about how certain photographers have taken advantage of young women and men or lewd behavior on the set or the runway.

Over the last several days, Cameron Russell, a well-known model, has been gathering stories from models on her Instagram feed about sexual harassment in the fashion world. So far, she’s collected more than 75 anonymous posts, which talk about abuse from photographers, lewd behavior, sexual advances and other sexual harassment. Elsewhere, #MeToo is being used all over the Internet in an attempt to show how prevalent sexual harassment and sexual abuse actually are.

Advertising executives surveyed said they’ve always heard stories about certain photographers, but they insisted they have never witnessed sexual harassment on their sets. They said their sets were never the sexual free-for-alls that are often stereotyped in fashion shoots.

Ad honcho David Lipman said sexual harassment never occurred on his set. As a father and husband, he said he’s very aware of the environment he’s creating on a set. “My sets have always been full of life, fun, exaggeration, crazy, lunacy and creativity, but never adultery or harassment or anything like that that I was aware of.

“Even in those crazy days, I don’t remember a girl getting abused. There were crazy moments of laughter and kookiness, but nothing I can remember on a set that I know of that ever happened. I know of stories, sure, I’ve heard the stories. I’m in the business so we hear the stories,” he said.

Asked if there were any photographers who are known for more sexually charged environments, he said, “There are the rumors, but I can’t speak to the rumors.”

Lipman said Russell was an activist even before the allegations of sexual harassment involving Harvey Weinstein. “Now that the Harvey thing came out, everybody is feeling this moment. But I think it’s deeper than that,” Lipman said. He said women marched on Washington, D.C., and now there’s the men’s playing field and the women’s playing field. “Men don’t have the right to play on a woman’s field, unless there’s a joint relationship that happens between a woman and a man.

“I don’t think it’s fashion, film and creative arts. This has been going on for ages. I think that the playing field is being leveled right now and rightfully so. I don’t think we’ll ever go back. I hope not. Of course s–t will happen which we don’t like,” he continued.

He recalled going to St. Barths with Peter Lindbergh and shooting Amber Valletta for the first time for David Yurman. “We were so joyous and celebratory, and I don’t think anything happened and we were worried about one thing — do great pictures,” Lipman said. “We did crazy antics to get crazy pictures, but never abused anybody. I’ve worked with so many photographers. I worked with Terry Richardson. Terry never abused anybody when I worked with him. And we laughed, but he never abused anybody,” he insisted.

“I wish I could give you a scandalous story, but it didn’t exist,” he said.

Lipman admitted he has worked with difficult stylists with big egos. “I’ve had abusive stylists, but sexually abusive? Maybe emotionally abusive. They take it out on the girls and guys and they took it out on me. I always embraced that banter back and forth. The best ones really believed in what they were doing,” he said.

Many years ago he worked with a photographer who died of AIDS, who abused people on the set. “I got in a fist fight with him. He was abusing someone who worked at the hotel. We were rolling on the floor fighting,” said Lipman. He said he had an experience many years ago when there were drugs on the shoot, and he stopped the shoot immediately.

Lipman said that when a guy takes a picture of a woman, or a guy takes a picture of a guy or a gay guy, “There’s a law of attraction that does exist, but there’s a fine line that you have to be aware of.

“I’m all for falling in love and I’m all for romance. The idea of taking pictures is a very intimate thing, even where there’s 50 people around. There’s a connection between photographer and subject that’s always there, but there’s got to be respect. When a photographer falls in love with a subject, I don’t mean romantically but falls in love with his or her spirit, that’s magic,” he said. “When a photographer or a movie producer or a president of the U.S. touches or abuses somebody, there’s no room for that. And as a society we have to stop it,” said Lipman.

Charles DeCaro, co-creative director of Laspata DeCaro, a New York-based ad agency, whose founding partners do the photography and styling, said about sexual harassment: “It doesn’t exist on my set. We’ve made this very sheltered existence. That dynamic is not prevalent on our sets whatsoever.”

He also has heard stories about harassment that has taken place on fashion shoots or on the runway. “It doesn’t have to be sexual harassment, it’s just harassment, period. It’s the fact that someone has to fit into this stereotypical string-bean, swizzle-stick vision of a stylist is just so bad,” said DeCaro, adding that it’s gotten worse. “We get samples from designers, and who can fit into this?” he said. “Fortunately, we work with girls who are healthy, they eat and they take care of themselves and are very health-conscious. By and large, it’s a little frightening when you hear what happens at the runway shows and what happens on other sets.”

DeCaro believes that what happened with Weinstein is not new by any means. “It’s very prevalent in every industry. In the modeling industry, people are finally saying ‘enough already.’ It’s in the modeling industry it’s in the tech industry, it’s in the pumpkin picking industry. It’s not just related to Hollywood and New York. It’s everywhere,” he said.

“It’s a little mind-boggling how people have gotten away with it for so long, and bravo to people who are finally speaking up about it.”

Neil Kraft, owner and creative director at KraftWorks, said, “I think sexual harassment exists in every business that remotely touches pretty women and men. It’s out there. I’ve only witnessed really bad things once in 25 years. The difference between my kind of thing and a runway model is we travel with the models. We go to Hawaii and travel all over the world.”

He said that during one of his campaign shoots, he walked in on Terry Richardson having sex with a girl in a bathroom. “I don’t know what the relationship was,” Kraft said. “It was during the day and he came back to work a half-hour later. It’s fairly well-known that the models tend to sleep with the assistants. That’s more youthful attraction. Herb Ritts was known to use his boyfriends as models. They were guys he was attracted to,” he alleged.

Asked whether sexual harassment on sets has gotten worse, he said, “I was under the opinion that all these things had gotten better. There was less and less of it out there.”

Questioned about the sexual atmosphere on his sets, Sam Shahid, owner of Shahid & Co., the New York-based ad agency that has done work for clients ranging from Abercrombie & Fitch to Wonderbra, said, “I’ve never been aware of it. It’s ‘you look beautiful, you look fabulous,’ while they’re taking pictures, but I’ve never seen sexual harassment. All these years, I’ve never been aware of any of that. I’ve worked with all of them, and it’s always been really great and fun. I’ve never seen that.”

He said when he did work for Abercrombie & Fitch, “whenever they did the nudes, they [the models] would sign a release and accepted it.”

“We would never do anything if they didn’t do that. It was always fun, the kids had a good time. I never felt it [sexual harassment] at all; if I did, I would never approve of it,” said Shahid.

Asked if he’s ever heard any backlash from models who don’t want to work with certain photographers, he said, “No, if they hear it’s Bruce Weber or Herb Ritts, they’d say, ‘That’s great! We’d love it if it’s Bruce or Herb.'”

Source: WWD.com

 

[dodencebt]

That article is so full of sh*t and we all know it. Tons of stories about sexual abuse and everyone says "it didn't happen on my set", "I've never witnessed it personally". It's not like it was an isolated case that no one has seen - we are talking about years of sexual harassment and abuse. It is statistically impossible that "no one" except models has been a witness.

 

[Benn98]

I'm more annoyed that the writer wasted her time by even asking them. I mean, God, as if they would actually own up and admit to have seen anything suspicious.
Also, photographers wouldn't be that brazen to target these girls in front of witnesses, would they. hey are most likely on their best behaviour in front of execs. Terry is the exception because I'm sure his entire knew everything.

 

[vogue28]

First issue of Vogue isn't even out and I thought this was rather interesting: "Seriously disappointed’: Saira Khan brands new Vogue editor Edward Enninful a ‘stuck-up d**k’ as he ‘couldn’t even stop to acknowledge a charity’ at star-studded event.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...-Edward-Enninful-stuck-d-k.html#ixzz4w3O9KDsM
​

 

[ThatDudeOverTher]

I wouldn't be so quick to discount the accounts of the ad execs. Trust me, we have all heard the stories, but if you're an executive or the client and you're around the set, the predators will be on their absolutely best behavior.

I'm always on different sets and hang out with so many models, so I hear the stories about their experiences and who's doing what, but personally, I have never witnessed or experienced it. There's also A LOT of rumors and made-up lies about people in the fashion industry, so you have to be careful with accepting every story as the truth.

That said, I'm so happy that these stories are coming to light because the stories that I have heard and know to be true, they are truly horrific!

 

[Deleted member 130879]

First issue of Vogue isn't even out and I thought this was rather interesting: "Seriously disappointed’: Saira Khan brands new Vogue editor Edward Enninful a ‘stuck-up d**k’ as he ‘couldn’t even stop to acknowledge a charity’ at star-studded event.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...-Edward-Enninful-stuck-d-k.html#ixzz4w3O9KDsM
​

He might be doing a bit on terms of racial diversity but he is everything but "aware". Racial diversity happens to help his little agenda but remember that his idea of diversity until this moment is his BFFs Naomi and Adwoa Aboah. It's no different than Dior's brand of feminism. It's capitalist and stinking of money/status privilege - it's more of a insta-marketing tool than anything else.

That being said: isn't this woman one of those classless and extremely rude TV "critics"?

 

[dsamg]

Does anyone think it is a little weird that he is fine working with Terry then openly tells dietprada that they are the best for commenting that Terry should be boycotted? Dietprada also reposted the campaign with a Boycott Terry message. Is Piergiorgio not a bit of a hypocrite for proudly casting girls to work with a predator then telling someone they are the best when they say the predator should be boycotted?

 

[MissMagAddict]

Purge...

Report: Terry Richardson Blacklisted by Top Fashion Magazines

Fashion photographer Terry Richardson has reportedly been blacklisted by a number of top fashion magazines published by the media group Condé Nast International. An internal email sent out Monday by James Woolhouse, the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, warned the heads of several leading publications to sever ties with the New York-based photographer, the Daily Telegraph reports. Condé Nast International publishes Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and GQ, among other well-known titles. “Condé Nast would like to no longer work with the photographer Terry Richardson. Any shoots that have been commission[ed] or any shoots that have been completed but not yet published, should be killed and substituted with other material,” the email said, according to the report. Woolhouse provided no reason for the new policy, but it comes amid increasing scrutiny over sexual harassment and misconduct in Hollywood and the fashion industry in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Richardson has repeatedly been accused of sexually exploiting models over the years, though he has denied the allegations.

source | thedailybeast

 

[KateTheGreatest]

So these allegations have been following Richardson for years and most of the industry still continued to hire him and pretend like nothing is happening. But with the Weinstein scandal suddenly they will not hire him anymore? Sounds like they are more afraid of the backlash than anything else ....

 

[Benn98]

Good! Now Emmanuelle Alt can weep into her her pillow over that email. Other then VP and Vogue China, very few CN titles used him anyway so it's no big loss for them. Hearst is the biggest culprit, most notably US Harper's Bazaar.

 

[Nymphaea]

Finally, but years too late, therefore they only seem to be concerned for themselves and not for the victims.

 

[dodencebt]

Yes, it's clear that they did it out of fear of backlash amid this Weinstein mess. But hey, I guess better late than never.

 

[Deleted member 130879]

Actually, I remember Vogue boycotting him years ago (2014, maybe) and quickly starting to use him again as soon as the sand settled. I believe that's what will happen again.

Also, he was seen partying and going out with Enninful (lol, of course he was) very recently amidst this resurgence of work. They were openly pushing for his comeback so this comes out as nothing more than vile hypocrisy to me.

Either way, even if it only lasts a few months, it is enough to keep him away for a while.

 

[fashionista-ta]

Good! Now Emmanuelle Alt can weep into her her pillow over that email. Other then VP and Vogue China, very few CN titles used him anyway so it's no big loss for them. Hearst is the biggest culprit, most notably US Harper's Bazaar.

And Town & Country. He clearly has a friend at Hearst ...

 

[Benn98]

Hypebeast Partygoers Sustain Burns, Eye Damage From Sorayama Pop-Up

Instead of black lights, the venue had installed a type of UVC lighting used for disinfecting.

By Tiffany Ap on October 26, 2017


The party was to celebrate Hypebeast's collaboration with Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama.

HONG KONG — Guests who attended a Hypebeast party on Oct. 20 have reported painful burns and eye injuries, including concern over potential long-term damage to their vision, after being exposed to improper lighting at the streetwear site’s Club Sorayama pop-up.

Guests — upward of 60 people, according to local newspaper Apple Daily — said they are suffering from photokeratitis and peeling skin after being exposed to lighting at the party that is usually used for disinfectant purposes.

“I woke up at 3 a.m. basically four hours after the event with extreme pain in my eyes,” said James Acey, who DJ’ed at the event for three hours. “I couldn’t really see or open my eyes for too long. My eyes were watering. I was just confused and [later] I heard that other people were sunburnt from the party.”

After seeing a doctor, Acey was told he had “welder’s eye.”

“It’s basically exposure to UV rays, UVC rays in particular, without protection. So when you see someone flash welding, they’re using a mask. If they weren’t, this is the condition they would have,” he said.

Another attendee, Kitty Wong, said that her eyes are feeling strained and gritty — as if they have sand in them — nearly a week later. “My eyes are still kind of sore. It feels like I’ve been looking at a screen, but more intense.”

An investigation is under way, Hypebeast said in a statement, but the cause appears to be “nonapproved lighting in a part of the area in the venue without our knowledge”. It was installed by a contractor, the company said.

The company said it “places safety as our utmost priority” and urged guests to seek medical advice, adding they have sought out legal counsel.

“The case is now under investigation by the insurance company and we are not in a position at the moment to draw conclusions about what happened,” Hypebeast said.

The party at The Landmark mall was the second of three planned events for Hypebeast’s pop-up store, each featuring a different collaboration and exclusive merchandise, scheduled to run until the end of the year. The first was a partnership with photographic duo Places + Faces in August. Last Friday’s event featured the Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama, known for his erotic depictions of feminized robots, encompassing an in-store exhibition due to run until Nov. 5. The store has been shut down until further notice.

A source within Hypebeast, who requested anonymity, said the third event may not go ahead as staff were told to delete any trace of the pop-up dates from the company’s web site. However, a company spokeswoman said it was still planned as scheduled.

Acey has criticized the company’s slow response and is concerned about long-term damage to his vision. Told initially for days not much more than there was “an investigation” being carried out, Acey said he went back to the venue on Oct. 23, which was then still open, to personally examine the lighting. He found that instead of black lights, installed were Philips TUV 30W G30 T8 lights, a type that emits 12.0W of UVC radiation and is mainly used as a disinfectant.
The lights were a model from Philips TUV 30W G30 T8 meant to be used for disinfecting.

“Basically, it felt like they were covering it up, they wanted to take care of it quietly,” Acey said. “They said they were going to reach out to everybody one by one, which I knew wasn’t true, because there were people who were affected that they hadn’t reached out to. Rather than them make a public statement [initially], they were handling it in some hush-hush way.”

He continued: “We all who were affected by it kind of found each other and just been sharing our symptoms. Some people have flaky skin, their skin is peeling. My skin is peeling on my forehead, around my eyes. Because I’m black this is new to me, I don’t usually get sunburnt. It’s the handling of it [that bothers me]. A mistake was made; I don’t know if it was by HBX, Landmark or contractors.”

Share prices of Hypebeast Ltd., which listed earlier this year on Hong Kong’s GEM board, fell 2.4 percent Thursday.

Hong Kong Land, the landlord of The Landmark mall, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Source: WWD.com

 

[fashionista-ta]

Sometimes it's a beautiful thing to not be cool enough to be invited to events like this. My eyes and my skin are absolutely fine ...

 

[Benn98]

Sometimes it's a beautiful thing to not be cool enough to be invited to events like this. My eyes and my skin are absolutely fine ...

Lol, that's so you to say something like that!

I must admit I sometimes try to read Hypebeast (2/3 times a month), but then that whole Off-White/Gosha/streetstyle thing becomes too much to bear for me and I'm out.

The symptoms made me squirm though! A sensation of sand in your eyes, and being unable to get it out?? My idea of hell!

 

[Deleted member 130879]

The symptoms made me squirm though! A sensation of sand in your eyes, and being unable to get it out?? My idea of hell!

I suffer from chronic uveitis and during my first crisis I had that same feeling for almost a month. It was terrible, the worst I've ever felt in my life. I would wake up during the night crying thinking I could go blind anytime.

I do hope the people suffering from the burns sue the hell out of them. This is criminal and irresponsible. And the way the organizers are trying to run away from responsibility is disgusting.