Demetri Marchessini aired controversial thoughts after publishing his book Women in Trousers: a Rear View
Nigel Farage is facing fresh embarrassment over a Ukip supporter after it emerged that one of the party's most generous donors believes that women are guilty of "hostile behaviour" by "deliberately" wearing trousers to make themselves unattractive to men.
Demetri Marchessini, a Greek-born shipping tycoon who gave Ukip £10,000 this year, made the comments in a coffee table book that features photographs of women from behind.
The millionaire teamed up with a photographer a decade ago to find "unattractive backsides", in the words of the Observer writer Liz Hoggard, on the streets of London and New York.
Marchessini wrote in Women in Trousers: A Rear View: "I adore women and want to see them looking beautiful. Everyone has the obligation to look as attractive as possible. It pains me to see women looking terrible.
"Walk along any street and you see women using trousers like a uniform every single day. This is hostile behaviour. They are deliberately dressing in a way that is opposite to what men would like. It is behaviour that flies against common sense, and also flies against the normal human desire to please."
In an interview with the Observer in 2003, the tycoon complained to Hoggard of the "vulgarity" of modern celebrities. He said: "Vulgarity is the name of the game today. Film stars today make no effort to look nice at all. [Jennifer] Lopez looks like a Mexican tart. I don't know how that can be a fashion leader."
He defended his book: "We were trying to get reality. Real women walking up and down the street. Normal life."
Marchessini said women should not wear trousers because they are meant for men's bodies. He said: "The interesting thing about this phenomenon is that, because women cannot see themselves from the rear, the vast majority of women are unaware that trousers are very unflattering to them. Trousers are made for men's bodies, which are mostly straight up and down.
"Women's bodies on the other hand consists of curves. Women have big bottoms – they are meant to have big bottoms. Countless women who would look lovely in dresses or skirts are embarrassingly unattractive in trousers."
Marchessini warned that women are undermining their chances of finding a partner by wearing trousers. "The more women dress like men, the less they are attractive to men. If a man finds a woman attractive, he will find her legs sexy even if they are not perfect, simply because they are her legs. Women know that men don't like trousers, yet they deliberately wear them."
Marchessini donated £5,000 to Ukip in February and a further £5,000 the following month – about 10% of the cash donations to the party.
Ukip has faced embarrassment before over sexism. Godfrey Bloom, one of the party's most prominent MEPs, complained in 2004 that women failed to clean properly behind fridges.
He said: "I want to deal with women's issues, because I just don't think they clean behind the fridge enough. I am going to promote men's rights."
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