Elite Model Management
Encyclopedia
Elite Model Management is a large modeling agency
based in New York and Paris. It is a subsidiary of Elite World S.A.
, which launched in 1983. With about 400,000 annual contestants in more than 60 countries, Elite Model Look has "discovered" many notable models, including Cindy Crawford
, Gisele Bündchen
, Stephanie Seymour
, Adriana Lima
, Alessandra Ambrosio
, Tatjana Patitz
, and Lara Stone
.
Elite represents, or has represented such models as Tyra Banks
, Gisele Bündchen, Huggy Ragnarsson
, Adriana Lima, Naomi Campbell
, Karen Elson
, Carol Alt
, Özge Ulusoy
, Liya Kibede, Cindy Crawford, Heidi Klum
, Eva Herzigova
, Tatiana Sorokko
, Angelika Kallio
, Paulina Porizkova
, Alessandra Ambrosio
, Jennifer Flavin
, Coco Rocha
, Veronica Webb
and Stephanie Seymour
.
Since 2007, the company are the official license holders to select the representative for the United States
at the Miss World
pageant.
showing the President of Elite Model Management, Gerald Marie, offering an undercover reporter sex for money. It was later proven that some images had been manipulated and the BBC admitted that its portrayal was unfair and had to make a substantial payout to the model agency
In 2003, an employee was awarded $5.2 million in a suit concerning passive smoking in the US office of Elite..
In 2004, Elite Model Management filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
.
In 2009, the president of Elite World (the parent company of Elite Model Management), Bertrand Hennet, was arrested on drug charges.
Other controversies concerning the company have included charges of sexual impropriety against agency founder John Casablancas.
Modeling agency
A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and or the head agency....
based in New York and Paris. It is a subsidiary of Elite World S.A.
History
Founded in France in 1972 by John Casablancas and Alain Kittler, it was rebought in 1990 by Nicholas Farrae. Elite World S.A. is the parent company of Elite Model Management.Activities
Elite today manages over 800 models from five continents. It offers international coverage with 40 agencies in its network. It holds the annual talent scouting contest, the Elite Model LookElite Model Look
Elite Model Look is a yearly fashion modeling event held by Elite Model Management, an international model management group. It is the premiere and most prestigious modeling contest used to discover and launch fashion models in the international fashion marketplace...
, which launched in 1983. With about 400,000 annual contestants in more than 60 countries, Elite Model Look has "discovered" many notable models, including Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford
Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford is an American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...
, Gisele Bündchen
Gisele Bündchen
Gisele Caroline Bündchen is a Brazilian fashion model, occasional film actress and goodwill ambassador for the UN Environment Programme.In the late 1990s, Bündchen became one of the first in a wave of Brazilian models to find success...
, Stephanie Seymour
Stephanie Seymour
Stephanie Michelle Seymour is an American model and actress. Seymour has modeled for many notable fashion magazines and designers, and has been photographed by several well-known photographers including Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, Gilles Bensimon, and Mario Testino.-Career:Born in San Diego,...
, Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima is a Brazilian model, best known as a Victoria's Secret Angel since 2000, and as a spokesmodel for Maybelline cosmetics from 2003 to 2009...
, Alessandra Ambrosio
Alessandra Ambrosio
Alessandra Corine Ambrósio is a Brazilian model. Ambrosio is best known for her work with Victoria's Secret and was chosen as the first spokesmodel for the company's "PINK" line...
, Tatjana Patitz
Tatjana Patitz
Tatjana Patitz is a German model and actress who rose to international prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, representing top fashion designers, campaigns, and collections, and who continues to model today.-Modelling career:...
, and Lara Stone
Lara Stone
Lara Catherina Stone is a Dutch model.On February 19, 2010, she was tabulated as the world's number-one fashion model on the international modelling site models.com's Top 50 Models Women ranking, a position she maintains as of November 2011...
.
Elite represents, or has represented such models as Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks
Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...
, Gisele Bündchen, Huggy Ragnarsson
Huggy Ragnarsson
Huggy Ragnarsson is an Icelandic-American fashion photographer and former fashion model, born in Reykjavik, Iceland. She moved to the United States when she was 11 months old and her mother only 19. When she began to model, she turned her attention to fashion photography, which became her...
, Adriana Lima, Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...
, Karen Elson
Karen Elson
Karen Elson is a British model, singer-songwriter and guitarist.As a child, Elson attended North Chadderton School in Chadderton with her twin sister, filmmaker Kate Elson. She began working as a model as a teenager....
, Carol Alt
Carol Alt
Carol Ann Alt is an American model and actress.- Early life:Alt was born in Flushing, Queens, New York, the daughter of Muriel, an airline employee and model, and Anthony Alt, a fire chief. She was noticed waiting tables in her hometown of East Williston, New York. When she was 18, she decided to...
, Özge Ulusoy
Özge Ulusoy
Özge Ulusoy is a Turkish model, retired ballet dancer , and occasional film actress from Izmir. She is best known for her appearance in the popular TV-series Arka Sokaklar in 2008 and 2009...
, Liya Kibede, Cindy Crawford, Heidi Klum
Heidi Klum
Heidi Samuel , better known by her birth name Heidi Klum, is a German model, actress, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and occasional singer. In 2008 she became an American citizen while maintaining her native German citizenship...
, Eva Herzigova
Eva Herzigová
Eva Herzigová is a Czech model and actress.-Early life and career:Herzigová was born in Litvínov, Czechoslovakia . She began her modeling career after winning a modeling beauty contest in Prague in 1989, at the age of sixteen. After arriving in Paris, her popularity increased...
, Tatiana Sorokko
Tatiana Sorokko
Tatiana Sorokko is a Russian-born American model, fashion journalist and haute couture collector. She walked the runways for the world's most prominent designers and fashion houses, appeared on covers of leading fashion magazines, and became the first Russian model of the post-Soviet period to gain...
, Angelika Kallio
Angelika Kallio
Angelika Kallio is a Latvian-born Finnish model. She is one of the most successful fashion models from Finland, living and working abroad since the early 1990s.-Background:...
, Paulina Porizkova
Paulina Porizkova
Pavlína Pořízková-Ocasek is a Czech model and actress. At the age of eighteen years, she became the first woman from Central Europe to grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated swim-suit issue. She was the second woman to be featured on the swim-suit issue's front cover consecutive times...
, Alessandra Ambrosio
Alessandra Ambrosio
Alessandra Corine Ambrósio is a Brazilian model. Ambrosio is best known for her work with Victoria's Secret and was chosen as the first spokesmodel for the company's "PINK" line...
, Jennifer Flavin
Jennifer Flavin
Jennifer Flavin Stallone is a former model who is the wife of actor Sylvester Stallone.- Early life :Flavin was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in West Hills, Los Angeles, California, a district of Los Angeles, and currently resides in Beverly Crest neighborhood of Los Angeles...
, Coco Rocha
Coco Rocha
Coco Rocha is a Canadian fashion model.- Personal life :Rocha was born in Toronto, Ontario, and moved to Richmond and attended McRoberts secondary school, British Columbia at a very young age. Her family is in the airline industry. Her mother, Juanita, is a flight attendant and her father, Trevor...
, Veronica Webb
Veronica Webb
Veronica Webb is an American model, actress, writer, journalist and television personality. Webb was the first African-American to have a major cosmetics contract...
and Stephanie Seymour
Stephanie Seymour
Stephanie Michelle Seymour is an American model and actress. Seymour has modeled for many notable fashion magazines and designers, and has been photographed by several well-known photographers including Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, Gilles Bensimon, and Mario Testino.-Career:Born in San Diego,...
.
Since 2007, the company are the official license holders to select the representative for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the Miss World
Miss World
The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951...
pageant.
Problems and controversies
In 1999, a film was broadcast by the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
showing the President of Elite Model Management, Gerald Marie, offering an undercover reporter sex for money. It was later proven that some images had been manipulated and the BBC admitted that its portrayal was unfair and had to make a substantial payout to the model agency
In 2003, an employee was awarded $5.2 million in a suit concerning passive smoking in the US office of Elite..
In 2004, Elite Model Management filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
.
In 2009, the president of Elite World (the parent company of Elite Model Management), Bertrand Hennet, was arrested on drug charges.
Other controversies concerning the company have included charges of sexual impropriety against agency founder John Casablancas.
External links
- Elite Model Look 25th World Final / Sanya, China
- Elite World
- Elite Model Mgmt in the Fashion Model DirectoryFashion Model DirectoryThe Fashion Model Directory is an online database of information about female fashion models, modeling agencies, fashion labels, fashion magazines, fashion designers and fashion editorials. FMD is often denoted as the IMDb of the fashion industry, for being one of the world's largest fashion...
- Seoul Times article about Elite contest
- Vietnam News Agency article about contest in Vietnam
- Elite Model Contest 2007 in Switzerland
- Casting held for "Miss Krasnoyarsk Territory" beauty contest on September 22, 2007
- BusinessWeek article about Elite's bankruptcy amid charges of price fixingPrice fixingPrice fixing is an agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given level by controlling supply and demand...
- Complaint of class action filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York