A New York man claims iconic fashion designer Riccardo Tisci drugged his drink while out at an East Harlem restaurant, after which he woke up in the former Givenchy creative director’s multimillion-dollar townhouse, naked, without any idea how he got there.
In a state lawsuit filed Tuesday, Patrick Cooper accuses Tisci of sexually assaulting him while he was under the influence and unable to consent, alleging the 50-year-old dosed him with an unknown substance in order to make him “so disorientated as to no longer know where he was, what he was doing, or what other people, particularly [Tisci], was [sic] doing to him.”
As a result, Cooper, 35, was “unable to reject, fight, stop or defend himself” from Tisci’s “predatory, sexual, and unlawful assault and battery,” according to his complaint.
He told The Independent that he “just went out to have a good night. My intentions were never to end up in Riccardo Tisci’s bed. When I woke up, he was kissing me.”
Cooper, who describes himself as bisexual, said he headed to the hospital for rape kit testing immediately upon leaving Tisci’s luxe SoHo home, then contacted police to make a report.
“I remember sipping the drink, and I don’t remember anything else,” Cooper contended. “To this day, I still don’t remember anything. Nothing.”
Reached by phone, Tisci hung up shortly after being informed what the call was regarding. His agent, Anne Nelson of United Talent Agency, told The Independent, “I regret to inform you that I cannot comment on any matters related to the pending litigation.”
In an email, an NYPD spokesperson declined to confirm or deny details of the case, but said, “The NYPD takes sexual assault and rape cases extremely seriously, and urges anyone who has been a victim to file a police report so we can perform a comprehensive investigation, and offer support and services to survivors.”
A native of Apulia, Italy, Tisci has dressed stars including – among countless others – Beyoncé, Adele, Meryl Streep, Rhianna, Madonna, Cate Blanchett and Kim Kardashian, who wore a Tisci-designed dress for her 2014 wedding to rapper Kanye West. He left Givenchy in 2017, after 12 years, and in 2018 was appointed chief creative officer at Burberry, where he stayed until September 2022.
Further afield, Tisci designed the cover art for Jay-Z and West’s 2011 album Watch the Throne, and is now collaborating with Nike on a line of luxury handbags.
“I love romanticism and sensuality, maybe because I come from a family with eight sisters,” Tisci told The New York Times in 2007. “I’m also a person who is very emotional. I like black, I like white. I never like what’s in the middle.”
The alleged assault dates to June 29, 2024, when Cooper met Tisci through a mutual friend, according to his complaint. After spending time at a club downtown, Cooper said he, his friend, Tisci, and another man went to 2 Sisters 4 Brothers, a soul food spot on East 116th Street.
That’s where Tisci surreptitiously slipped something into Cooper’s drink when he wasn’t looking, Cooper’s complaint alleges.
Cooper, who said he is 6-foot-1-inch tall and handles his liquor “very well,” told The Independent that he had only had two or so glasses of wine up until that point and hadn’t been feeling drunk at all.
However, the complaint continues, shortly after Cooper finished his drink at 2 Sisters 4 Brothers, he became “disoriented, confused, impaired, intoxicated, unaware of his actions and surroundings, and unable to comprehend what was going on.”
“[O]nce the drug took effect… [Tisci] brought [Cooper] back to [his] home, where [Tisci] prevented [Cooper] from leaving and sexually assaulted him,” the complaint states. “When [Cooper] woke up, he found himself naked with [Tisci], (also naked), next to him… Upon information and belief, at the time of the aforesaid sexual assault, [Cooper] lacked the capacity to consent.”
When Cooper came to while at Tisci’s swank King Street pad, which he once shared with artist Marina Abramovich, his throat was so dry could barely speak, he told The Independent.
Completely discombobulated, Cooper said he asked Tisci for a glass of water, who walked away unclothed then came back wearing a pair of shorts.
“I was like, ‘How did I get here?’ I kept saying, ‘How did I get here?’ I keep asking him how I got there, and he’s not responding,” Cooper recalled. “We go upstairs, my clothes are there, next to the couch.”
Cooper said he left, unsure of where he was, then called the friend he had been with the night before.
“He’s upset at me, saying, ‘Why would you leave me? I couldn’t find you,’” Cooper went on. “He said he was asking everyone if they knew where I was, so I told him, ‘I don’t remember last night at all.’”
The next day, Cooper said he called Tisci, who insisted he didn’t remember him, and asked for a photo.
“I sent the picture, and he goes, ‘I still don’t remember you,’” Cooper said. “I told him, ‘How do you not remember me? I was at your house.’ He goes, ‘Oh yeah, I remember you now. Nothing happened.’ I said, ‘I woke up naked.’ He said, ‘No, you had clothes on.’ And that’s when I knew.”
He then decided to retain a lawyer, Cooper said, adding that he “kind of broke down” in the aftermath of the alleged assault.
“I have not spoken to Riccardo [since], I have not heard from him,” Cooper stated.
Cooper’s lawsuit accuses Tisci of assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violations of New York State’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act.
He is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be determined in court.
