PHOTOSAlice + Olivia Designer Stacey Bendet & Steve Madden Come To Blows In Hotel Lobby
Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet and fellow designer Steve Madden had an unpleasant exchange. On Monday, February 17, Stacey, 41, claimed that the shoe designer, 62, “verbally assaulted” her in a hotel lobby in a now-deleted Instagram video, according to People.
Stacey began the clip by explaining that she usually had her “feed filled with positivity, female empowerment and the beautiful clothes my team and I are so proud to create.” However, after her not-so-friendly encounter with Steve, the clothing designer felt it was needed that she shared “this example of bully, copying and overall disrespect toward creativity and women.”
In the video, Steve could allegedly be heard saying, “Honey if you’re going to be rude you can go f**k yourself.” To which Stacey replied, “Yeah? You said if I’m not copying people, I’m not doing a good job? That was you.”
Steve responded, “You can go f**k yourself. Okay. You copy people all the time.” Stacey denied Steve’s allegations saying, “I have it trademarked branded Stace.”
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In a lengthy now-deleted caption, Stacey wrote, “@stevemadden launches a verbal assault on me in a hotel lobby—he said hello and complimented my outfit and I asked him if he was going to continue to copy it like he did with my trademarked stace designs—you can see him lose his temper and become aggressive using vulgar language all while my four-year-old screams mommy in the background.”
She continued, “I am sharing this because his behavior is not acceptable in business or life—he could have apologized or showed some remorse—but no, he responds with intimidation—we can’t stop bullies unless we stand up to them!!! I hope what my daughters learned was how you never let a man or anyone speak to you this way!”
Stacey further addressed the incident on her Instagram Story and thanked fans for their support after posting the clip. “I just want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support I received this morning since I posted the video of Steve Madden cursing at me in front of my 4-year-old in a hotel lobby when I called him out for copying so many of my StaceFace designs,” the fashion designer said. She added, “And you know in truth as a person I think he just showed his true colors, which is like a full-on pig.” Steve has yet to publicly respond to the allegations.
Stacey and Steve’s feud stretched back to December 2018 when Alice + Olivia sued Steve’s parent company, Betsey Johnson, for copyright infringement for using the image of a woman wearing sunglasses and red lipstick, according to a report. The two companies reached a confidential settlement in June 2019.
