Date uploaded: 2020-12-29 01:02:07

Archive date: Sat, 25 Dec 2021 23:30:20 GMT

TW: Just days after designer Alexander Wang’s birthday, where top models and celebrities celebrated the New York designer with Instagram tributes, the internet is abuzz with allegations of his predatory, substance-fueled behavior. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The designer has built his brand around a hard partying, anything goes ethos, creating "walk of shame"-inspired campaigns and even casting R. Kelly in his SS17 campaign. His own, almost mythic, status as a NYC party figure, has even been alluded to with models walking the runway in “PARTY ANIMAL” and “WANGOVER” headbands for SS18. But now, tales from behind the velvet rope are spilling out. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It began with Owen Mooney, a male model who came forward this weekend in a series of Tiktoks describing a 2017 incident where he was groped by Wang in a packed NYC nightclub. @shitmodelmgmt (SMM) reposted his story, leading many others to come forward. Some claimed to have witnessed a victim being drugged by the designer, or being slipped Molly or other drugs themselves without their knowledge, leading to blacked-out nights and worse. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ There are also repeat allegations of victims, including several trans women, being groped or having their bodies or genitals exposed by Wang. Rapper and former Wang muse Azealia Banks shared anonymous accounts she had been sent on her Instagram stories in late 2019, and while the originals have been deleted, the screenshots still circulate on Twitter. Searching Twitter in fact yields many more tweets detailing similar behavior from the designer, some dating back several years. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ SMM brought up that male model's stories are often not given enough attention, and Mooney has shared some of the backlash he’s already received. “This is why people are worried to share their stories of sexual predators,” he captioned a story of a comment accusing him of ousting Wang in an attempt to gain clout. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ A darling of the industry with multiple accolades, Wang is the latest in a string of powerful, influential fashion figures who have been h