Marchesa struggles to find footing after Weinstein scandal

Whether the luxe womenswear brand Marchesa can survive the sexual misconduct scandal of co-founder Georgina Chapman's estranged husband, Harvey Weinstein, remains to be seen: It canceled its New York Fashion Week show and has been virtually absent on red carpets this awards season.

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2016 file photo, designers Keren Craig, left, and Georgina Chapman greet the audience after their Marchesa Fall 2016 collection is shown during New York Fashion Week.  (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff, File)

The company has been a mainstay in both arenas for a decade, until accusations against the movie mogul began piling up, including revelations that Weinstein once bullied stars into wearing his wife's designs.

Since, the British Chapman has had little to say, initially decamping to London after announcing she was leaving her husband and condemning his behavior. On Wednesday, Marchesa canceled its traditional runway show at fashion week, scheduled for Feb. 14, but said it was looking forward to presenting its Fall 2018 collection "in an updated format this season."

No additional details were released.

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2008 file photo, Anne Hathaway wears a Marchesa gown at the 80th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Chapman's not the only one with little to say in the aftermath: Nearly two dozen celebrities who have worn the brand or are otherwise connected to Chapman would not comment or did not respond to requests for comment on Marchesa's future or whether they would don Marchesa again.

Two, Felicity Huffman and more recently Jessica Chastain, are exceptions, revealing pressure from Weinstein to wear the label. Huffman said she succumbed in 2005 after he threatened to pull financing for a film. Chastain recently told The Wall Street Journal that she pushed back, refusing to cooperate for a 2014 premiere of "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby," distributed by the Weinstein Co.

Chastain wore Versace instead. Weinstein took a dig over the dust up when he introduced her that night, telling the audience: "If I had to get in a boxing ring with Muhammad Ali or Jessica Chastain, I would choose Muhammad Ali," according to Chastain.

FILE - In this March 7, 2010 file photo, Sandra Bullock wears a Machesa gown as she poses with the Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role for "The Blind Side" during the 82nd Academy Awards in Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

Friends of Chapman, including Alyssa Milano, have come to her defense, to the initial chagrin of Weinstein's most outspoken accuser, Milano's "Charmed" co-star Rose McGowan.

McGowan, a former actress and now vocal activist who has accused Weinstein of rape, later walked back snide remarks she made about Chapman and Marchesa on Twitter.

But she told The Associated Press on Wednesday, when asked whether Chapman was complicit in her husband's alleged misconduct: "By sticking your head in the sand and making it OK as long as you get what you want, you have a hand and you're complicit in the destruction of souls. ... You trade your soul for certain things."

This combination photo shows two angles of model Karolina Kurkova wearing a Marchesa gown at the Oscars in Los Angeles on Feb. 22, 2015.  (Photos by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Weinstein has denied McGowan's allegation from the beginning. In a statement Tuesday, his attorney, Ben Brafman, called the rape claim "a bold lie."

So can Chapman and Craig continue to make a living? Even in the face of relentless momentum involving Weinstein's accusers, the idea that Marchesa will go under as collateral damage is farfetched. But their impact in Hollywood is most definitely in peril.

It may be too soon to know whether Marchesa will eventually benefit from a "sympathy bump" or remain off limits on red carpets among past patrons now unwilling to talk about the brand.

"Marchesa had access to the entertainment business and a way to market and advertise that no other designers had," said Allen Adamson a brand analyst in New York. "They had an inside track to the red carpet and now that's gone. You can't buy that."

This combination photo shows two angles of former Miss Universe Olivia Culpo wearing a Marchesa gown at the Oscars in Los Angeles on Feb. 26, 2017. (Photos by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

The Marchesa duo earlier this month distributed digital pre-fall lookbooks for both their main line and the lower-priced Notte, showing off details on Instagram. As for Chapman, her company with design and business partner Keren Craig remains firmly planted in Weinstein's native New York.

"I think Marchesa as a brand was very, very successful in and of itself but also because of the power that Weinstein had with a lot of New York-based showrooms and PR firms and agencies," said Connie Wang, who writes about the fashion industry for the site Refinery29.

"He was able to get Marchesa dresses on a lot of very famous women, but Marchesa right now is in a bit of a precarious situation," she said.

Adamson agreed with Wang on one thing: In the case of Marchesa and other red carpet dressers, access is as important as craftsmanship, the latter being something Marchesa has an abundance of. How much that helps going forward is an open question, he said.

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2008 file photo, actress Jessica Alba arrives at the 80th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

"They were playing with an unfair advantage: Harvey's bullying as well as Harvey's access. They'll never have either of those again. They're success was buoyed by a sort of insider trading."

Weinstein and Chapman met at party in 2004, the year Chapman and Craig, old chums from design school, launched their company, Chapman once told Vogue. She was a young model at the time and said she didn't know who he was. He popped the question in November 2007 and they married the following month at his waterfront estate in Connecticut, according to reports at the time. Chapman wore a gown of her own design.

Their guest list was star studded — Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Renee Zellweger, Naomi Watts, Vogue's Anna Wintour, Rupert Murdoch, Ron Perelman and Graydon Carter among them.

It's unclear exactly how much money Weinstein invested in Marchesa, with one report quoting Weinstein as saying it was mostly a one-time early infusion of cash. The brand has grown over the years to include bridal, beauty, jewelry, china and other housewares.

FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2006 file photo, Felicity Huffman wears a Marchesa gown at the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif.  (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)

So where are Chapman's celebrity friends at the moment, especially when it comes to publicly declaring their support or wearing her clothes? Is the Weinstein taint too strong? Was she bound to have known at least something about his alleged misdeeds?

"It's very complicated to say whether you will wear Marchesa because you are supporting women and because she was a victim, or say I'm not going to wear Marchesa because she might be complicit," Wang said. "The most important thing is that if they do decide to wear Marchesa, if they decide not to wear Marchesa, that they have a very good reason for doing it."

NEW YORK (AP) — Two sisters testified at Harvey Weinstein’s most recent criminal trial. Kaja Sokola accused the disgraced movie mogul of sexual assault. Ewa Sokola was called as a witness to boost her claims, but ultimately ended up helping the defense.

Now, Ewa Sokola is suing Kaja for defamation, alleging in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court that the psychotherapist and ex-model’s public remarks amount to libel and are damaging Ewa’s reputation and business as a cardiologist in Poland.

Ewa Sokola says that her younger sister has made false statements subjecting her to public hatred, shame, contempt, ridicule, ostracism and disgrace in Wrocław, Poland. She seeks unspecified damages.

Messages seeking comment were left for Kaja Sokola’s lawyers and spokesperson on Thursday and Friday.

In a split verdict in June, Weinstein was convicted of forcibly performing oral sex on film and television production assistant and producer Miriam Haley and acquitted on a charge involving Kaja Sokola’s allegations of similar conduct. Both women said they were assaulted in 2006.

The judge declared a mistrial on the final charge, alleging Weinstein raped former actor Jessica Mann, after the jury foreperson declined to deliberate further.

Weinstein has not yet been sentenced as a judge weighs a defense request to throw out the verdict after two jurors told Weinstein’s lawyers that other jurors had bullied them into convicting him. Judge Curtis Farber is expected to rule on Jan. 8.

Kaja Sokola has said her sister’s testimony at Weinstein's state court trial in New York earlier this year undermined her own testimony that he forced oral sex at a Manhattan hotel just before her 20th birthday.

Weinstein had arranged for Kaja Sokola to be an extra for a day in the film “The Nanny Diaries,” and separately agreed to meet her and Ewa. After they chatted, she testified, Weinstein told her he had a script to show her in his hotel room, and she went up with him. There, she said, Weinstein pushed her onto a bed and assaulted her.

After the trial, Kaja Sokola criticized her sister's testimony, saying that though she was called as a prosecution witness, she ended up serving Weinstein's cause by providing his lawyers with a journal in which she wrote about the men who had sexually assaulted her in her life but did not include Weinstein.

According to the lawsuit, Kaja Sokola repeatedly characterized her sister's testimony as a personal “betrayal" and falsely accused her of omitting journals in which she described what happened with Weinstein.

The lawsuit also said Kaja Sokola had falsely accused Ewa Sokola of homicide, theft, falsification of medical records, sexual impropriety and immoral conduct, and of colluding with Weinstein's defense team.

The lawsuit said Kaja Sokola's false claims have cost Ewa Sokola referrals and led to a reduction in patients and employees for her medical practice while damaging her professional reputation and her standing within the medical community.

FILE - Kaja Sokola arrives at Manhattan criminal court before Harvey Weinstein's trial on Thursday, May 8, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray, File)

FILE - Prosecution witness Ewa Sokola, sister of Weinstein accuser Kaja Sokola, appears at court in the case against former film producer Harvey Weinstein at state court in Manhattan, Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

FILE - Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan after a mistrial on a rape charge, Aug. 13, 2025 in New York. (Steven Hirsch /New York Post via AP, Pool, File)