From her 1975 “homosexual cowboys” T-shirt to pioneering catwalk collections that challenged gender norms, the late Vivienne Westwood has lengthy been heralded as an LGBT+ icon.
However the trend home she constructed over 5 many years faces critical questions on whether or not the late designer’s values have endured, after allegations about homophobic bullying by its chief government, Carlo D’Amario, had been upheld by an unbiased investigation, the Guardian understands.
The Italian government was accused by an worker in 2023 of utilizing frequent homophobic slurs, bullying and discriminatory behaviour, it may be revealed.
An unbiased investigation by an employment barrister, which concluded in June 2023 after interviewing eight witnesses, upheld 5 of the complaints and located that D’Amario had seemingly damaged employment regulation.
But, whereas the alleged sufferer of the bullying has left the corporate, D’Amario stays on the helm of the style home and enjoys a six-figure wage, firm accounts counsel.
Vivienne Westwood Ltd didn’t return a number of requests for remark addressed to D’Amario and the corporate.
‘It appears too homosexual’
Questions over D’Amario’s efficiency because the steward of the Vivienne Westwood model first got here to the fore in November final yr, when Westwood’s granddaughter – the designer and mannequin Cora Corré – sensationally stop the corporate.
In her resignation letter, first reported by the Occasions, Corré accused D’Amario of misusing her grandmother’s designs and contesting logos in a approach that prevented the Vivienne Basis – a not-for-profit organisation arrange by the designer in 2019 that’s separate from the enterprise – from elevating charitable funds.
Corré claimed that her grandmother had been “deeply sad” about how D’Amario was working the corporate and needed him eliminated as its chief government however that the Italian had “bullied” Westwood, who died in 2022.
The corporate didn’t touch upon the allegations on the time.
Now, paperwork seen by the Guardian elevate recent questions on D’Amario’s conduct, together with allegations of bullying behaviour in direction of workers, discrimination and frequent use of homophobic language.
New allegations concerning the trend government’s behaviour have surfaced after a homosexual worker, who the Guardian has chosen to not establish, raised an inner grievance about D’Amario’s conduct.
D’Amario, 79, who has run Vivienne Westwood for nearly 4 many years, had given the worker nicknames primarily based on his sexuality, he claimed. The names included Mary Poppins, Mary Fairy and Homo Pomo, it was alleged.
The corporate known as in Paul Livingston, an employment regulation specialist from Outer Temple Chambers, to conduct an inner investigation.
Throughout interviews performed by the lawyer, different workers said that D’Amario had routinely used homophobic nicknames and language.
One mentioned that they had heard the time period “homo pomo” used commonly, thought-about it homophobic on the time and “didn’t suppose it was meant affectionately”.
On one other event, two witnesses mentioned, D’Amario criticised shows within the firm’s outlets, saying they appeared “too homosexual”. This remark had “horrified” some workers, in keeping with one witness.
In interviews with Livingston, D’Amario denied all allegations of utilizing homophobic language, saying: “No, in my place the query of homosexual is the very last thing in my mind.”
One witness defended D’Amario, saying that he had by no means felt him to be homophobic, that “too homosexual” was generally used within the trend trade to imply overly flamboyant and that the Italian had come to his personal homosexual wedding ceremony.
The worker recommended that the language barrier could possibly be a consider “misunderstandings”.
One other mentioned they didn’t suppose D’Amario was homophobic.
Finally, the unbiased investigator upheld 5 allegations towards D’Amario and mentioned that the chief government’s personal denials of the alleged behaviour weren’t “persuasive”.
The lawyer additionally mentioned that D’Amario had expressed a want to take witnesses to court docket or converse to them and at one level requested who was paying for the investigation and what would occur if the corporate determined it didn’t need to pay for it.
“I’ve some concern that this was an try by [D’Amario] to place strain on me as an investigator,” he mentioned.
The report included witness testimony that the investigator didn’t provide an opinion about as a result of it was in a roundabout way related to the declare by the worker.
That testimony included additional allegations about D’Amario’s behaviour in direction of his staff.
D’Amario, mentioned one witness, was “about as politically incorrect as you could possibly ever get”.
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He would, the witness mentioned, say issues equivalent to “all these homosexual males within the firm … you’ll be able to’t belief them” and “all these homosexual males, they don’t have any tasks”.
One other witness mentioned that D’Amario used the phrase “homosexual parade” to explain folks within the workplace who had been nicely dressed.
A 3rd alleged that D’Amario had additionally used racist language when speaking about Chinese language clients.
“I’m not racist however all of your shoppers are members of the mafia,” D’Amario is alleged to have mentioned to at least one workers member.
D’Amario denied making the mafia remark in interviews with Livingston. Vivienne Westwood Ltd declined to answer a number of requests by the Guardian for remark addressed to the corporate itself and to D’Amario.
‘Wonderful’ equality insurance policies – however lack of motion?
Westwood’s knack for shaking up the world of trend was solid on London’s Kings Street, from the store that she opened in 1971 with punk icon Malcolm McLaren, the supervisor of bands together with the Intercourse Pistols.
Over 5 many years, Westwood constructed an empire that’s among the many most liked and revered within the trend trade. It’s also among the many most worthwhile.
Based mostly in a studio in south-west London, Vivienne Westwood Ltd has greater than 300 staff and reported pre-tax earnings of £44m on £133m of revenues in 2023, in keeping with Corporations Home data.
As the corporate’s boss since 1986, first as managing director and latterly as chief government, D’Amario – a detailed confidant of Westwood’s – presided over this meteoric development.
That company success went hand in hand with a powerful dedication to Westwood’s personal values, together with activism on the local weather disaster and human rights, espoused on the corporate’s web site.
The label has additionally worn queer allyship on its sleeve, most not too long ago through final yr’s partnership with the non-binary singer Sam Smith.
Smith walked the catwalk at Westwood’s present for Paris trend week in March 2024, exhibiting off its fall/winter assortment, to rave evaluations from LGBT media shops.
However the unbiased investigation into D’Amario’s conduct raises questions on whether or not the corporate’s obvious assist for the LGBT+ neighborhood translated into agency motion when it got here to its management.
In his report, Livingston discovered that D’Amario’s behaviour in relation to 2 of the allegations constituted harassment below part 26 of the Equality Act 2010, in addition to a breach of the corporate’s personal inner equality coverage.
Executives had been supposed to finish coaching on equality, diversion and inclusion, in addition to unconscious bias for managers, the report discovered.
But lots of the firm’s high executives – together with D’Amario and Westwood herself – by no means accomplished the coaching as a result of they weren’t “pc expert”, the report discovered.
Vivienne Westwood Ltd’s equality coverage was an “glorious” one and can be a “helpful place to begin” for any future coaching, Livingstone added.
“It’s a matter for the corporate as to what motion must be taken following this report,” he wrote.
The corporate’s motion stopped in need of dismissing or demoting D’Amario.
As an alternative, he seems to have earned a six-figure wage for the yr when the report was written, in keeping with firm accounts, which state the corporate’s highest-paid director earned £493,697 for the yr to the top of 2023.
Vivienne Westwood Ltd didn’t reply to questions on what disciplinary measures had been taken towards the chief government.
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