Georgina Chapman’s fashion brand Marchesa has reportedly cancelled its upcoming New York Fashion Week show in the wake of the widespread allegations of sexual assault against her soon-to-be ex-husband, film producer Harvey Weinstein.
The label, which was co-founded by Chapman and her business partner Keren Craig in 2004, was set to present its latest collection on February 14th, the final day of New York Fashion Week. Yesterday, the New York Post reported that Marchesa had decided to swap the catwalk show for a digital presentation.
‘Georgina couldn’t go through with it,’ a fashion industry source told the publication. ‘She was too scared.’
‘They were gung-ho… but as they got closer, she choked,’ the source added. Marchesa responded with a statement that the brand is ‘looking forward to presenting their Fall ’18 collection in an updated format this season.’
The label hasn’t held a presentation since showing at Bridal Fashion Week in New York last October, an event which coincided with the New York Times’ publication of their exposé of the sexual assault allegations against Weinstein.
Since the Weinstein scandal broke, a major question mark has hung over the future of Marchesa, which was previously a popular red carpet choice for actresses during awards season. It has emerged, however, that Weinstein forced a number of stars to wear his wife’s designs for high profile occasions, even threatening to pull funding from their projects if they refused to do so.
In October, an LA publicist told the Hollywood Reporter that the disgraced producer bullied Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman into wearing Marchesa on the red carpet, telling her that he would pull publicity funding for her film Transamerica if she wore another designer.
Sienna Miller was also reportedly told that Weinstein ‘would be very upset if she didn’t wear Marchesa’ when she sat at his table at the 2007 Golden Globes.
Earlier this year, Jessica Chastain revealed that Weinstein attempted to coerce her into wearing a Marchesa gown for the premiere of The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby in 2013, a demand which she refused, choosing instead to wear Versace.