Pictured: Model Olympia Campbell, above at the Cob Gallery in London in March 2016
A British catwalk star has claimed fashion photographers threaten to blacklist models who won’t date them.
Olympia Campbell, 22, says her agency Viva warned her about a number of photographers who are known for trying to make a pass at models.
‘There are definitely photographers – and I’ve been warned by my agency – that are renowned for trying to make a move on some of the girls,’ she told The Telegraph.
‘I don’t know who they’ve made a move on, so I don’t know if those were appropriate moves to make.
She said it might be that the photographer is ‘flirty’, and will ask to meet for a casting then ask the model out for a drink.
She told the paper: ‘If you don’t go, you’re probably not going to get booked on the job again. That doesn’t matter so much for me, because I’m doing other things, but I can’t imagine what it’s like for people who do really want the next job.’
Miss Campbell’s comments come after her elder sister Edie – who is also a model – wrote a letter urging the fashion industry to face the problem of sexual harassment.
Edie, 27, wrote: ‘We operate within a culture that is too accepting of abuse, in all of its manifestations.’
Her letter followed the news in October last year that Vogue magazine had finally severed ties with controversial photographer Terry Richardson, after almost a decade of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse.
Last month the New York Police Department announced it was investigating Richardson for sexual assault. Mr Richardson has always denied claims.
In the same month, veteran photographer Mario Testino was accused of sexual misconduct towards male models and former assistants.
The New York Times detailed the experiences of 13 men who were allegedly sexually assaulted or harassed by the photographer. Testino denied the claims but multiple luxury brands, including Burberry and Michael Kors, vowed to stop working with him.
Olympia Campbell, 22, says her agency Viva warned her about a number of photographers who are known for trying to make a pass at models
At New York Fashion Week earlier this month, American Wardrobe put on a show in solidarity to the #MeToo movement.
The event featured models who have experienced sexual assault or harassment – walking the runway accompanied by men in pig masks.
The idea came from Myriam Chalek, creative director of American Wardrobe, who wanted to use her label as a platform to benefit women.
While the show featured American Wardrobe fashions, Chalek said the event was nonprofit.
The models were victims or survivors of sexual assault and harassment and told their stories from the catwalk.
Among them was Alicia Kozakiewicz, who was abducted in 2002 near her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by a man who had groomed her online, a case that made international headlines as one of the first such kidnappings of the internet age.
At New York Fashion Week earlier this month, American Wardrobe put on a show in solidarity to the #MeToo movement