American designer Alexander Wang has denied the “grotesquely false” allegations of sexual assault, as popular defense websites claim that there are a large number of victims.
A British model, Owen Mooney, publicly stated this week that Wang felt his groin at New York’s Slake nightclub during promoter Ladyfag’s Holy Mountain party on January 21, 2017, after which a series of similar, mostly anonymous, statements , emerged.
“I was alone at one point and this guy next to me obviously took advantage of the fact that nobody could move,” said Mooney, 26. “And he just started touching me. Totally on my leg, on my groin. It made me freeze completely because I was in shock.
“So I look to my left to see who he was and he was a really famous stylist and I just couldn’t believe he was doing this to me. It just shocked me even more. I just had to walk away slowly.
“Now, every time I see his name mentioned or see him with famous best friends, it reminds me of what he did, and it’s a really fucking memory to have.”
Sharing Mooney’s post, the websites Diet Prada and Shit Model Management also highlighted previous posts on social media that had not received much attention.
Wang told the Guardian: “In the past few days, I have been receiving unfounded and grotesquely false accusations. These allegations have been unfairly amplified by infamous social media accounts for posting defamatory material from undisclosed and / or anonymous sources with no evidence or any fact verification. “
Gia Garison, a trans model and actress, described the alleged details of another incident at the Holy Mountain party in Slake in February 2017: “He tried to pull my panties down and expose my genitals in the VIP area of a nightclub.”
She said: “It was just one more night and then I remember being introduced to Alexander Wang and then talking to him. I just remember dancing and he was relaxing with his class and then he reached for the bottom of my bikini that I was wearing and tried to pull it down.
“I said, ‘What are you doing, what the fuck is that’ and I walked away. I didn’t give it much importance at the time because I was just in club mode and I tried to let things brush on my shoulder and not ruin my night … I took a lot of pictures where they wanted to put me in their clothes since then and I just said do not. “
A young man named Nick, who did not want his surname to be published, also presented the media with an account of a night out in New York with Wang in August 2017, after meeting him earlier in the year.
“I went out at a club and found him giving me a wank,” he said. “The second time I passed out in our Uber and woke up to hear about him in the car. Honestly, I feel very embarrassed and manipulated. ”It is understood that Nick and Wang remain in contact.
Nick Ward, who works for a construction company in New York, also claims that Wang suddenly grabbed his penis, this time at the Brooklyn Mirage nightclub in the early hours of September 10, 2017.
“It was shocking,” he said. “It definitely calmed me down a little. I was like, ‘wait, holy shit’. He grabbed me, squeezed me, and kept going through the club with his entourage without missing a beat. ”
Wang, 37, said: “Seeing these lies about me being perpetuated as truths was infuriating. I have never been involved in the atrocious behavior described and I would never behave the way it was alleged. I intend to get to the bottom of this and hold anyone responsible for originating these claims and disseminating them viciously online. “
The Modelo Alliance said it sympathized with Wang’s accusers and criticized the lack of support for the victims. “The lack of transparency and accountability in the fashion industry leaves all models vulnerable to abuse, regardless of their sex or gender identity,” says the statement.
As the allegations spread on social media this week, Wang’s Instagram account was modified so that he could no longer receive comments. On Sunday, he posted a photo on a tree trunk on a beach.
The stylist has already been criticized for casting the rapper R Kelly, already exposed as a serial sex predator and facing multiple sexual crimes charges, in a campaign in 2017 after long allegations of serious abuse.
Wang, who was born in San Francisco and moved to New York at the age of 18, became known for his partying lifestyle and for hosting celebrity events as his eponymous brand grew after its founding in 2005. He was the creative director at the Parisian fashion house Balenciaga from 2012 to 2015.