Sexual Misconduct Allegations in the Fashion Industry

[lucy92]

Bruce Weber has a new book out via Taschen this month - and it's portraits of golden retrievers. Not male models.

 

[axiomatic]

Jason Binn arrested for allegedly grabbing teen kin's buttocks

Jet-setting media publisher Jason Binn was arrested Monday for allegedly grabbing a teen female relative’s buttocks after a swanky meal at a Manhattan restaurant on Valentine’s Day.

The DuJour magazine chief and longtime Hamptons mainstay, 54, was hit with misdemeanor raps alleging forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree sex abuse at his arraignment Monday afternoon.

Wearing a mask, Binn desperately tried to avoid having his picture taken in court and had to be directed to face the judge at one point — an angle that exposed him to photographers.

Binn was released on his own recognizance and left hastily without comment. He is due back in court next month.

According to a police report and law-enforcement sources, Binn allegedly squeezed the buttocks of the 16-year-old family member over her clothes without her consent after eating at the Italian hotspot Cipriani around 8 p.m. in February.

The alleged victim went to police in late April to file a complaint, sources said.

Media publisher Jason Binn was arrested for allegedly grabbing a teen female relative’s buttocks in a Manhattan restaurant in February

Binn allegedly “forcibly touched the sexual and other intimate parts of another person for the purpose of degrading and abusing such person, and for the purpose of gratifying the defendant’s sexual desire,” court papers state.

The well-heeled defendant declined comment to The Post on Monday. His lawyer, Alan Sash, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Binn’s divorce lawyer, Valentina Shaknes, said in a statement, “This is unfortunately the latest chapter in a long and bitter divorce proceeding.

“We will not be commenting any further.”

The publishing impresario founded Niche Media, an umbrella brand for a series of luxury lifestyle publications catering to elite enclaves in cities including Aspen and Los Angeles.

Binn split with his ex-wife Haley in 2016, and divorce proceedings are still ongoing, sources said. The pair have two daughters and a son.

Binn is routinely photographed with celebrities across the globe, including Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Chrissy Teigen.

 

[Benn98]

If he went that far physically, how far did he go mentally?

Sick! Am I reaching or did the divorce lawyer just allude that this lawsuit may have something to do with the divorce which if true must mean that his wife believed the victim....which.... There's more to this story. High society doesn't just divorce on impulse.

 

[Drusilla_]

If he went that far physically, how far did he go mentally?

Sick! Am I reaching or did the divorce lawyer just allude that this lawsuit may have something to do with the divorce which if true must mean that his wife believed the victim....which.... There's more to this story. High society doesn't just divorce on impulse.

That's what it sounds like to me, Benn - like the wife believes the teenager, and the lawyer is trying to make it seem like this is some kind of ploy on the wife's part? But seeing some of the excuses these men come up with to smear and discredit their victims, or misdirect from the real issue at hand, is absolutely disgusting, just as much in 2022 as it was in 2009.

 

[BalkaniStaCouture]

Edie Campbell interview: ‘Everyone knew about allegations of sexual harassment against Mario Testino’​

Edie Campbell says 'everyone knew' about allegations of sexual harassment against Mario Testino

The British model speaks to Olivia Petter about predatory photographers, racial diversity, and why the fashion industry should impose a carbon tax

www.independent.co.uk

 

[BalkaniStaCouture]

'Reacher' Star Alan Ritchson Says 'Very Famous Photographer' Sexually Assaulted Him​

The High Highs and Low Lows of Alan Ritchson

'Reacher' shot him into Hollywood’s top tier, but behind that success — the 41-year-old reveals in an unusually candid interview — was a harrowing struggle with bipolar disorder, sexual assault and a suicide attempt that he survived with a mix of faith, love and brute force.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

At the runway show and a VIP dinner afterwards, Ritchson was seated next to Mario Testino, one of the industry’s most prolific photographers, who later that year shot Voguecovers featuring Beyoncé and Amanda Seyfried, a spread featuring Justin Bieber and Kendall Jenner, and a Vanity Fair cover with Taylor Swift. “He wouldn’t keep his hands off me,” Ritchson says. “The entire time we were sitting at dinner, he was trying to rub my crotch under the table. I was like, ‘Get your hands off me, dude. I lived that life with people like you where you feel like you can just have anybody. I’m not an object to you. I’m way past that now, dude.’ But he was entertained by it. He thought it was the funniest thing. The rejection seemed to make Testino more aggressive, Ritchson claims. “I’m trying to enjoy conversations with the playmakers in the industry and the whole time, he wouldn’t leave me alone. I ended up leaving early, but he called my hotel room later that night and begged me to come over. He said, ‘I’ve never googled someone right after meeting them. What have you done to me? My car is out front.’ Then he said he loved manly men ‘because they kick harder.’ He was disappointed that I wouldn’t come to his place,” Ritchson says, adding that Testino went so far as to offer him a cover of Vogue if he slept with him that night. “I was like, ‘I don’t give a sh*t about the cover of Vogue. I don’t give a sh*t about whatever opportunity you want to dangle in front of me.

Four years later, almost to the day, The New York Timespublished an explosive investigation that detailed allegations of sexual misconduct by Testino and Bruce Weber. Fifteen male models who worked with Weber and 13 male assistants and models who worked with Testino came forward with claims of sexual misconduct and coercion. “I’ve had problems with both of them,” says Ritchson, who recalls seeing the investigation at the time it was published in early 2018, months into the tidal wave of #MeToo claims that surfaced following exposés about Harvey Weinstein published by the Times and The New Yorker in late 2017. “Some of the stories were just like mine. I was just starting to build a platform and get my voice in the business, and I wondered, ‘Should I say something?’ Because all of the stories that those models were telling were my own. It’s all true.”

 

[Bertrando3]

Huge props for Edie Campbell and Alan Ritchson for speaking out however what makes me mad is that many people ALL ACROSS THE WORLD who work in our industry know about these sick photographers, crazy designers and disgusting behaviour from people in these high places but they never speak out. Nowadays in this #metoo era, you can call out these criminals AND YET most of them run free, still have friends in high places and nothing truly happens. So then when photographers work with these new models, new agencies and all it's always nuts that they have NO security for them. I can't tell you how many times models told me :
- this has happened to me at a shoot with this or that other photographer
- or this agent didn't pay or this designers or casting director offered me this much to ''move on'' and ''up'' in the industry.

 

[TomBlanksFullFatMiuMiu]

I guess its about consent??? Raquel Zmmermann with Juergen Teller in 2008
She later booked the Marc Jacobs Spring 2009 with Juergen

But when a young model sees this, she might think that a top model is doing these types of shoots, What's so far off and different between Jurgen and Terry after all?
I would argue even consent is changing industry-standard somehow

 

[MulletProof]

Consent is not documented participation, if that was the case, everyone who's ever been abused by someone in their environment and who has naturally continued to engage one way or another with their abuser, would have no case. Same for everyone who has been photographed while being abused. We don't know how she got to that image but doubt that was an unpaid job, being a top model hardly guarantees you walking above any form of abuse or coercion, and the fact that she booked a campaign later says a lot on how negotiations can be made and the pressure coming from different players (photographer, agency, publication, you name it).

To be frank, the problem is not that a young model sees that and 'might' think a top model is doing these types of shoots: a top model IS clearly doing these types of shoots, the image is there. The problem is the collusion between photographer, publication and agency when it comes to telling the young model that that is what top models do, which is not true. It may sound like the same but there's an abysm between these two.

As a side note, hope Raquel's now worked on herself because girl was groomed. She started dating Arthur Elgort's 30 year-old assistant when she was 18 (or so they needed to say), and they got married. Not sure if they're still together (wouldn't be surprised if they are because that's the whole point of grooming) but sometimes you look at these 'carefree' images and there's far more than meets the eye and the lack of consent is so profoundly embedded with a long history of abuse that the terminology itself will fly over one's head.

 

[philophile]

Juergen Teller is overrated (I don't think that's an unpopular opinion) and apparently, based on that photo, he is also a disgusting pig, which is honestly not very hard to imagine. Once in a blue moon he can make one great photograph here and there, but most of his work is appalling and downright ugly. And he's not alone, as I always get the feeling in the past decades that so many Germans (nothing against Germans) get famous for being Germans (a lot of people share a fair bit of kink for Nazi Germany) than for any other reason (exceptions are filmmakers such as Wim Wenders or Rainer Werner Fassbinder amongst others, several actors, models like Heidi Klum, Anna Ewers or Claudia Schiffer, and artists like Gerhard Richter). Germany was once a crib of the avant-garde and people who thought out of the box (German expressionist cinema and painting, Krautrock and the origins of electronic music, the Bauhaus, Jugendstil, etc), but after Nazi Germany, all of these creative rebels were wiped out or had to flee (Nazis were all about tradition and the classical) and while Germany was 'denazified' afterwards, to think outside the norm is STILL a big 'no' , as people are addicted to normality and rules over here. That's why there are way too little creative minds and most of the people who get popular are extremely dull, often even kitschy and just get so big because they like to stir 'controversy'(like Teller) or have a big mouth.

 

[philophile]

I love the German proverb "Ein blindes Huhn findet auch 'mal ein Korn", which translated to English means "Even a blind chicken stumbles across a grain from time to time". That sums up Juergen Teller's work for me.

 

[Olaffo]

Riccardo Tisci Faces Accusations of Sexual Assault

A spokesperson for creative director Riccardo Tisci described the allegations as 'categorically untrue.'

wwd.com

Ooop 🥴

 

[DK92]

Disappointed, but not surprised... Given his lifestyle I think this took a while to happen (I'm referring to the accusation), may justice be served!

 

[style_expert]

I don't think his name was still being seriously considered for the open positions during the recent designer 'musical chairs,' but these accusations will almost certainly eliminate him from the race....

Seriously shocking, if true.

 

[Salvatore]

Well there goes any chance of him going to any house for a while, if ever. Extremely disappointed him if the allegations are true.

 

[br3ncon1]

I mean, he does have a reputation in the NYC nightlife scene, specifically with black men.

 

[style_expert]

Fashion designer Riccardo Tisci accused of drugging and sexually assaulting New York restaurant-goer

Exclusive: “My intentions were never to end up in Riccardo Tisci’s bed,” accuser Patrick Cooper told The Independent​

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A New York man claims iconic fashion designer Riccardo Tisci drugged his drink while out at an East Harlem restaurant, after which he woke up in the former Givenchy creative director’s multimillion-dollar townhouse, naked, without any idea how he got there.​

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In a state lawsuit filed Tuesday, Patrick Cooper accuses Tisci of sexually assaulting him while he was under the influence and unable to consent, alleging the 50-year-old dosed him with an unknown substance in order to make him “so disorientated as to no longer know where he was, what he was doing, or what other people, particularly [Tisci], was [sic] doing to him.”​

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As a result, Cooper, 35, was “unable to reject, fight, stop or defend himself” from Tisci’s “predatory, sexual, and unlawful assault and battery,” according to his complaint.​

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He told The Independent that he “just went out to have a good night. My intentions were never to end up in Riccardo Tisci’s bed. When I woke up, he was kissing me.”​

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Cooper, who describes himself as bisexual, said he headed to the hospital for r*pe kit testing immediately upon leaving Tisci’s luxe SoHo home, then contacted police to make a report.​

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“I remember sipping the drink, and I don't remember anything else,” Cooper contended. “To this day, I still don’t remember anything. Nothing.”​

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Reached by phone, Tisci hung up shortly after being informed what the call was regarding. His agent, Anne Nelson of United Talent Agency, told The Independent, “I regret to inform you that I cannot comment on any matters related to the pending litigation.”​

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In an email, an NYPD spokesperson declined to confirm or deny details of the case, but said, “The NYPD takes sexual assault and r*pe cases extremely seriously, and urges anyone who has been a victim to file a police report so we can perform a comprehensive investigation, and offer support and services to survivors.”​

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A native of Apulia, Italy, Tisci has dressed stars including – among countless others – Beyoncé, Adele, Meryl Streep, Rhianna, Madonna, Cate Blanchett and Kim Kardashian, who wore a Tisci-designed dress for her 2014 wedding to rapper Kanye West. He left Givenchy in 2017, after 12 years, and in 2018 was appointed chief creative officer at Burberry, where he stayed until September 2022. ​

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Further afield, Tisci designed the cover art for Jay-Z and West’s 2011 album Watch the Throne, and is now collaborating with Nike on a line of luxury handbags.​

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“I love romanticism and sensuality, maybe because I come from a family with eight sisters,” Tisci told The New York Times in 2007. “I’m also a person who is very emotional. I like black, I like white. I never like what’s in the middle.”​

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The alleged assault dates to June 29, 2024, when Cooper met Tisci through a mutual friend, according to his complaint. After spending time at a club downtown, Cooper said he, his friend, Tisci, and another man went to 2 Sisters 4 Brothers, a soul food spot on East 116th Street.​

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That’s where Tisci surreptitiously slipped something into Cooper’s drink when he wasn’t looking, Cooper’s complaint alleges.​

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Cooper, who said he is 6-foot-1-inch tall and handles his liquor “very well,” told The Independent that he had only had two or so glasses of wineup until that point and hadn’t been feeling drunk at all.​

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However, the complaint continues, shortly after Cooper finished his drink at 2 Sisters 4 Brothers, he became “disoriented, confused, impaired, intoxicated, unaware of his actions and surroundings, and unable to comprehend what was going on.”​

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“[O]nce the drug took effect… [Tisci] brought [Cooper] back to [his] home, where [Tisci] prevented [Cooper] from leaving and sexually assaulted him,” the complaint states. “When [Cooper] woke up, he found himself naked with [Tisci], (also naked), next to him… Upon information and belief, at the time of the aforesaid sexual assault, [Cooper] lacked the capacity to consent.”​

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When Cooper came to while at Tisci’s swank King Street pad, which he once shared with artist Marina Abramovich, his throat was so dry could barely speak, he told The Independent. ​

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Completely discombobulated, Cooper said he asked Tisci for a glass of water, who walked away unclothed then came back wearing a pair of shorts.​

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“I was like, ‘How did I get here?’ I kept saying, ‘How did I get here?’ I keep asking him how I got there, and he’s not responding,” Cooper recalled. “We go upstairs, my clothes are there, next to the couch.”​

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Cooper said he left, unsure of where he was, then called the friend he had been with the night before.​

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“He’s upset at me, saying, ‘Why would you leave me? I couldn’t find you,’” Cooper went on. “He said he was asking everyone if they knew where I was, so I told him, ‘I don’t remember last night at all.’”​

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The next day, Cooper said he called Tisci, who insisted he didn’t remember him, and asked for a photo. ​

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“I sent the picture, and he goes, ‘I still don’t remember you,’” Cooper said. “I told him, ‘How do you not remember me? I was at your house.’ He goes, ‘Oh yeah, I remember you now. Nothing happened.’ I said, ‘I woke up naked.’ He said, ‘No, you had clothes on.’ And that’s when I knew.”​

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He then decided to retain a lawyer, Cooper said, adding that he “kind of broke down” in the aftermath of the alleged assault.​

“I have not spoken to Riccardo [since], I have not heard from him,” Cooper stated.​

Cooper’s lawsuit accuses Tisci of assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violations of New York State’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act.​

He is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be determined in court.​

Exclusive: “My intentions were never to end up in Riccardo Tisci’s bed,” accuser Patrick Cooper told The Independent

 

[Lola701]

Guilty or not, his lifestyle, what is known about his type, the climate around and the fact that it happened in the US doesn’t play on his favor. He will be guilty de facto for some people.

However, while this situation may have an impact on him working for an US company, I don’t think it will necessary have an impact on his career, that he build after all in Europe. Even more considering the fashion industry overt indulgence towards Kanye West and also the fact that Weber and Testino lost their career for the same accusations that went nowhere.

I have so many questions in my mind but they are irrelevant.

I’m confused, is it Civil or Criminal? I guess some sort of Settlement is expected?

 

[reese06]

Riccardo is pretty strictly a bottom. I’m not buying the allegations to be honest. He simply does not have a desire for that part of a man and topping in my personal experience

 

[yslforever]

Guilty or not, his lifestyle, what is known about his type, the climate around and the fact that it happened in the US doesn’t play on his favor. He will be guilty de facto for some people.

However, while this situation may have an impact on him working for an US company, I don’t think it will necessary have an impact on his career, that he build after all in Europe. Even more considering the fashion industry overt indulgence towards Kanye West and also the fact that Weber and Testino lost their career for the same accusations that went nowhere.

I have so many questions in my mind but they are irrelevant.

I’m confused, is it Civil or Criminal? I guess some sort of Settlement is expected?

I have read the article and the lawsuit, but there are no indications of any involvement of the NYPD or a prosecutor, so it looks like it's only civil for the moment, and dare I say "only" allegations. So probably a settlement ?
EDIT: also this townhouse has been listed for rent 2 weeks ago.