Forbes' The Five Most Important People in Modeling

[smurfling]

^ Yeah, I certainly never would have guessed that Aerin made the list. What makes her brand more important and powerful (in terms of the modeling world) than the next?

 

[smurfling]

Oh, and I have to agree with everyone else that the first person that came to mind after reading the thread's title was none other than Meisel.

 

[Legolas]

It would be interesting to see an update of this list these days.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

hmmm, i think the guy that casts prada should be in here too, russell march?

although he has a lot of power in casting most of his girls dont last especially Prada nowadays

 

[alonsoJonathan]

i will said the list will still b the same.
maybe adding few more,like Karl?
n tyra banks of course for making top models every season!!

 

[agee]

KEEP
Anna Wintour
Ed Razek


ADD
Carine Roitfeld
Miuccia Prada
Ricardo Tisci


???
Aerin Lauder
Ivan Bart
Karl Lagerfeld
Mario Testino
Mert and Marcus
NEXT Model Management
Steven Meisel

 

[fantastical]

interesting that this list is still totally relevant.

although I don't think Meisel can break a new girl the way he once could. nowadays it seems to have more impact if they were already around and then he gives them his magic touch. Same goes for Miuccia Prada. Idk why but she doesn't seem to have the same amount of clout that she once had. Opening or closing or even walking as an exclusive for Prada isn't the same as it once was. except for Arizona Muse BUT I think her career is due to Anna Wintour more than Prada.

and then yes, I agree with agee that Carine should be added. not Tisci, because it seems that he is purely under his influence of her favorites. Lara, Joan, Saskia - all favorites of Carine who then became Tisci faves. Carine is the real one who has been creating model careers.

the only other person I might add would be Nicolas Ghesquiere, and only slightly because he's not as important as the others mentioned in the list.

 

[agee]

^ I agree about Carine and to me Carine is the top tastemaker when it comes to models. I don't know how that is going to change now that she is no longer attached to a major magazine, but she has definitely made the careers of several models in recent years. I did struggle with listing Tisci, Mert and Marcus and Karl Lagerfeld for the reason that you object to Tisci, and that is that many top / hot models were funneled to them by Carine, although did Carine work with Joan before Tisci - not sure about her?

I put Miuccia Prada on the list because I don't look at the models that she discovered that did not make it, rather the ones that she discovered who did, and there are quite a few top / hot models that she either discovered or was one of that model's first big gigs. At the end of the day, Miuccia Prada is a designer and even though I do not always share her taste in models, the model selection should be driven by the collection / clothes. I remember when she wanted dark-haired models for the Spring 2011 collection and womanly models for Fall 2010 and is rumored to have cut Daphne Groeneveld from the Fall 2010 show because she did not have the right look for the collection. IMO that is how it should be, a designer should be worried about making his / her current collection look good, not discovering the next big thing or jumping on the bandwagon over the current flavor of the season. Speaking of Daphne, it is because of Miuccia Prada being at key figure in the early careers of Daphne, Lindsey Wixson, Sasha Pivovarova and Arizona Muse that I listed her.

 

[Legolas]

interesting that this list is still totally relevant.

although I don't think Meisel can break a new girl the way he once could. nowadays it seems to have more impact if they were already around and then he gives them his magic touch. Same goes for Miuccia Prada.

True.. for example Miranda, before Ivan Bart, and specially before Miuccia and Meisel... she was just a famous VS model and not taken that seriously as a HF model, and I think there is a before and after in her career after her Prada campaign and her Vogue Italia cover. Her last runway showlist proves that.

Idk why but she doesn't seem to have the same amount of clout that she once had. Opening or closing or even walking as an exclusive for Prada isn't the same as it once was.

I agree. I don't think we'll see again another girl having a story like Sasha's for a long time, but I think that these days Miucca does some significant power on the boys market, for example Benjamin Eiden was a complete underground/unknown newcomer before opening and closing the S/S 12 Prada show...after that event: blue chips campaigns, iD and Vogue covers, etc. Without Miucca's influence that wouldn't have happened.

 

[congacon]

here is my list:

anna wintour(the most powerful figure in the industry. only fools would question her status)

karl lagerfeld(his loyalty to models make him one of the most important figures in the indusy. think about daria werbowy, freja, baptiste, and now saskia)

ed razek(we all know he turns many models into huge commercial models)

photographers like meisel, and testino, or inez&vinoodth can turn many into stars but not superstars bc they work with so many models so they can't not give too much attention to a particular model. karl and ed on the other hand are different, they only work with a small group of models and they tend to work with them for a long period of time. i understand the power of meisel, but i still think that he can only turn new or less established models into stars but not superstars like ed and karl.

 

[fantastical]

^I disagree with Karl because he is finicky. He stops using some models after a while like a used tissue.

Take someone like Heidi Mount. supposed Karl Lagerfeld muse, but....where is she now?

 

[Legolas]

^ true, and now Freja will follow the same path. He might help them becoming famous, but then...

 

[fantastical]

No, I think Freja is different because she seems to have established connections with other influential photographers, editors, stylists, etc that keeps her working regardless of Karl. Hopefully whenever she makes her "comeback" she changes up her look to make her more interesting or relevant.

 

[Legolas]

yeah, you right, see the thing it's that actually i don't follow her career that much, so i have always related her with karl... but you are probably right, she's established enough. Actaully I think Heidi is as well, it's just that she's less famous. Anyway, I don't think Karl belongs that much to this list... the only aspect I would consider to put him on this list would be Baptiste. Baptiste would never have happened in fashion without Karl's help. Now he's an icon according to models.com (which i disagree), but you can't deny Karl has beenvery important in his career.... so maybe only for that event, but Karl never has had such an exclusive and huge impact on the career of any other model imo.

 

[valliaddict]

I would add Mert & Marcus to this list now. They seem to shoot just as many campaigns as Meisel these days, except they are much more loyal to their models. They are definitely career makers.

 

[jmrmartinho]

Mert and Marcus never made any model famous...

 

[congacon]

yeah, you right, see the thing it's that actually i don't follow her career that much, so i have always related her with karl... but you are probably right, she's established enough. Actaully I think Heidi is as well, it's just that she's less famous. Anyway, I don't think Karl belongs that much to this list... the only aspect I would consider to put him on this list would be Baptiste. Baptiste would never have happened in fashion without Karl's help. Now he's an icon according to models.com (which i disagree), but you can't deny Karl has beenvery important in his career.... so maybe only for that event, but Karl never has had such an exclusive and huge impact on the career of any other model imo.

i don't see how someone like m&m is more powerful than karl. think about daria, freja, baptiste, brad and now saskia, tell me these people have nothing to do with karl?

daria wouldn't be the number one model without her 4 straight only girl chanel campaign. same goes for freja, she wouldnt be in the number 2 spot without chanel, chanel is her biggest work in her career, nothing even come close to that.

and now we have saskia, apparently she is karl's darling of the moment. she got chanel pre-fall, chanel fall/winter, hogen, karl, 2 numero covers under the influence of karl.

imo, karl is one of the biggest star makers in the industry. all his core favorites will end up in the top 5. heidi mount and abbey are not his core favorites. they are more like filler, same goes for joan. im sure saskia will score chanel s/s campaign again.

 

[tarsha]

^ Saskia already is the face of Chanel S/S ad campaibgn and before scroing another S/S (2013) there's F/W 12.13 ad. I agree about Anna W (latest example is Karlie Kloss, well she had support from Dior/ Galliano but she has appeared in almost every issue of US Vogue last 2 years). Some of Miuccia's girls are also stars ( Sasha Pivovarova comes in mind immediately), but many of them disappeared! As for Carine, look at Lara Stone! She's number 1 now and I'm sure the fact that she was (and still is) Carine's favorite helped her to achieve everything she has today. And same can be told about Saskia, first it was Carine and now Karl. So Carine, Karl & Anna W, along with Miuccia and maybe also Testino & Meisel (these two probably had bigger power in past about making stars) are playing big role in making industry's new stars. Not sure about Mert & Marcus, I can't remember any model that became star because they liked her.

 

[agee]

Some of Miuccia's girls are also stars ( Sasha Pivovarova comes in mind immediately), but many of them disappeared!

IIRC among the current set of established / hot models, Miuccia Prada gave Arizona Muse and Daphne Groeneveld their first high profile jobs, and if we are reaching back, in addition to Sasha Pivovarova, IIRC she gave Karolina Kurkova and Daria Werbowy their first high profile jobs as well, and was also one of Angela Lindvall's first big jobs.

 

[congacon]

i wouldnt consider miuccia as a star maker. she is not loyal to her favorites, only sasha is the exception.

karl or anna on the other hand are different, they both are loyal to their favorites. for example daria was anna favorites for years, then coco, and now karlie or even lara and raquel. loyalty is so important because long working relationship give models longevity and time to shine. with karl and anna, they tend to work with their few core favorites for years.

loyalty is something that i dont see in meisel these days. his taste for model changes so fast. he hasnt turned any recent models into supermodels.

carine is something of the past. a few french vogue covers would change a model's career and carine is no longer has the power to do so. alt, on the other hand is different, now she can turn a model into big model by giving them a few covers.