British designer and soon-to-be-ex-wife of Harvey Weinstein, Georgina Chapman’s fashion brand Marchesa, is witnessing good sales, despite rape and sexual assault claims.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marchesa designs are still flying off the shelves as long as the buyers are people who won’t have to answer questions about who they’re wearing on a live news feed.
THR reported in early October that jeweler Helzberg Diamonds had dropped plans for a “Marchesa Radiant Star” engagement rings line, but in several interviews, retailers told them that current product has been moving well, even after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke: “My Marchesa business is fantastic,” says Neiman Marcus senior vp and fashion director Ken Downing, who hosted Chapman’s design partner Keren Craig on Oct. 25 in conversation at the Chicago store, after a luncheon during which Marchesa was honored by the Chicago History Museum Costume Council.
Since the Weinstein story broke, not a single star has been seen wearing Marchesa and though Chapman, 41, has made no public appearance since debuting the brand’s Fall 2018 bridal line on Oct. 6, unusual during New York’s fall social season.
The stakes are high for Marchesa, a privately held apparel brand available at more than 75 points of sale worldwide and at more than 10 websites (it has never released sales or profit numbers). But while there may be a red carpet revolt afoot, some fashion retailers say it’s much ado about nothing.
Owners of the Kinsley James Couture Bridal boutique in L.A. echo that sentiment. “In our minds and in the mind of our brides, Marchesa as a brand is not associated with [Weinstein],” says Amber Silva, who co-owns the store with Dawn Silva Rigney. Similarly, Lovella Bridal in Glendale hasn’t registered a single case of buyer’s remorse. “If anything, we’ve been selling more Marchesa recently,” says store buyer and operations director Nayri Kalayjian.
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