Dress designer to the stars Georgina Chapman was all smiles on the red carpet at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah last month – but woes are accumulating at her fashion label Marchesa, where she is being sued by 16 employees over unpaid wages.
And the brand’s offices in Manhattan were due to be repossessed over unpaid rent yesterday.
Chapman, 49, the British girlfriend of Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, founded the label in 2004 when she was dating film producer Harvey Weinstein, whom she later married.
Naturally, business took a hit after #MeToo – more than 80 women came forward to accuse Weinstein and he was subsequently convicted of sexual assault. But Chapman weathered the storm and, with the help of friends including Vogue boss Anna Wintour, managed to keep trading.
However, last year it emerged that 12 separate organisations or individuals were suing the business – and things appear to have gone from bad to worse since then.
On January 15, 16 former employees requested a jury trial to try to recover wages they say they’re owed.
In documents, they claim Marchesa, Georgina and her brother Edward (who runs the company) ‘engaged in a pattern and practice of delayed wage payments and non-payment, in violation of the New York labor laws’.
They say the situation began at the end of July last year, only four months after Chapman – wearing Marchesa – sailed up the red carpet at the Oscars on Brody’s arm, and later received a wad of his used chewing gum before he made his best actor acceptance speech.
Chapman is now dating Oscar Winner Adrien Brody
From that point the allegation is payments were ‘routinely delayed by days or weeks’, if made at all.
The employees include the label’s PR rep, its VP of operations, production manager, a number of designers, its global logistics manager, couture production manager, accounts receivable manager and one design intern who’d been with the business since 2011.
Meanwhile, the firm’s landlord at 8th Avenue in Manhattan says they’re owed $1.4million (around £1million) in unpaid rent and bills and, as a result, have been granted permission to turf Marchesa out of the four-floor space it’s leased since 2019.
The petition was filed in September last year, and Marchesa hasn’t fought it or even named a lawyer in the matter. It did not respond to the landlord’s petition to evict, and so a judgment of possession was handed down, which allowed the landlord to repossess the property yesterday.
Separately, a judge has entered a notice of default on a case brought by finance company EN OD Capital, which claimed in October last year that Marchesa had not paid back a loan of $220,000 (£163,000).
Adding insult to injury, a judge has also entered a notice of default on behalf of DHL, the postal service, which claimed it was owed $12,704 (around £9,500) in unpaid postage.
Chapman reportedly got $15million in her divorce settlement from Weinstein – but that’s not enough to bankroll a fashion label that makes gowns costing upwards of £5,000.
Respected fashion journalist Lauren Sherman, who writes for online newsletter Puck, said last year: ‘How Marchesa was financed was always a bit of a mystery … Weinstein denied that he was funnelling money to the business, especially toward the end.
Marchesa was approached for a comment but did not respond.
Sydney the social climber
She’s been a boxer and a housemaid, but Sydney Sweeney is now taking on a classic figure in world literature – Undine Spragg, in Edith Wharton’s 1913 novel The Custom Of The Country.
Sweeney is set to play a classic figure in world literature, Undine Spragg
Sweeney, 28, will play the seductive but ruthless social climber who tries to conquer fin de siècle New York in the movie, which has been adapted by British theatre and film director Josie Rourke. Rourke said: ‘As I was writing this adaptation, Sydney Sweeney lived in my head as this iconic character. It’s as if Wharton sat down a century ago and wrote the role for her.’
The film is being produced by Mayfair-based tycoon Charles Finch for Rabbit’s Foot films, and Alison Owen (Lily Allen’s mum) at Monumental and StudioCanal.
Work on the project will start later this year.
Loved-up Harry opts for relaxed ‘seven-city tour’
The last time that Harry Styles released an album he went on an epic 173-date tour which lasted nearly two years.
This time around he’s thinking smaller – or possibly smarter – as it can be revealed he plans to promote his new album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally with stints in just seven cities.
There will be a total of 50 dates in Amsterdam, London, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, New York, Melbourne and Sydney between May and December. The residency format will include 30 shows at Madison Square Garden in New York; and a six-night run at Wembley Stadium, where he’ll be supported by Shania Twain.
This will mean Harry and his entourage – including new girlfriend Zoe Kravitz – can enjoy a more relaxed set-up, in rented houses around the globe, rather than rattling from one hotel to another for months on end.
Harry Styles wth Zoe Kravitz on holiday in Italy last year
Last time he was touring he broke up with his then partner, film director Olivia Wilde; and the pressures of keeping a romance going while on the road was among the reasons cited for the split. Styles went on to have a brief dalliance with American model Emily Ratajkowski. But since August he’s been seeing Kravitz, the daughter of rock star Lenny, and things are said to be very serious already.
They were spotted together before Christmas hanging out in Rome, which is where Styles is currently based. (While his house in Hampstead is undergoing a complete renovation.)
The first single from the new album, Aperture, was released today. The record itself, produced by long-time collaborator Kid Harpoon, is out on March 6. Styles, 31, has sold more than 30 million records throughout his career in One Direction and as a solo artist. Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally will be his fourth solo effort.
Will Melania be box office gold?
Donald with Melania at an inaugural ball
President Trump has been saying that ‘everyone’ is very excited to watch the new documentary, Melania, about his wife.
It was sold to Amazon MGM film studios for a record $40million and is due to come out in cinemas on January 30, after which it will run on the streamer’s Prime Video service.
However, ticket sales seem to be sluggish (bordering on non-existent) so far. The Landmark cinema in Washington DC has only two seats sold on opening night; and the CMX cinema in Palm Beach, Florida – the First Couple’s stomping ground – has sold 11. In the UK, it’s an even more dire story, with not a single seat sold at the Vue Fulham for either screening on January 30 and just four sold at a nearby Cineworld.
The film follows Melania for 20 days leading up to hubby Donald’s second inauguration and was made by director Brett Ratner, who spent a long period out of work after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment, all denied.
Some experts think the film will take $1million on its opening weekend, although at this point that looks optimistic.
Presumably, it’s worth the hit to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, who attended the inauguration.
Netflix knows you’re not paying attention
Yet more existential angst for cineastes this week as Matt Damon confirms the sorry truth – Netflix asks for lots of reminders of plot in their movies, as it suspects folks watching at home are also looking at their mobile phones.
In an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Damon said the streamer tells film makers to have a big action setpiece early on, to keep viewers interested. And it advises ‘it wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue, because people are on their phones while they’re watching’.
That’s undoubtedly the case in Damon’s latest Netflix film, The Rip, which cost $100million to make and has done huge numbers for the streamer (it also stars Ben Affleck), but treats the audience like they have an attention span of five seconds.
Terry Jones died in 2020
Former Monty Python star Terry Jones, who died in 2020, is among the vocal talent in a forthcoming animated film.
Jones is the voice of the ‘Wish Watch’ in The Land Of Sometimes, which will come out in cinemas in March this year. A source says that the dialogue was recorded around ten years ago, and that this was Jones’s final film project.
The picture – which also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Ewan McGregor and Mel Brooks – is based on the original audiobook for children, created by Francesca Longrigg.
