Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault.
Over the past year, fashion mogul Paul Marciano has been accused of misconduct by Less than four separate women, three of which have gone to court alleging sexual harassment or assault.
The latest woman to file such a lawsuit, identified anonymously in her October 2021 complaint as “Jane Doe 3,” accused the Guess co-founder and executive of allegedly raping her without a condom in February 2013. She spoke exclusively to The Daily Beast over the weekend. before.
“My dreams have gone up in smoke. My confidence was crushed. I could never model again,” she said. “I can do a little art because art is what saved me, [but] I lost faith in life. I lost faith in everything after this abuse.” (The Daily Beast confirmed Doe 3’s identity but generally did not name the alleged victims of sexual misconduct without their consent.)
According to her lawsuit, filed in a California court last fall, Doe 3 was 20 years old and traveling to the US on a tourist visa when she met Marciano at a Beverly Hills hotel on the premise of discussing being selected. participate in future Guess campaigns.
During their meeting, Marciano allegedly asked Doe 3 “to pull up her skirt so he could see what kind of figure she was in,” the lawsuit says. Believing that “this may still be part of the casting,” the woman “pulled her dress up to her belly to reveal her underwear,” the lawsuit continued. “Under the pretense of assessing her body for potential modeling work, Marciano then groped her ass without her consent,” she added, before he put his hand on her chest and said she has ‘beautiful breasts’.”
According to the complaint, Marciano then asked Doe 3 into her bedroom — an offer she “politely declined” before the fashion executive allegedly told her, “if you sleep with me, I’ll give you a billboard in Milan and lots of campaigns,” hit supermodel Kate Upton as someone he discovered. (In 2018, Upton accused Marciano of raping her when she was 18.)
Feeling “trapped and scared,” Doe 3 went into the bedroom, where the lawsuit recounts in astonishing detail the Guess mogul allegedly “put her face down on the bed, tugged at her skirt. she pulled up and tugged her panties down, and forced herself inside her. Marciano raped Jane Doe 3 for about five minutes. During the rape, Jane Doe 3 froze in fear and was speechless. Marciano doesn’t use condoms.”
Neither Guess nor Marciano publicly responded to Doe 3’s lawsuit, nor did they respond to requests for comment on this story.
In a conversation with The Daily Beast, Doe further recounted how “when I was invited to the hotel for a casting to introduce my model portfolio, I had no idea of the reputation of the owner of Guess or him. who we really are or who Paul is. is.” She further alleged: “He told me he wanted to sleep with me without a condom, and he said, ‘Oh, it’s okay, I’m married and I just had you should be okay sleeping with me without a condom. I’m fine.’ And I’m looking at him and I’m stunned in shock because I don’t know how to react. I’m frozen with fear, shock. I was coerced”.
According to the lawsuit, after the alleged sexual assault, Doe 3 was booked for two test shoots at Guess headquarters in Los Angeles, and she was “relieved that Marciano wasn’t there either. ” However, after the second scene, the lawsuit says, Doe 3 was informed that she had not been chosen as a Guess model. She was “never booked for any modeling, campaign or billboard work,” the lawsuit notes.
“I don’t think he wants to help young models achieve careers,” Doe 3 commented to The Daily Beast. “It comes from a place of abuse and patriarchal regulation where you think you can continue to take the lives of young girls and ruin their lives by doing it.”
Doe 3 said she chose to continue eight years after the alleged assault because “I’ve seen this MeToo movement go on for many, many years, and I see how important it is for women to stand up at this time. this point in history and put an end to this protracted abuse going on in the industry. “
Seeing many other women publicly accuse Marciano of sexual misconduct prompted her to file a lawsuit. “It’s really hard for me to come out but you know the women coming out are giving me a lot of strength to speak my truth and be my truth.”
In June 2018, Marciano Resign as CEO after Guess paid $500,000 in settlements to five women who accused him of misconduct. A decade earlier, former Guess model Lindsey Ring had accused Marciano of harassment. Her case was eventually dismissed, possibly through an out-of-court settlement, New York Times report. In early 2021, a former model was identified as Jane Doe Guess and Marciano case, claims that in February 2020, he forced her to perform oral sex on him. Months later, another former Guess model announced the tycoon harassed her on set last year; and Eileen Toal, Marciano’s brother’s ex-girlfriend, allegedly in 1983 Guess co-founder sexually assaulted her, when she was 18 years old.
Marciano has denied any charges against him. Less than a year after stepping down as CEO of Guess, and despite an internal investigation that determined he had exercised “poor judgment,” the fashion brand restore him in January 2019 as creative director.
The company has continued to side with its staunch co-founder, despite growing allegations of misconduct. Jane Doe 3 stated, “That’s because everyone is so scared to touch someone too hard.
Her attorney, Lisa Bloom, added in a statement: “I am truly amazed how many women have progressed over the years, even their insurance company recognizes it in the past. the lawsuit they just filed, yet Guess continued to side with him. How many women will it take? “
Finally, the one-time aspirational model expressed hope that by sharing her story of alleged sexual assault, others could be reached and the fashion mogul would be held accountable.
“I just want Paul Marciano to really take responsibility for his actions, for his bad actions,” she said. “I want him to fix these things. I hope he becomes a good person one day and let him understand how much pain and suffering he is causing out there for young models, for young people with dreams. “.
