This week, Owen Mooney, a male model and graphic designer, said he was touched in 2017 at a nightclub in New York by Alexander Wang, an influential fashion designer.
Mr. Mooney made the accusations in a few videos he posted on social media. Shortly afterwards, the 37-year-old designer made further allegations of sexual assault and non-consensual encounters, posted by Instagram accounts that did not identify the accused.
Today, after days of silence, Mr. Wang responded to the allegations – and the huge criticism he faced online.
“Over the past few days, I’ve been on the receiving end of unfounded and grotesque false accusations,” the designer wrote in a statement sent to The New York Times. “These allegations were falsely corroborated by social media accounts that are notorious for posting defamatory material from unknown and / or anonymous sources with no evidence or any fact-checking.”
The allegations were compiled on Instagram and posted by two accounts with big fans who established themselves as watchdogs for the fashion industry: Diet Prada, led by Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler, and another account dedicated to exposing the inner workings of the modeling industry. The New York Times did not independently confirm the allegations. Mr. Mooney did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2019, Azealia Banks – a rapper and songwriter who was a former muse and collaborator of Mr. Wang’s was – a series shared by anonymous accounts on her Instagram stories of allegations of suitcase by the designer. In 2017, a person named Nick Ward posted a Twitter thread claiming that Mr. Wang grabbed his genitals during a concert in Brooklyn.
In his videos, which were initially posted on TikTok and then widely shared on other platforms, Mr. Mooney said stories told by others forced him to be public with his allegations. His first TikTok video, made as part of a current meme asking users to share strange observations, describes the incident.
“I was alone at one point, and this man next to me obviously took advantage of the fact that no one could move, and just started picking me up, like my leg in my crotch,” said Mr. Mooney said (with one obsession). “And then I looked left to see who it was and it was a very famous fashion designer and I just could not believe he did it to me.”
After numerous commentators responded to his video by Mr. To name a few cheeks, Mr. Mooney posted a second video confirming the speculation. “People with this kind of status, they think they’re giving them a chance to do it to people,” he said in a second video, referring to Mr. Cheek. “It’s so wrong. Every time I see his name mentioned, it just reminds me of what he did. ‘
In his statement, Mr. Wang said that “it was outrageous to see these lies about me as perpetuating truths.”
“I never described the horrific behavior described and would never behave as alleged,” he continued. “I intend to take note of this and be responsible for whoever is responsible for the origin of these allegations and their malicious distribution online.”
On Monday, Mr. Wang’s Instagram account ruled out the possibility of commenting on his latest post. The official Instagram account for his brand did the same on all his posts this week.
This group has issued a statement from fashion distributor, Model Alliance, supporting Wang’s defendants.
“We at Model Alliance stand in solidarity with those who shared Alexander Wang’s allegations of sexual abuse,” the group said on Instagram. “Let it be clear: the lack of transparency and accountability of the fashion industry leaves all models vulnerable to abuse, regardless of their gender or gender identity.”
Mr. Wang is known for constantly shifting the boundaries of what can be considered high fashion over the course of his 15-year career.
For a time, the American was a young hiker to the designer of the venerable French fashion house Balenciaga. Later, his namesake label was pioneering work in the idea of runways as outstretched public spectacles in the earliest days of social media. Often these events were followed by one of his famous after-parties, where drunk cars could spray paint cars, see strippers squirming while eating Hooters chicken wings or jumping on bouncy castles while rubbing shoulders with famous guests.