“I wore Marchesa because their clothes make women feel confident and beautiful, and it is my pleasure to support a brand created by two incredibly talented and important female designers,” said Scarlett Johansson in a statement to Entertainment Tonight.
Scarlett Johansson wears off-the-shoulder red Marchesa gown to the 2018 Met Gala and brought the brand back into the fashion industry.
Georgina Chapman, the estranged wife of Harvey Weinstein, co-founded Marchesa the fashion line in 2004. During the time they were married the brand did very well.
According to a 2018 New York Times report, at one time the brand was a red carpet staple. Seemingly beloved of women from Renée Zellweger to Anne Hathaway, it became another symbol of Mr. Weinstein’s abuse of power when stars suggested they were strong-armed into it: an example of how the producer manipulated the women in his orbit to do what he wanted, whether come to his hotel rooms or wear his wife’s dresses.
When Chapman ended her marriage with Weinstein the brand started to suffer tremendously. It appeared that celebrities forgot the brand existed, it soon was nowhere to be found on red carpets.
Another issue that helped the brand fail was employees leaving the company.
According to a 2017 Vanity Fair report, Employees at the high-end label are also reported to be looking to exit the company with one fashion publicist telling the Post, “Everyone is trying to leave.” According to the publicist, Weinstein’s anger and abusive behavior made its way over to his wife’s company, creating a less-than-ideal work environment.
“Harvey would call Marchesa employees and yell at them, scare the shit out of them,” he said. “It’s a tough place [to work].”
Since 2007 the fashion industry has not seen much of Marchesa until now.
Editor of Vogue Anna Wintour is happy to see Marchesa coming back to the red carpet.
On May 9th, Anna Wintour told Stephen Colbert on his TV show: “I think it was a great gesture of support on Scarlett’s part to wear a dress like that — a beautiful dress like that — on such a public occasion.”
