Karen Mulder was stunning, and maybe she still is, even now that she is in her late fifties. However, after withdrawing from the world of fashion she has become very private, so not many really knows much about her life or looks. In the 1990s she was an outstanding model, famous for her looks and for working with Victoria's Secret and several other big fashion houses. She often was compared to the popular Barbie doll, which many felt might have been made in her image, such was her perfection in looks.
However, becoming a supermodel for e.g. Valentino, Mugler, Versace, Christian
Lacroix and Victoria’s Secret didn't only bring fulfillment and a sense of succes, as it might have done for many of her colleagues. At one point she did what took bravery: She started to tell about less pleasant aspects of the world of fashion, rapes and all kinds of abuse, thus becoming one of the very first whistleblowers. As a very young child back in Holland, where she was born, she had been sexually abused by someone in her family, and I wonder whether that experience was what made her keen on seeking justice against the powerful men who were exploiting young girls, models and even supermodels like herself. Suffice it to say, that she, unlike others in her position, didn't keep quiet about her bad experiences, and that it was a shock to everybody in the fashion industry. Yes, even such a shock that it was taken for given that she was mentally unstable and only out to tell "tall tales" about the men she targeted, one of them being Prince Albert of Monaco.
What she told about the "mafia" of fashion was against all the implicit rules for models. For instance she said that her agency, Elite Model Management, pressured her into relationships with much older, but powerful men as part of her necessary career strategies. Gradually she lost her prestige and her credibility: She was considered very "unstable" as nobody listened to her accusations against these powerful men. In the early 2000s she accused several men of prestige, and that cost her everything. For several years she, who after all had been one of the most famous and best paid models didn't have many offers, but in 2008 John Galliano from Dior brought her back for a job, which seems to be the last one of her major assignments on the catwalk.
When one is thinking of Jeffery Epstein and his detestable network of exploitation it's obvious that there ought to have been a reliable whistleblower to put a stop to his criminal activities. However, those who told upon him, like e.g. the rape victim Katie Johnson, didn't get far with their accusations. Just like Karen Mulder they were brushed off as unreliable. "The Old Boys' Network" was too strong, just as it was in the Karen Mulder case, and as we see from the proceedings in America now it will take a long time until something is being done.
https://thecoldmagazine.co.uk/karen-mulder/?v=0ecbf9426bcf
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUUMm-3kWCf/
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/mulder-repeats-rape-allegations
Wikipedia
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