Model harassment claims cloud Paris men's fashion week

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Paris men's fashion week starts late Tuesday with the industry shaken by claims that two star photographers have sexually harassed male models.

Peru-born Mario Testino, a favorite of the British royal family, and American Bruce Weber both denied the accusations made against them by a string of models and assistants in the New York Times. But the publishers of Vogue magazine severed ties with the photographers this weekend.

British brand Burberry and US labels Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and shoemaker Stuart Weitzman, for whom the two men have shot publicity campaigns, also insisted they would not work with people who abused their positions.

Models at the Men's Fall-Winter 2017-2018 fashion week on January 15, 2018. /AFP Photo

Another model, Christopher Cates, who said Weber asked him to strip within seconds of meeting him, said it was time for male models to speak out.

Inspired by the #MeToo campaign in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Cates has launched the #MenToo hashtag on social media to break the taboo and stand up to abusers. "We want you to know you're no longer in control," he wrote in the industry bible, Women's Wear Daily. "We want you to know who we are. We want you to know our stories," he added.

The welter of accusations comes months after the two French luxury goods giants LVMH and Kering joined forces to create a charter to combat the mistreatment of models.

New York casting agent James Scully had earlier blown the whistle on the way models were treated at a "cattle call" casting for Balenciaga in Paris last March. Scores of women said they were left to wait in a cramped stairway for hours, with some allegedly locked inside in the dark while agents left to eat.

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Source(s): AFP