Riccardo Tisci, the former creative director of Givenchy and Burberry and an Italian fashion designer whose name continues to surface when top industry jobs open up, was accused of sexual assault in a state lawsuit filed in New York this week.
Patrick Cooper, 35, said in the lawsuit that he was assaulted last June after he met Mr. Tisci in a Manhattan nightclub. Mr. Cooper said that he and Mr. Tisci, along with one other acquaintance, went to an East Harlem soul food restaurant called 2 Sisters 4 Brothers Restaurant & Lounge, where Mr. Cooper claims Mr. Tisci, 50, slipped a substance into his drink without his consent or knowledge that left him “so disorientated as to no longer know where he was” or what other people, particularly Mr. Tisci, were doing to him.
Mr. Cooper said that he woke up naked in Mr. Tisci’s SoHo apartment, with Mr. Tisci naked next to him, and that he had been sexually assaulted.
A spokesman for Mr. Tisci said in a statement: “These allegations are categorically untrue. Riccardo looks forward to clearing his name of these false and malicious accusations. He will obtain vindication through due process.”
News of the 11-page lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court was first reported by The Independent.
Mr. Tisci, who is well known for his close celebrity friendships with the likes of Kim Kardashian and Naomi Campbell, left his role as creative director of the British luxury brand Burberry in 2022 after almost five years at its helm. He had previously been at the French house Givenchy from 2005 to 2017. His name was recently linked to the top job at Versace, which was bought by Prada last month. Instead, Donatella Versace was replaced by Dario Vitale in April.
In the lawsuit, Mr. Cooper said that after his interaction with Mr. Tisci, he went to hospital the next morning and later filed a police report. According to the lawsuit, which accuses Mr. Tisci of assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of New York’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act, Mr. Cooper “sustained, and will continue to sustain for an indefinite period of time, physical, psychological and emotional injuries.” Mr. Cooper is seeking damages from Mr. Tisci to be determined in court.
“I just went out to have a good night,” Mr. Cooper said in an interview with The Independent. “My intentions were never to end up in Riccardo Tisci’s bed. I remember sipping the drink, and I don’t remember anything else. To this day, I still don’t remember anything.”
A lawyer for Mr. Cooper did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
The fashion industry has been rocked by a series of sexual assault and exploitation scandals in recent years, with accusations levied at other notable figures including the photographers Mario Testino and Bruce Weber and the fashion designer Alexander Wang.
