Let's back up: Brandy Melville is a fast fashion brand that was initially notable for its social media popularity-and the fact that it only carried one size of clothing: tiny. The clothes were intended to be worn exclusively by the people who became Brandy Melville's prototypical clientele: the skinny white cool girl with money to burn and lots of TikTok followers. I don't mean to sound dismissive or reductive of these girls -- but the underlying racism and sizeism of the company is just truly astounding when you take even a quick glance at their Instagram.
And naturally, the rich man sitting reclusively at the heart of Brandy Melville, inside a whirlwind of deliberately confounding shell companies, is exactly who you think he is. Stephan Marsan is the son of a rich man, and he hates taxes and inclusivity and is a very loud Trumper with a fetish for Ayn Rand's fantasy world of Atlas Shrugged. (He actually named a sub-label of Brandy Melville "John Galt," because he is that subtle.) He and other company executives arranged international trips for "favorite" girls and set up isolated housing for young female employees in New York City. There was at least one case of rape recorded -- not prosecuted, because the girl was afraid of losing her job. Marsan hung out on an internal text thread that was flooded daily by the most disturbing, bigoted, shocking "jokes," with a particular affection for Hitler.
Let's not shop there.
Sorry about the post title.