Georgina Chapman, the soon-to-be-ex-wife of Harvey Weinstein, is the co-proprietor of a dreamy clothing line that no Hollywood person would wear on the red carpet right now for love or money. But sales are still pretty good.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marchesa garments 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.
The sentiment is similar at the Los Angeles Kinsley James Couture Bridal boutique:
“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.
Chapman’s Marchesa success was initially supported by her husband, and he reportedly strong-armed women in Miramax films into wearing his wife’s clothing to big events, though supposedly in the last year or so his power there had waned: only B-listers were really seen in Marchesa with any frequency.
They’re not terrible clothes, because even Weinstein doesn’t have the reach to control every woman in America’s fantasy of what she’ll wear on her Big Day. Clearly, brides like what Chapman (and co-owner Keren Craig) is offering with Marchesa. But if she’s dreaming of still seeing her designs on the step-and-repeat again, she’s probably out of luck.