Georgina Chapman, Harvey Weinstein’s soon-to-be ex-wife, recently broke her silence regarding all of the horrible sexual assault allegations from back in October in an interview with Vogue Magazine. When the interviewer was not describing what Chapman was wearing that day or describing how lovely her house looked, the article was laced with depicted moments of vulnerability that set the stage for questions about the future of her fashion brand she founded alongside Keren Craig, Marchesa.
Since the flush of allegations against Harvey Weinstein in October, Georgina Chapman has been silent. She canceled the Marchesa fashion show planned for January and there has been radio silence from the usually extremely popular brand. Marchesa is typically a very popular red carpet look, but aside from Scarlett Johansson’s Met Gala dress, the label was noticeably absent from this award show season. It is hard for anyone to believe that Chapman had no idea her husband was such a creep given the number of allegations that have been piling up for eight months, but in this new interview, she claims she was dumbfounded. Chapman, reportedly choking through tears, said “There was a part of me that was terribly naive—clearly, so naive. I have moments of rage, I have moments of confusion, I have moments of disbelief! And I have moments when I just cry for my children. What are their lives going to be?” They have two young children together that Chapman says idolize their father. “What are people going to say to them? It’s like, they love their dad. They love him. I just can’t bear it for them!” It is obvious she can not even imagine her children growing up and eventually learning who their father really was compared to who they think he is.
The story is heartbreaking to the point that makes one desire to believe that she lived in oblivion for the past fourteen years, but the likelihood of that being true is slim. There is no true way to know exactly what Chapman knew during the years of her marriage to Weinstein, but it is hard to look past all of the allegations that Weinstein used to bully his clients into wearing Marchesa and coming to the fashion shows. Some say Marchesa would be nothing if he had not done that for the brand back when it first started. Obviously, that is not a justifiable reason to cover up many years of sexual assault, so it is hard to know just how the world is going to react to the brand’s continuity.
Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue and overall dictator of fashion, recently praised Scarlett Johansson for being the first A-lister to wear Marchesa to an event and show her support for Chapman saying, “I mean, Georgina is a brilliant designer, and I don’t think that she should be blamed for her husband’s behavior. I think it was a great gesture of support on Scarlett’s part to wear a dress like—a beautiful dress like that on such a public occasion.”
