Donna Karan Wonders if Women Are Dressing for ‘Trouble’

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/fashion/harvey-weinstein-donna-karan.html

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The designer Donna Karan has questioned whether women around the world are asking for “trouble” because of how they dress.

“How do we present ourselves as women?” Ms. Karan said on the red carpet at the CineFashion Film Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday evening. “What are we asking? Are we asking for it? By presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality? What are we throwing out to our children today? About how to dance, how to perform and what to wear? How much should they show?”

The comments came after the designer was asked about a New York Times investigation that found that the film producer Harvey Weinstein had been accused of sexually harassing employees and actresses for decades. Several powerful figures in the film industry who have worked with Mr. Weinstein, including Glenn Close, Kate Winslet and Judi Dench, condemned the Hollywood producer on Monday. He was fired by the Weinstein Company, the film production company he co-founded, on Sunday.

“I don’t think it’s only Harvey Weinstein. I don’t think we’re only looking at him,” Ms. Karan said. “I think we’re looking at a world much deeper than him. I think he’s being looked at now as a symbol.”

In the interview, she restated that thought: “It’s not Harvey Weinstein, you look at everything all over the world today, you know, and how women are dressing and what they’re asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble.”

Ms. Karan did not defend Mr. Weinstein, but she did speak about Mr. Weinstein and his wife, Georgina Chapman, a designer of the fashion label Marchesa, directly: “I think they’re wonderful people. Harvey has done some amazing things.”

While Hollywood figures — mostly women — have begun speaking out about Mr. Weinstein’s behavior, the fashion world had remained largely silent until now.

Publicists for Ms. Karan released a statement on her behalf late Monday.

“My statements were taken out of context and do not represent how I feel about the current situation concerning Harvey Weinstein,” it said. “I believe that sexual harassment is NOT acceptable and this is an issue that MUST be addressed once and for all regardless of the individual. I am truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim.”

The response to the publication of the video with Ms. Karan’s comments was swift. Rose McGowan, who reached a $100,000 settlement with Mr. Weinstein in 1997 after an episode in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival, according to The Times investigation, posted a screenshot of the Daily Mail article that accompanied it to Twitter, calling Ms. Karan “deplorable.”

The actress Betsy Wolfe, the sports agent Ron Waxman and the actress Mia Farrow said they would no longer buy products associated with Ms. Karan’s name.

The G-III Apparel Group purchased Donna Karan International in 2016. Ms. Karan founded the fashion house named after her in 1984, and sold it to the French conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 2001. She stepped down from the helm of Donna Karan International in 2015 to focus on Urban Zen.

G-III also holds licenses for Ivanka Trump, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.

Some Twitter users posted images of clothing produced by Donna Karan International to ask if the manner of dress that Ms. Karan criticized on Sunday was one she had contributed to and perpetuated in her work. “To @dkny How many seventeen year olds have you dressed like they are, in your words, ‘asking for it’ ?” wrote the television host and author Anthony Bourdain.