John Casablancas

John Casablancas (December 12, 1942 – July 20, 2013) was an American modeling agent and scout who founded Elite Model Management in 1972.

John Casablancas
Born(1942-12-12)December 12, 1942
New York City, U.S.
DiedJuly 20, 2013(2013-07-20) (aged 70)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
NationalityAmerican
Occupation
  • Model agent
  • entrepreneur
Spouse(s)
  • Marie Christine
    ​
    (
    m. 1965; div. 1970)
  • Jeanette Christiansen
    ​
    (
    m. 1979; div. 1983)
  • Aline Wermelinger
    ​
    (
    m. 1993; his death 2013)
Children5 including Julian Casablancas

Early life

Casablancas was born in Manhattan, New York City, on December 12, 1942, the youngest of three children of Ferran and Antònia Casablancas, a banker and former model respectively,[1][2] and grandson of Catalan textile machinery inventor Ferran Casablancas Planell.[3] His parents had left Spain during the 1930s to escape the Spanish Civil War,[1] and the family subsequently lived in Argentina, Mexico, and France, among other countries.[2]

At age 8, he began attending Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland where he met “many children of the international jet set, and began a somewhat wayward life for the next two decades.” He continued his education at several universities in Europe but never graduated.[1]

Career

Casablancas founded the Elite Model Management, a modeling agency, in 1972 in Paris, France.[1] He had previously run the Paris-based agency Model Agency Elysée 3, which he founded in 1969.[4] Casablancas is credited for developing the concept of supermodel in the popular culture, turning models into celebrities that were featured in mass media as personalities rather than just faces.[5] Elite proved to be a success, grossing nearly $100 million in annual model bookings during the years that Casablancas ran the operations.[1]

By promoting the concept of supermodel, it was said that “turning models into idols, their egos (expanded) in direct proportion to their earnings potential.” In 1990, Linda Evangelista, who, at the time was married to Gérald Marie, the president of Elite in Paris, told Vogue something "that came to define the vainglorious world of modeling that Mr. Casablancas had created: "We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day.""[6]

Casablancas founded the John Casablancas Modeling and Acting Agency and School, [7] and the Star System model and talent management agency.[1]

Personal life and death

At age 22, Casablancas married Marie-Christine from France. The two lived in Rio de Janeiro for much of their marriage. Casablancas had one child with Marie-Christine, Cécile, who was born in 1969 in France. The two split soon after her birth.[8] Casablancas met Jeanette Christiansen, a Danish model and the 1965 Miss Denmark, and the first model Casablancas ever represented,[1][9] in 1967. They married in 1979 after the birth of their son,[2] Julian Casablancas, lead vocalist of the American bands, The Strokes and The Voidz, in 1978.[10] Casablancas and Christiansen divorced in 1983,[11] as he was having a public affair with Stephanie Seymour, then 16 years old.[12]

In 1993,[13] he married Aline Mendonça de Carvalho Wermelinger, his third wife and winner of Elite Model Look 1992 in Brazil, with whom he had three children, John Jr., Fernando Augusto, and Nina.[1][14] A resident of Miami, Florida, Casablancas died on July 20, 2013, in Rio de Janeiro, where he had been receiving treatment for cancer. He was 70 years old.[1]

Media
gollark: I distract the shopkeeper, steal the ice bucket, and run toward the apiopyroforms.
gollark: I ask about bounties for apiopyroform removal.
gollark: I ask the shopkeeper when they will attain a new undollar.
gollark: Is the person a shopkeeper?
gollark: I return to the store, in case it restocked.

References
  1. Wilson, Eric (2013-07-20). "John Casablancas, Modeling Visionary, Dies at 70". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  2. Prince, Dinah (January 25, 1988). "Girl Crazy". New York. Vol. 21, No. 4: 32–41.
  3. Cabana, Francesc (July 28, 2013). "La família Casablancas". El Punt Avui (in Catalan). Retrieved November 2, 2017. John Casablancas Ubach... era el nét de Ferran Casablancas Planell (1874-1960)... John Casablancas era fill de Ferran Casablancas Bertran, el germà gran de la família.
  4. Casablancas: The Man Who Loved Women. directed by Hubert Woroniecki. Realitism Films, Maneki Lab. France. 2016. Event occurs at 17:49-20:30.CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. John Casablancas obituary: Agent whose company, Elite, ushered in the era of the supermodel - The Independent
  6. Wilson, Eric (July 22, 2013). "John Casablancas; modeling visionary founded Elite agency". Boston Globe. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  7. Casablancas, John. "John Casablancas: Modeling, Acting". www.jcasablancas.com.
  8. Casablancas: The Man Who Loved Women. directed by Hubert Woroniecki. Realitism Films, Maneki Lab. France. 2016. Event occurs at 13:12-15:39.CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. Casablancas: The Man Who Loved Women. directed by Hubert Woroniecki. Realitism Films, Maneki Lab. France. 2016. Event occurs at 15:00-16:57.CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. Casablancas: The Man Who Loved Women. directed by Hubert Woroniecki. Realitism Films, Maneki Lab. France. 2016. Event occurs at 53:20-54:08.CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. Wilson, Eric (2013-07-20). "John Casablancas, Modeling Visionary, Dies at 70". New York Times. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  12. Horwell, Veronica (July 24, 2013). "John Casablancas Obituary; Entrepreneur who created wealth from beauty by inventing the supermodel". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  13. "Someone Old, Someone New". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  14. LIMA ABIB, Alberto. A família Wermelinger: uma aventura em dois continentes (a imigração suíça de 1819–1820). 2000, self edition, 391p, ISBN 9788590146612
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