Steven Kolb, the chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the fashion industry’s leading trade organization, was placed on leave Monday after a physical altercation he had with two animal rights activists on Sunday.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the organization said: “The C.F.D.A. takes this matter very seriously, and as a result, Mr. Kolb will be on leave pending a full review. The C.F.D.A. as an organization is committed to working with dissenting voices to find commonality and is engaged in efforts to move the American fashion industry forward while upholding the values of our membership.”
The incident in question took place in the WSA building at 175 Water Street in Manhattan in the middle of New York Fashion Week, when a group of animal rights activists from the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals stormed the runway show for Cos, a contemporary fashion brand owned by H&M.
The Cos show is not a fashion presentation that’s at the top of anyone’s fashion week calendars, and even the PETA protesters’ disruption might have gone unremarked on were it not for what happened next. As the demonstrators began screaming to get sheep wool off the runway, Kolb rose from his seat by a wall of windows and physically restrained at least two of the activists, wrestling one to the ground and covering her mouth.
The confrontation was captured on video by the news site Fashionista and quickly became all fashion week attendees could talk about as they sat for shows across town. It also drew widespread attention online, where people began to call for action to be taken against Kolb.
Shortly after the proceedings, Kolb issued a statement acknowledging that he had “reacted inappropriately.”
“It wasn’t my place to do so,” he continued. “I should have let the security team handle the situation.”
The Fashionista video also included Kolb rising from his seat and pushing a young male protester, later identified as Mason Melito, who described himself as a senior campaigner with PETA.
Later in the video, Kolb can be seen with his hand over Melito’s mouth and pressing his face against the window, seemingly to prevent him from screaming.
The video from Fashionista quickly drew opprobrium beyond the fashion world, as public sentiment has turned sharply against the ways in which top industry professionals wield power.
Two weeks before, the Metropolitan Museum of Art decided to postpone an exhibit at the Anna Wintour Costume Center focused on the career of John Galliano, a designer who in 2011 was convicted in a French court of hate crimes, after making a series of antisemitic and anti-Asian remarks in public while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
The C.F.D.A. is also an organization in which Wintour, Vogue’s global editorial director and a Met trustee, is heavily involved.
PETA had been protesting the use of sheep’s wool. Last year, the C.F.D.A. put out a statement saying it would “no longer promote animal fur” at any official New York Fashion Week events, including on “its fashion calendar, social media channel and website.”
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