Fed-up models are making a list and checking it twice — though maybe not fact-checking it.
The fashion world is abuzz about @s–tmodelmgmt — an Instagram account linked to a web page that launched on Tuesday naming nearly 300 alleged sexual predators in the biz. The anonymous author of the “blacklist,” who didn’t respond to our email, writes about the names on the list, “I am simply publishing what was sent to me.” Inclusions are “based on solid information,” the compiler said.
While some of the names on the list, like shutterbug Bruce Weber, have had public accusations made against them, it’s unclear what other people on the rundown have allegedly done. Weber maintains the allegations against him are untrue.
Many of the names are followed by an asterisk, which denotes the offender has been reported more than three times to the site’s author and “should be avoided at all cost.”
Model Alliance activist Sara Ziff champions the rights of fashion world workers, but warns about rushing to judgment.
(Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Fashion FilmFes)
Noticeably missing is filmmaker Harvey Weinstein, whose alleged assault against model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez in 2015 helped pave the way for dozens of women in show business to speak out about the disgraced movie mogul. However, she worries a list like this could cause collateral damage.
“I don’t know about everybody, (but) I know a few of them on this list and I can tell you they never did anything bad to me,” Gutierrez said.
Model Alliance founder Sara Ziff’s organization has helped draft legislation designed to protect fashion workers. She too wonders if a list like this one, though maybe well intentioned, could be problematic.
“We should be concerned about the dismissal of due process,” said Ziff, a Columbia-educated model. “We cannot be careless about conducting investigations and verifying accounts. The immediate response has been a rush to expulsion, and in some cases, when there have been multiple accounts of misconduct, that may be justified. But in other cases, there may be very different points of view about what transpired.”
One fashion world veteran with 20 years of experience says she’s worked with several people of the list, plus photographer Terry Richardson, who somehow isn’t on the rundown despite being under police investigation for sexual misconduct, as we first reported.
“I think the vast majority of the people on that list are there for a reason,” she said, adding that “for the first time ever, you have a group of privileged males who are terrified because their true nature is going to be exposed.”
She suggests that men who feel they’re unfairly listed should seek PR help — “and not the publicist who did Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey.”
