Over 100 Models Call On Victoria's Secret To Address Sexual Harassment Claims

Doutzen Kroes, Christy Turlington Burns and Edie Campbell are among those to sign an open letter to Victoria's Secret urging them to protect its models against sexual harassment. Over 100 models have so far signed the document, which was also backed by the Time's Up movement.

The letter asks Victoria's Secret to agree to the Model Alliance's Respect programme, which was conceived by models and formalises the ways models can make workplace complaints, creating an independent body in which to investigate those complaints.

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The letter comes after charges made against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was linked with L Brands' COO Leslie Wexner. L Brands owns Victoria's Secret.

The Model Alliance reports that it has been in discussion with the brand since November 2018, but decided to escalate matters after allegations of sexual misconduct against Timur Emek, who photographed Victoria's Secret shows, encouraged more models to share their stories and concerns with the alliance in recent weeks.

“We appreciate that these are allegations," said model Sara Ziff, who spearheaded the letter. "We’re simply saying that with so many allegations against multiple Victoria’s Secret photographers and The New York Times reporting on the apparent connection between L Brands’ ceo and Jeffrey Epstein, Victoria’s Secret has a problem.” The letter itself was also signed by Carolyn Murphy, Gemma Ward, Iskra Lawrence, Karen Elson and Milla Jovovich, plus famed photographers Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

"We are writing today to express our concern for the safety and wellbeing of the models and young women who aspire to model for Victoria's Secret," reads the letter. "In the past few weeks, we have heard numerous allegations of sexual assault, alleged rape and sex trafficking of models and aspiring models. While these allegations may not have been aimed at Victoria's Secret directly, it is clear your company has a crucial role to play in remedying the situation."

A Victoria's Secret spokesperson told WWD: "We are always concerned about the welfare of our models and want to continue to have dialogue with the Model Alliance and others to accomplish meaningful progress in the industry.'

The article originally appeared on Harper's BAZAAR UK.