Paul Marciano is set to take a backseat role within Guess amidst the sexual harassment allegations that have been placed against him.
The 65-year-old designer co-founded the fashion house in 1981, but after women including Kate Upton and Kristina Shannon accused him of sexual misconduct, he has agreed to step back from his "day to day responsibilities" within the company.
An internal investigation is currently underway which will look into the claims made against Marciano, and he will not return to his position within the company until the investigation is complete.
Guess said in a statement on Tuesday (20.02.18): "The Board of Directors and Mr. Marciano have agreed that Mr. Marciano will relinquish his day to day responsibilities at the Company, on an unpaid basis, pending the completion of the investigation."
In Marciano’s absence, CEO Victor Herrero will take over the leading of the company.
Marciano – who denies the allegations against him – said: "I have pledged my full cooperation to the Company, and I have the utmost confidence in our CEO, Victor Herrero, to continue leading the Company during this time."
The decision comes after model Kate Upton accused the designer of sexual misconduct on Twitter earlier this month, before further detailing her allegations in an interview with Time magazine where she claimed he "forcibly" grabbed her breasts during a meeting in 2011.
She added: "He started feeling them – playing with them actually. After I pushed him away, he said, ‘I’m making sure they’re real.’ "
As the meeting went on, she claimed he continued to touch her in a "very dominating and aggressive way".
She added: "At one point he forcibly grabbed the back of my head so that I could not move and started kissing my face and my neck.
"I remember not wanting to say, ‘Get off of me’ because I didn’t want to open my mouth to say anything because I didn’t want him to be able to put his tongue in my mouth. I had two options: do everything I could to wiggle away and avoid his pursuit, or punch the CEO of Guess. So I decided to just wiggle away."
Paul Marciano to take backseat role at Guess amid harassment claims
