Fashion Foul

Anand Jon didn't just manipulate young girls. An adult business associate describes being conned out of money by Anand, strung along by his promises and manipulated by his threats.

"How did he get away with it?" says another business associate. "I saw the way he treated people. It was just ugly. That speaks more to the culture, the desperation to become the next hot thing. You want to believe."

And Anand Jon had a great spiel, she says. "When you can wave pictures of yourself with Paris Hilton, that's money. That's cachet. Hey, this guy's in Newsweek. He's a good con man."

To what extent was Anand Jon a successful con? The young women and former business associates who spoke with the Observer paint a picture of a man who managed to pose as a designer but spent most of his time wooing girls.

Who had flunkies rip the labels out of clothes produced by others and sew in "Anand Jon" labels.

Who had unpaid helpers working for him—and paying his rent for the privilege.

Who convinced spouses and offspring of famous people to appear in his fashion shows as a way to get ink.

Who manipulated photo ops with celebrities into "relationships" that didn't exist.

Who surrounded himself at public events with an entourage of young models under strict instructions to speak to no one, not even each other.

Who leveraged each mention in the press, each endorsement, each charity appearance, into a fashion empire.

But it's an empire as thin as the nipple-revealing silk blouse a model wore on the catwalk in the 2001 fashion show that blasted Anand Jon into the fashion ionosphere.

McLean, co-owner of Girlco Modeling Agency in Dallas with his wife, Brenda, had met the designer only a few weeks earlier, soon after September 11, 2001. One of his models told him that the designer's big fashion show had to be canceled because of the terrorist attacks, but Armani had graciously offered the use of his New York studio. Lots of top models and celebrities would be there. McLean jumped at the chance to shoot the event.

Strutting down the catwalk wearing beaded and gold-embroidered Anand Jon couture clothing were Nicky and Paris Hilton, Amanda and Lydia Hearst, a princess and a half-dozen top models. Drew Barrymore's mother and Mick Jagger's daughter walked the show. McLean was impressed not only by the glamorous turnout but the elaborate clothing and high-caliber clientele.

Anand Jon told McLean he'd met Armani when he was attending the Art Institute of Florida and that the Italian designer had taken him under his wing. The media pit had photographers and writers from at least 100 media outlets, McLean says. "There were people literally sitting on the floor. It was spectacular."

After the fashion event, Anand Jon began portraying himself as Armani's protégé. (An Armani spokesman in New York says this isn't true.) McLean didn't know that the designer had blast-e-mailed the media after 9/11, saying he and his "team" were safe as a publicity stunt.

McLean remembers the timing of that show and its impact. "Everything had been so sad," he says. "Everyone wanted to feel right, to feel good. Anand discussed this with me. He said you have so many designers who had venture capitalists behind them. [After 9/11] they lost a lot of money, and designers dropped like flies. If you were one of the few left standing and you were in this showroom, you were doing something right in a big way."

Anand Jon was interested in more than fashion. In addition to his New York studio, Anand Jon had a studio in Beverly Hills where he was working with a famous Indian director on a film about a bad-boy fashion designer. Starring him. He had a reality TV show on the fashion business in the works. Starring him and Michelle Rodriguez of the TV show Lost. And there were his numerous charities: tsunami relief, endangered tigers, childhood cancer. Anand Jon wasn't just building a brand. He was building an international empire.

McLean began working with the designer, who started visiting Dallas quarterly to cast models for shows in Texas. Jesse would fly to New York to shoot Polaroids at casting calls or work at Anand Jon events.