The name John Casablancas will forever be a name familiar to models all over the world as well as those individuals who work in the world of modeling and fashion. Mr. Casablancas is best known for founding a prominent modeling agency in 1972 by the name of Elite Model Management based in Paris, France. He is even attributed with coining the term “super model” and catapulting fashion models into the world of celebrity life where they began appearing not only on the runways or in the magazines, but in mass media as well.
The youngest of three children, John Casablancas was born in Manhattan, New York on December 12, 1942 to Fernando and Antonia Casablancas. His parents had both fled to the United States during the 1930’s to escape the Spanish Civil War where his father Fernando was a popular textile businessman in the large city of Sabadell, Spain. When he was 8 years old, young John was sent to Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland and then attended multiple universities in Europe where he studied economics, but never graduated. This is when he started picking up jobs in finance, public relations and real estate, even accepting a position as a marketing manager for a Coca-Cola factory in Brazil at the age of 20 offered to him by the mother of a former classmate. He then married his French girlfriend Marie-Christine against his father’s wishes and they both lived in Brazil for a few years before returning to Paris where he took a public relations job with her brother at an architecture firm. Their marriage didn’t last long, although they did have one child during their short union who they named Cecile.
After having problems in their marriage around the year 1967, John found himself living in a small hotel when he met a young 19 year old model by the name of Jeanette Christjansen who was on assignment for Gunnar Larsen, a popular photographer, and soon began having an affair with her. When she expressed to him how unhappy she was with her modeling agency it inspired him to start a business that would represent both photographers and models. He his first modeling business in 1969 and named it Elysee 3 after his Paris phone number. In 1971 he and a former schoolmate from Le Rosey by the name of Alain Kittler announced that they were founding a new modeling agency that would focus on promoting only elite models which is why they decided to name the company Elite Model Management. Casablancas knew he and his business had to have a presence in the fashion capital of the world to hit it big, so in 1977 he moved back to New York and opened his offices there shortly before Ford and Wilhemina tried to sue Elite for $10 millioin saying Casablancas was infringing on their turf. The lawsuits were unsuccessful and only seemed to have catapulted the names of John Casablancas and the Elite Model Management into the world of high fashion, glitz, glamor and lots of money. While the business was booming, Casablancas married his model girlfriend Ms. Christjansen in 1978 and they soon after had a son who they named Julian. The marriage soon ended and Casablancas was tied to many gorgeous women and known to romp around with the beautiful young models he worked with including his very public affair with 16 year old Stephanie Seymour. Igniting even more controversy in 1993, he married a young 17 year old by the name of Aline Wermelinger when she was an entrant in Elite’s “Look of the Year” modeling contest in Rio de Janiero, Brazil and they later had three children together.
Throughout the next decade Elite Model Management continued to grow globally grossing nearly $100 million a year in bookings and even introduced the world to big time super models with names like Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Paulina Porizkova, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Heidi Klum, Iman, and Gisele Bündchen. In 1993, Casablancas made headlines after firing model Naomi Campbell calling her “odious” in a French magazine. She later returned to Elite, but John continued to express disdain for super model egos. Amid scandal which resulted from a BBC documentary in the late 1990’s, Casablancas sold his shares in the company and retired, only participating in light recruitment and occasional advising until Elite filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004 and was subsequently aquired by Pacific Global Management Group shortly after.
John sold his Manhattan home in 2000 and him, his wife Aline and their three children moved to Rio de Janiero where he created a modeling school, a model scouting company called Star System and Illusion 2K, which he called a “cybermodel agency”. John Casablancas passed away at the age of 70 in Brazil on July 20, 2013 from cancer and is survived by his 5 children including Julian who is the lead singer of the famous band The Strokes.
