Will the “Weinstein of fashion” fall? Carla Bruni and other models are mobilizing

Article originally published on September 8, 2021.

Can a fashion #MeToo take place? This is the question that has been agitating the sector for several years, particularly around the case of Gérald Marie, former European boss of the powerful Elite modeling agency.

Several models have testified and still testify against him to investigators in Paris, even though there is prescription of the facts for most of them, and that therefore is considered innocent by the French justice at this time.

An undercover reporter as a model, sexually assaulted

What has (re) activated this affair, which is well known in the industry, is Lisa Brinkwortha former BBC reporter.

For one year, in 1998, she pretends she wants to become a model to carry out an undercover investigation about inappropriate behavior in agencies. Because already, at the time, the rumors in particular presented Gérald Marie as an agent as urgent as he was powerful.

The BBC broadcasts the result of his infiltration with a hidden microphone on November 23, 1999: among other things, Gérald Marie suggests that he give his guests oral sex during a dinner, or even offers him 500 euros to spend the night with her.

In the documentary there is no sexual assault suffered by Lisa Brinkworth, whom Elite attacked for defamation, preventing any retransmission, but also exploitation of the images and soundtracks of the shooting. So much so that the journalist was initially unable to use it to try to get justice, even though she says she suffered threats and intimidation following the first broadcast.

Caution, the following paragraph describes this attack in detail. Skip it if you don’t want to face it.

The facts date back to the night between 5 and 6 October 1998; Gérald Marie allegedly thrust his erect penis into the lower abdomen of the infiltrated journalist as a model. This she, as soon as she returned to the hotel, would have her testimony recorded by her colleague Donal MacIntyre who would then have entrusted the song to the BBC.

Following the scandal of the documentary’s first airing (where this alleged sexual assault is not mentioned), Gérald Marie was quietly invited to the show All he talks about it to disprove the facts in prime time in front of the presenter, Thierry Ardisson, hilarious.

If this reminds you of something, it’s normal: the nerd in black loves to laugh and therefore reinforces the culture of rape on television, as against Tristane Banon on February 13, 2007, who told him in front of the camera that she had suffered an attempted rape by Dominique Strauss- Khan, 4 years before the Sofitel deal …

Gérald Marie, “the Harvey Weinstein of the fashion industry”?

Almost twenty years after the events, in the wake of the Weinstein affair, Freelance journalist Lisa Brinkworth was finally able to file a complaint against the former Elite Europe boss.

Unlike other models such as Carré Sutton, Ebba Karlsson and Jill Dodd who accuse her of rape committed in the 1980s and for which the statute of limitations has expired, the sexual violence suffered by the journalist perhaps would not fall within the statute of limitations, to because of the libel lawsuit against the BBC that prevented him from accessing the archives that at the time could have been used to file a complaint, says his lawyer, Me Anne-Claire The Younger today.

The Paris prosecutor’s office was therefore able to do this open a preliminary investigation for “rape and sexual violence”, including on minors, on September 28, 2020relationships The Oss to which Lisa Brinkworth’s lawyer, in particular, confided:

“I have in my hands the testimonies of eight former models who do not know each other and yet describe similar facts : Gérald Marie lures them to his house under the pretext of showing them photos and raping them with great brutality. “

It is because man would have made it his own a repeated and well thought out modus operandi to commit sexual violence with total impunity that Serene Cicora, a former agent in the 80s and 90s, dares to make a meaningful comparison with the Guardian in November 2020:

“The large number of female accusers, combined with what many of them say about how Gérald Marie abused his power to coerce victims, threatening their careers if they refused sex, suggests it may be “the Harvey Weinstein of the fashion industry.” “

Twenty years of rumors before official denunciations, but for facts now prescribed

Since Lisa Brinworth’s complaint, about 15 women have spoken publicly or complained to Youth Brigade investigators, reported today.AFP.

In all, at least fifteen women now accuse Gerald Marie of “rape”, “sexual assault” or “harassment”. But for a possible trial to take place, an alleged victim whose facts would not be prescribed in the eyes of French justice would have to file a complaint.

Meanwhile, the presumption of innocence prevails. Requested byAFPMe Céline Bekerman, Gérald Marie’s lawyer who has not yet been questioned about these facts, said:

“My client with dismay denies these false and defamatory allegations. He reserves his any declarations to the competent authorities. “

To encourage other possible survivors to speak to justice, several supermodels came anyway to express their support for the New York Times on September 7, 2021, as Milla Jovovich, Karen Elson, Paulina Porizkova and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

The former French first lady explains to the great American newspaper:

«Enough, I am next to Piazza [Sutton] and other survivors of Gérald Marie who come to Paris to testify against their attacker. “

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy refers here to Carré Sutton (formerly known as Carré Otis as a supermodel of the 80s and 90s), who publicly accuses Gérald Marie of raping her, particularly in her autobiography published in 2011 where she describes the facts.

Carré Sutton today invites survivors to speak in the hope that the facts suffered by one of them are not prescribed by justice, which could trigger a trial. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy thus joins her appeal to the New York Times :

” No industry is immune to sexual abuse. There are so many efforts to be made in France and around the world that women are protected from sexual violence at work. “

If several known models are expressed today in the columns of New York Times (and not on a major French newspaper, which already means a lot …), it’s thanks in particular to the work of what is similar to the first model syndicate, Model Alliance: a non-profit advocacy group for fashion workers, who for example offered Zoom meetings for legal coaching for models who want justice.

Beyond fashion, better protect women at work in general

Sara Ziff, Model Alliance Founder and Executive Director, tells al New York Times that the Gérald Marie case would not be isolated, but symptomatic of dynamics still underway today in the fashion sector:

“Carré was raped and trafficked as a teenager 30 years ago, and I know that similar abuses still occur in the industry today because we hear the current models through our support line. “

Obviously, sexual violence has not stopped since the 1980s and 1990s, as it is not a problem of the “mentality of the time” as it might be convenient to believe, but of a patriarchal system that persists and still ravages today.

That’s why, beyond the fashion industry, Sara Ziff now hopes so this case can help to better protect women in the world of work in generalas he confided to New York Times :

“It’s about the fashion industry, but it could also have wider implications for how we think about women’s work. If we fail to secure protection from child sex trafficking for some of the most privileged and visible women in the world, then, more generally, where does it lead us? “

Photo credit: screenshot by Carla Bruni on Vogue’s YouTube channel