Models have been given their own cubicle for the first time ever at this year’s New York Fashion Week

OHMYGOSSIP — Models have been given their own cubicle for the first time ever at this year’s New York Fashion Week. The decision has been taken in light of the Hollywood sex scandal, and Sara Ziff, a former model who founded The Model Alliance six years ago, has been an influential figure behind the introduction of changing rooms.

She told Vogue magazine: “Models have been dealing with these issues for decades, and this behaviour has been an open secret, and now we finally have permission not only to talk about it but to act.”

The Model Alliance has received one report of harassment or assault a week since the sex scandal first erupted. And model Karen Elson, who sits on the advisory board of the Alliance, has welcomed the introduction of changing rooms. She said: “I believe a separation between privacy for models getting dressed and anyone filming or taking photos is a must.

“I cannot tell you, in my younger days, how many times I would catch photographers taking photos of me getting undressed, or that I was standing in nothing but a nude thong for extended periods of time in a room surrounded by people, feeling extremely exposed.”

The introduction of changing rooms comes shortly after model Kate Upton accused Guess co-founder Paul Marciano of sexual assault. The American star claimed that he harassed her for the duration of her contract with the company.

She recently said: “Despite doing everything I could physically do to avoid his touch throughout the meeting, he continued to touch me in a very dominating and aggressive way, grabbing my thighs, my arms to pull me closer, my shoulders to pull me closer, my neck, my breasts, and smelling me.”

Marciano has strongly denied her accusations, describing them as “absolutely false” and “preposterous”.

Find us also on Twitter @OHMYGOSSIP

 

---

---