Crimes of Fashion

The torn ligament that has kept Naomi Campbell in a wheelchair and on crutches is reportedly the result of being mugged.

While the supermodel has kept the cause of her injury quiet, a source told Page Six that a band of thugs "knocked over and robbed" Campbell while she was trying to hail a cab in Paris over a month ago.

"It was terrifying. Naomi believes the assailant had been watching her, casing her out, and waited for a moment to strike when she was alone," the source said. "Her leg was injured as she was violently pushed to the ground. She was understandably very upset and shaken up."

The jewelry Campbell was wearing at the time of the attack may be why she was targeted. She's said to have reported the theft to French police, and was advised not to talk about the event while it's under investigation. The most she's said about the incident is, "I am sorry, I do not talk to press, but I am fine."

Campbell is reportedly recovering in Miami after being treated by an orthopedic surgeon in Colorado. Her active tweeting of inspirational quotes and affirmations suggests she just wants to put the whole thing in the past.

#omiquote Some say unless a wrong is avenged there can be no peace. But what if there can be no peace unless the wrong is forgiven? Bless dy

— Naomi Campbell (@NaomiCampbell) December 8, 2012

Naomi Campbell is suing The Daily Telegraph over an article last month that claimed she made plans for an elephant polo tournament in India.

Campbell had reportedly organized the games as part of a lavish birthday party she threw for her boyfriend, Russian real estate mogul Vladimir Doronin, at a 15th-century fort in Jodhpur last month.

"The simple truth is that there was no plan for elephant polo," said the supermodel's lawyer Gideon Benaim. "Ms. Campbell did not cancel it because it was never going to happen in the first place. We have as yet no idea where the false claims originated from; perhaps the Telegraph will let us know in due course."

The real luxuries at the party included a live performance by Diana Ross and private planes chartered to fly in guests like Kate Moss and Edward Enninful. But animal rights groups blasted Campbell when the Telegraph claimed the party would also include elephant polo — with three celebrity attendees to a team — and Campbell roundly denied the allegations. The paper has since removed the story from its website.

It's not known what kind of damages Campbell's suit seeks, but when she sued The Daily Mirror for invasion of privacy in 2001, the case was eventually settled for £500,000 —about $806,000 at current exchange.

Lynn Tesoro, the public relations executive who got slapped by a French editor at Zac Posen's Spring 2013 show, has slapped back at her assailant (and her assailant's mother and sister) with a lawsuit.

On Thursday, Tesoro — a founding partner of HL Group — filed a suit against Jalouse magazine editor Jennifer Eymere, Eymere's mother Marie-José Susskind-Jalou, president of Jalou Publishing, and Eymere's sister Vanessa Bellugeon of L'Officiel magazine. The suit charges all three with assault and slander, and Tesoro's lawyers are asking the court for unspecified damages. Tesoro had previously filed a lawsuit that asked for $1 million in damages and charged the three with "assault, battery, emotional distress, slander and/or libel."

The incident that brought the lawsuit started when the New York Fire Department took issue with the setup for Posen's Spring 2013 show and removed about 60 seats from the venue, a balcony at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. Tesoro's lawsuit says that when she attempted to find different seats for Susskind-Jalou and her daughters, the trio "refused to listen to reason and continued to berate" her. Eventually, Eymere slapped Tesoro on the face.

Eymere told WWD back in September that she didn't like the way her mother was being treated and warned the publicist a smack was coming her way. "It was a small slap. It was not strong. I didn't hurt her, it was just to humiliate her," she said. "She humiliated my mom, and I humiliated her in front of her crew. Voilà. I just said at the end, 'Now you know you don't f**k with French people.'"

But Tesoro's lawyers say that doesn't justify the slap. "Such statements falsely indicated that Tesoro deserved to be slapped because she verbally 'humiliated' Susskind-Jalou, when the exact opposite is true," the court papers said.

Photo: Lynn Tesoro in 2010.

Some of New York's top modeling agencies are named in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit that alleges they've used shady accounting practices to hold onto money they should have paid their models.

A group of models claiming that Ford, Wilhelmina, Elite, and Women, among others — as well as brands like L'Oréal, Aveda, and Revlon — have withheld hefty portions of their royalties. Louisa Raske, a model who appeared on the May/June 2005 cover of Brides, at left, is leading the class action suit and seeks $20 million in damages. Her 19-page summons claims that these agencies commonly work on the models' behalf without the models knowing it, and arrange deals "as if the modeling agencies had contacted the models and had the legal authority to execute the documents."

The suit goes on to say that "since the models are unaware of the extended/expanded usages for which the modeling agencies have negotiated and received payment on their behalf . . . the models never demand or receive payment, and at the very least, the modeling agencies are unjustly enriched by the models' funds."

Raske's suit also claims that in a similar case decided in 2005, some models were told they would "never again model in New York" if they sued their agencies. The models in that case won a $22 million settlement.

Representatives for Ford and Wilhelmina did not respond to requests for comment on this post. But Susan Scafidi, founder of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University and a board member of the Model Alliance, told us that model payment has been an issue for quite some time.

"Models have repeatedly expressed concern about lack of transparency in agency accounting practices," Scafidi said in an email. "While some agencies are more conscientious and professional than others, a lawsuit was perhaps inevitable — though the scale of this one is quite dramatic."

A full list of the defendants in this case can be found below.

Modeling Agencies:

• Next Management LLC
• Wilhelmina Models Inc.
• Wilhelmina International Ltd.
• Ford Models Inc.
• Elite Model Management — New York LLC
• DNA Model Management LLC
• IMG Models Inc.
• Trump Model Management LLC
• MC2 dba aka Karin Models of New York LLC
• Major Model Management Inc.
• Silent Models LLC
• Fusion Model Management Inc.
• Marilyn Model Management Inc.
• 1 Management LLC
• Red Model Management Inc.
• Request Model Management Inc.
• Supreme Model Management LLC
• VNY Model Management Inc.
• Men Women NY Model Management Inc.
• APM Models Inc.
• Q Model Management dba aka New York Model Management Inc.
• Click Model Management Inc.
• S Model Management LLC
• Elite Model Management Corporation
• NYC Management Group Inc.

Advertising Agencies:

• McCann-Erickson USA Inc.
• McCann-Erickson Corporation
• Ogilvy + Mather Partners Inc.
• Publicis Inc.
• JWT LLC
• Laird + Partners New York LLC
• Leo Burnett Company Inc.
• Saatchi + Saatchi North America Inc.
• Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners Inc.

Beauty Brands:

• L'Oréal USA Inc.
• Revlon Inc.
• Garnier LLC
• Coty Inc.
• Aveda Corporation
• Sephora USA Inc.
• Maybelline LLC.