#MeToo storm on
Alexander Wang
: a dozen models and a trans model accuse the American designer of Taiwanese origin of having stretched out his hands taking advantage of the darkness, the excitement and the glamor of the New York nightlife, the same scene that in the last decade helped former Balenciaga creative director build his empire.
The first allegations came to light late last year.
A post on TikTok by British model Owen Mooney who accused Wang of being harassed in 2017 in a New York club, was followed by similar stories, many of them anonymous, shared and amplified on Instagram accounts such as @shitmodelmanagement and Diet Prada. dedicated to collecting examples of
exploitation in the fashion industry
.
Backed by Anna Wintour and Diane von Furstenberg and often
mentioned as one of the "new pioneers" capable of taking American fashion
beyond the era of Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, Wang called Mooney's allegations "baseless and grotesquely false ".
Since then, however, the cause of the alleged victims has been taken to heart by Lisa Bloom: the lawyer who helped get Bill O'Reilly kicked out of Fox - writes the New York Times today - has agreed to represent ten men who would like put the 37-year-old designer in the dock.
Wang in turn hired two high-profile lawyers, Eric George and Andrew Brettler, and on February 12, just days before the start of Fashion Week, his official website posted a video for the Lunar New Year.
And since 2018 that the designer has not participated in the New York fashion week of which he was once a darling with maxi-parties in the after-show open to the general public that went on until the small hours.
"He was known for his professionalism, but also for being a party man. This is normal in the fashion industry," publicist Kelly Cutrone told the Times.
But what seems to be emerging now is that Wang's parties and clubs too often became hunting grounds.
Among the accusers of the designer came Gia Garison, a trans model, and David Casavant, a designer himself and fashion archivist, who had occasionally worked for Wang and met him socially at parties and clubs.
Similar stories: in one case from Slake, in the other at the Green Room in Brooklyn: "They introduced us to the Vip Room, I continued dancing, and then I felt his hand pull down my underwear to bare my genitals" , Gia said.
And Casavant also saw his pants and underwear drop: "I had drunk too much - he told the New York Times - I was so visibly vulnerable. He wanted to humiliate me. Even if it happens at a party and it's late at night, I wouldn't say it's 'normal behavior ".