Sexual Misconduct Allegations in the Fashion Industry

[sore]

^lol, I was already wondering why she was so late to the party.

I'm A LOT more mad at Catherine Deneuve. I don't think Brigitte Bardot has uttered a single coherent sentence in the last ten years.

 

[rubydon]

The Bardot and Denueve comments remind me that there are some women (and men) who have managed to make the outgoing patriarchal system work in their favor. It doesn't surprise me that they'd want to maintain the status quo.

 

[fashionista-ta]

Brigitte is pretty renowned for being off the deep end with her views. I didn't know about her 5 offenses ... You really could sell these views in an antique shop.

I have definitely read that Annie Leibovitz can be beyond difficult to work with. From what I've read, there really seems to be something wrong, perhaps in addition to being a jerk. I have never gotten a hint of sexual harassment in what I've read ... but I believe what I saw was written by a man or men.

 

[tomtakesphotos]

I've heard from Annie's assistants that she is terrible, but, to hurt her career, she seems to be doing the most by producing such terrible photos over and over and so clearly relying on heavy photoshop. That's enough.

I don't think you can compare what Bruce + Testino have done to Galliano's situation. It's troublesome to do so. Bruce + Testino systematically abused young models, and wielded their power to do so. Galliano had a public breakdown + used racist language in 1 instance which was not consistent with his impact on the industry etc.

 

[Les_Sucettes]

Someone needs to check the drinking water which these beloved icons in France seems to be sipping on.....



Source: Theguardian.com

*sight* The usual suspects...I guess the National Front just woke up.
And someone please do us the favour of asking Alain Delon’s opinion...

 

[Deleted member 141523]

What about sexuality in France? Is it so different from the rest? I'm a bit confused.

 

[vetements]

What about sexuality in France? Is it so different from the rest? I'm a bit confused.

Don’t hate me but yeah, I am of the opinion that men-women relationship seem to be somewhat different in France, like that in Japan, compared to say USA

 

[dsamg]

I've heard from Annie's assistants that she is terrible, but, to hurt her career, she seems to be doing the most by producing such terrible photos over and over and so clearly relying on heavy photoshop. That's enough.

I don't think you can compare what Bruce + Testino have done to Galliano's situation. It's troublesome to do so. Bruce + Testino systematically abused young models, and wielded their power to do so. Galliano had a public breakdown + used racist language in 1 instance which was not consistent with his impact on the industry etc.

Um Galliano did not just use racist language. Almost everyone uses racist language from time to time. He publicly voiced his support of genocide and told people they should be 'f-ing gassed and f-ing dead' if his great love Hitler was still around. He didn't just get drunk and use a racial slur. I have been very very drunk a lot of times and it is never ever normal whatsoever to be drunk enough that you become a Nazi supporter. He is a bad person, full stop, sick of people blaming addiction.

 

[Lola701]

What about sexuality in France? Is it so different from the rest? I'm a bit confused.

It's not so much about France than Latin countries i believe. I think the difference between France and the rest of the world is that we had a lot of different revolution since 68. The 68 generation (Catherine Deneuve was a part of that generation) believed in the "It's forbidden to forbid" thing.
While we have always been known as very liberated with sex, actually french society was for a longtime bourgeois and uptight. The parisian scene was always a bit edgier and forward thinking. When in the 80's, the left party took the country, it really changed and shaped a generation. It was a generation of great freedom (that's why french people really loved the 80's more than any other decade) and overtime that generation took the power, in the medias, in debates and things like that and in a way today, there's a real clash of generation.

About the MeToo movement, you have actually almost 4 generations who are fighting: Catherine Deneuve is from the 68 generation of feminists and in a way, her role in Belle De Jour was totally representative of that. And she is a "bourgeoise de Gauche" (she supports the left party). Then you have people like Millet who is from the right party so, who is a lot more conservative.

Then, in the middle, you have Brigitte Bardot and guys like Alain Delon who came up before Deneuve, before the feminists talks, at a time where sexuality and social relationships between men & women were very defined in the most "macho" way...Even if none of them had the typical bourgeois life. They are very close to the extreme-right parties and i find it quite dishonest from the press to actually ask them something because they are really about buzzing for the sake of it. Nobody cares in France about Alain Delon and Brigitte Bardot. They have more relevance for people outside of the country than for us. Those people only cares about themselves...

And the last generation is the 80's one who grew up with the ideas of the 68 one but we evolved and pushed the debate. Truth to be told, we have a stronger voice and maybe sometimes we are receiving a lot of backlash because were are ready to start a controversy, a debate over everything. Older generations don't like the fact that we "killed" conversations as they said and that we are more and more "Americanized" because for them, our progressism is tending to be more about puritanism.

 

[Deleted member 130879]

Um Galliano did not just use racist language. Almost everyone uses racist language from time to time. He publicly voiced his support of genocide and told people they should be 'f-ing gassed and f-ing dead' if his great love Hitler was still around. He didn't just get drunk and use a racial slur. I have been very very drunk a lot of times and it is never ever normal whatsoever to be drunk enough that you become a Nazi supporter. He is a bad person, full stop, sick of people blaming addiction.

Yes, you are right. Yet, the women were being disgusting homophobic c**** and provoking him. I'm 100% sure that situation was created to make him fall, you can clearly see them manipulating the conversation until he said that disgusting bs. And so he did fall and rightfully so. But pretending it wasn't a trap and that they were victims is dangerous. Hell, they were even laughing after he said that.

 

[dsamg]

Yes, you are right. Yet, the women were being disgusting homophobic c**** and provoking him. I'm 100% sure that situation was created to make him fall, you can clearly see them manipulating the conversation until he said that disgusting bs. And so he did fall and rightfully so. But pretending it wasn't a trap and that they were victims is dangerous. Hell, they were even laughing after he said that.

Yeah, sorry, no. You can't manipulate the average drunk person into being a Nazi supporter. Maybe you don't think the women were victims, but think of the millions of other victims related to his self-professed love of Hitler.

 

[Benn98]

Are there any fashion photographers not accused of sexual harassment?

The suspension of Bruce Weber and Mario Testino, along with Terry Richardson, after multiple accusations, means Vogue has to find some new snappers

Hadley Freeman @HadleyFreeman
Wed 17 Jan 2018 17.00 GMT Last modified on Thu 18 Jan 2018 05.41 GMT


Now that Mario Testino and Bruce Weber are suspended from Condé Nast following allegations of sexual exploitation, who the heck is left to take photos for Vogue?

Zac the intern using his iPhone? I jest, obviously (all Vogue interns are called things like Lady Charlotte Aristo de Money and Kate Moss’s Daughter). But it’s certainly true that the biggest photographers in the industry seem to be falling like skittles, what with Terry Richardson suspended last year, and now Weber and Testino, felled by allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of male models and assistants. All deny the allegations, but Condé Nast, to its credit, suspended the photographers as soon as the story was published in the New York Times last weekend, suggesting reaction times have improved of late. After all, Condé Nast International didn’t drop Richardson until – hmmmm, let me check my diary – October last year, even though some of us were writing about the multiple allegations against him five years ago. I guess suspending accused molesters just wasn’t in fashion back then.


But this does leave fashion magazines in something of a quandary given that, unlike Playboy, no one has ever bought Vogue for the articles. It also prompts an existential question: if a fashion magazine doesn’t include a grinning photo of a celebrity on the cover taken by Testino, does it actually exist? Alas, I have misplaced the world’s tiniest violin again.

Weber, arguably best known for taking homoerotica into the mainstream with his 90s campaigns for Abercrombie and Fitch, faced more allegations on Wednesday when the website Business of Fashion published multiple accounts of male models saying he abused them, with some going all the way back to 1982.

“Any time you’d bring Bruce up it was always like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s a little weird, he’s a little creepy, he does these weird breathing exercises,” Jason Boyce, a male model who has filed suit against Weber, told the website. “No one would ever fully fledged say: ‘He assaulted me.’ It was always like a shrug it off, ‘Oh well, let’s not make this a big deal,’ as men do, ‘Let’s not make this a big deal’ ... The culture was: you did what you were told. That was how they sold it. If you just do what I tell you, you’ll make it. My agent told me that all the time.” (When the new allegations were put to Weber’s representative, he repeated his earlier denial of the “outrageous claims”.)

Now, the fashion industry is a small world, and a gossipy one. And while we can all act like no one in positions of power on fashion magazines heard anything suspicious about Weber in the 36 years since these allegations began, I’m just not sure I have the energy. Perhaps I need to go on a January detox? Would green juice help?


A tangential issue here is why so many photographers are being accused of sexual harassment and why it has taken so long for anyone to act on the allegations. For reasons I’ve never understood, photographers are treated like gods in the fashion world. I get that fashion is a visual medium, but a lot of people are involved in making those visuals: the editors, the stylists, the makeup artists and so on. But go on a fashion shoot, and they all flutter around the photographer as if he were the wicked witch of the west and they mere flying monkeys. And as the allegations against Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose and so on suggest, when you treat some men like gods, they tend to think they can do what they want, and they can, because no one stops them.

So boo hoo to magazine editors who will – at least for the time being – have to think of more than three photographers to feature in their publications for the first time in about 30 years, and hello brave future, in which all magazine shoots are done by Annie Leibovitz. Who knows, maybe magazines might consider commissioning a second female photographer instead of always relying on these men? Ha ha, don’t worry, just kidding. That’s just crazy talk!

Source: Theguardian.com

 

[Deleted member 130879]

Yeah, sorry, no. You can't manipulate the average drunk person into being a Nazi supporter. Maybe you don't think the women were victims, but think of the millions of other victims related to his self-professed love of Hitler.

I was referring to those two women specifically. Those two weren't victims, just a couple of homophobic clowns. And yes, you can pretty much manipulate a drunk to say anything.

That being said, I do believe he had that inside of him. He might be a nazi sympathizer, I totally believe that. There are many people like that in fashion. But I do believe 100% that he would never say that publicly if he wasn't drunk.

Just imagine if Karl was caught drunk on tape being teased. Oh boy...

But again, his views are rotten, his behaviour was despicable, but Testino and Weber (allegedly...) made careers of systematic sexual harassment and intimidation. That is, in my book, way worse.

 

[Deleted member 141523]

Well, Vogue can hire tons of talented photographers; Meisel, Roversi, Walker, Nick Knight, E.V. Unwerth, Vanderperre, Burbridge, Klein, Mc Dean, Sundsbo, Akrans... I mean, they have lots of options. I'm still in shock after these news, I don't have words.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ This is true ... hilarious column, though.

 

[Benn98]

Well, Vogue can hire tons of talented photographers; Meisel, Roversi, Walker, Nick Knight, E.V. Unwerth, Vanderperre, Burbridge, Klein, Mc Dean, Sundsbo, Akrans... I mean, they have lots of options. I'm still in shock after these news, I don't have words.

They do have a lot of options but I think realistically (and maybe stylistically as well) Klein and McDean are the only two who can tackle celebrities on the same level as Testino. In the US Akrans is not a CN photographer, Meisel won't shoot for them, Von Unwerth style is too kitschy for the magazine, I doubt someone as limited as Vanderperre will even be considered, and Roveri and Walker are such wild cards. I am surprised at Sundsbo's smooth commercial take with the latest HB cover, so he's definitely one to consider. I think for most part Vogue will just veer more towards M&M, Jansson, I&V, Leibovitz and Demarchelier. But maybe the magazine will finally recruit new names, and in the process save some pennies.

I doubt Edward even considered using Testino because that's not his jam. Angelica Cheung is trying to focus more on Chinese photographers, so Testino won't be a big loss for her. Alt will also be fine without him. It's mainly US Vogue who still relied on him heavily.

 

[Deleted member 141523]

^ This is true ... hilarious column, though.

They are all I can remember!

 

[ThatDudeOverTher]

If US Vogue is worried about problematic photographers and the potential for more people to come out with stories, they won't be in a hurry to work with neither Klein nor M&M (Mert)[allegedly]....

 

[Deleted member 141523]

I forget Patrick! He's one of my faves, for sure! Also I like I&V and M&M Guys. And I miss Ritts, Penn, Stern and Avedon. By the way, I think that Jansson is a terrific choice. His Vogue covers are among the best of the last decade, and Klein is very good for them. I can't buy Annie, maybe because her pictures are beautiful, but there is a lack of reality on them. And I have started to dislike Testino after watching The September Issue. That photoshoped cover with Sienna Miller, with her interchangeable head, was very disrespectful. That's not the way to shoot a Vogue cover.

 

[tomtakesphotos]

If Anna Wintour is reading, I beg...

PLEASE do NOT replace Testino + Weber with stale(surely overpriced) grandpa Demarchelier OR his son, and please don't make Jan Wenner's son a regular now either, his work is nicely retouched snapshots, Cass Bird or Angelo Penetta do it much better, without being modelizers.

I think Mikael Jansson, Inez + Vinoodh, Oliver Hadlee Pearch(that Iman ed in Jamaica!!!), can Michael Thompson come back and see if he still has it? There are so many more but those stick out. Collier Schorr does a great job when the vibe/person is right, I would LOVE to see Alasdair's take on some of US Vogue's regular actresses.

There are so many great talents to replace these two.