Daniel Terdiman\/CNET <\/p>\n
Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder, lightning rod, and now... fashion model? <\/p>\n
Apparently so. According to multiple reports, he's been asked to make his modeling debut during London Fashion Week in a show by designer Ben Westwood. And he won't have to risk arrest to work the catwalk. <\/p>\n
The September show will take place at the Ecuadorian embassy, where Assange has for two years sought political asylum from a British court order to extradite him to Sweden over sexual assault allegations. <\/p>\n
Westwood -- who is not listed under designers on the official London Fashion Week site -- found inspiration for his upcoming collection from \"The Good, The Bad And The Ugly,\" a '60s Italian Western in which Clint Eastwood plays an enigmatic loner. <\/p>\n
\"My view about Julian is that he is a popular hero and he's done a great deal to change public opinion,\" Westwood said in a statement. \"I think it's a citizen's duty to stand up for justice and freedom of speech. I want to highlight Julian Assange's plight.\" <\/p>\n
Assange's WikiLeaks site has published more than 8 million anonymously leaked documents since 2006, including a trove of classified information. <\/p>\n
Westwood, a photographer known for his erotic shots, is the oldest son of famed designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, also an Assange supporter. She created an \"I am Julian Assange\" T-shirt bearing his image and wore it when visiting Assange at the embassy in 2012. The shirt also appeared in one of her own runway shows. <\/p>\n
Assange, 42, will reportedly appear in the London Fashion Week fringe event along with six other models. Still, fashion magazines shouldn't set aside space for an Assange photo spread just yet. <\/p>\n
According to a New York Times fashion blog, Richard Hillgrove, a London publicist working on the September Ben Westwood show, has said the Assange modeling gig is still under discussion. <\/p>\n
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