Did you go to Fashion/Art/Design School? Did you go to College, etc?
Not really, I went to college and then started a mechanic school, then another technical school in order to become a Goldsmith, to help the
Goldsmith family company, that my ancesters started since Louis the XVth in France .
How did you get your start working in an Agency? Example: did you assist? Did you work for a photographer first, etc?
After sepending 6 years working with my family as a goldsmith, i understood that i would not do this all my life, i felt it was not for me.
So i started to think of what i could do, which talent i thought i had to do something else. I realized that, as far as i could remember,
i always enjoyed very much girl's company, when i was a teenager for example, i was seeing my friends playing foorball all the time, having
poor relationships with girls their age, or no relationship at all, and i dont' mean boy friend or girl friend, just normal social relationships between young people.
So i was often the only boy sitting and talking hours with young girls my age, trying to understand their life, problems, excpectations, etc....
So i felt this could help me dealing with the young girls that models are and at that time i had
two friends from school that I still see today, one is a photographer
(he was an assistant at this time) the other one was a booker (he started later on American models in NYC),
i liked was they were doing but felt no talent for photography
so being an agent was something i thought could be great for me.
Who was the 1st Agency that you worked for and the names any others?
I started as a junior assistant booker at Best One models, a men agency for one year, i moved to V.I.P models (both in Paris) for another year, so two years after i started i started
in this buisness, i created my own agency, Madison models in Paris in August 1988.
Your 1st agency that you owned was called Madison, correct?
Yes.
You discovered Laetitia Casta, Correct? Did someone send her in? Did you find her on the street, club, salon, airport? Did she send in pictures? How old was she?
Laetitia was discoverd by one of my booker who was on holydays in Corsica in August 1993, she was 15 years old and came with her father at the agency the following September, i was quite in shock
when i met her despite her 5'7 height, i mean i saw great potential, and not only me, my whole team at Madison also.
Did she have to pay money for test pictures or did the agency pay or advance the costs to get her in front of the camera in the beginning?
The agency payed for everything of course, but not for long as month one, she did her first fashion show for Jean Paul Gaulthier and a perfume campaign for Kenzo
Did you have to spend a lot of time with the family to get their support?
No the family was very happy, also because they saw results alsmost immediatly so they had no reason to worry about.
Even though she was petite and full bodied? You believed in her. Why? What did you see in her?
Yes i did, why ? i dont know, i dont think there is an explanation, the emotion was just there, i call it the "X" factor, precisely because i can not explain.
So when i met Laeticia for the first time, i did not have a precise idea of what we would do, but i knew something would happen.
What were some of her 1st jobs before she landed on the Cover American Seventeen Magazine?
Jean Paul Gauthier fashion show
Did you discover Eva Herzigova? Or can you name other top model discoveries?
Yes Eva Herzigova, Daniela Pestova, Thereza Maxova, Olga Kurylenko, Julie Ordon, Anna Selezneva, etc....
What gives you the drive to stay in the business? I know for me, it is the love of beauty photography? Is it the fashion designers, models, or is it the photography also?
I just love finding young girls, i see them as raw precious stones, a little bit of work and they show their best colors ! Also it is a non-conventional working envirement that suits me very well. I don't have a real intersest
for photography or clothes in general.
What are some of your bookings, past and present, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Chanel, YSL? Etc. Please drop some names for potential models to read, etc.
Vera Wang, Calvin Klein, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Givenchy, Guerlain, Gap, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Armani, etc....Model at Silent with great potential ? Marianne, Irina, Othillia, Justine, etc...
Have you lost models to other agencies? Did you ever have to sue them or the agency?
Only one time, at the beguinning of Silent in Paris, great working model, but too "crazy" for our clients which occured complicate situations for us. I never sued a model and never will, how can you sue a young girl ?
I never sued any agency either, the door is open for the models to come an go. If one day i would face such situation with lots of money involved, i would claim for my revenues as an agent of course but probably nothing more.
Have you had models that you thought would be stars, and they themselves just did not have the ambition?
oh yes ! ! ! it's very frustrating
Did you have models that have struggled with eating disorders or addiction? Did you have to drop them, get them help? Etc. How did or do you feel about this when girls are too skinny, and obsess about their weight. Do you spend time with them to make sure they are emotionally stable to handle competition and rejection?
We cannot build up a long carreer with models who have too many problems, like the one we have lost as i mentioned above, and more important i'd rather give all my time and all the knowledge i have from this buisness to someone who responds with great professionalism, i dont like to waste my time. Now helping models, yes we do of course, they need our help ALL the time, we are selling human beings, not computers or cell phones, so we do help them a lot, it is a part of our job to do so. Regarding the diet or weight problems, this contreversy drives me a little crazy sometimes because WE DONT REPRESENT ANOREXIC models, when you are anorexic, you are sick or at least you have a serious mental problem, and this is not compatible with the life of a top model, too much energy is required. One of the few smart comment i heared about the fact that models are too skinny came from a doctor who exlained that 3% of the young feminin population is naturaly skinny and healthy, this 3% are the girls we work with. This does not mean of course that some young girls who dream so much to become a model would not do anything to achieve their goal, including putting their life in danger, so the agencies have a great responsability in this matter, and parents too, but these terrible stories we all saw on TV are extremely rare.
How are you as a boss? Do you have to crack the whip? There are American Agencies, where bookers can not even have a personal picture on their desk. European Agencies seem to be more relaxed. Which one are you?
You should ask my models.....but i think i am extremely tolerent in general, i understand women pretty well, being in their company makes me happy, but at the end we are at their service, it is a buisness. And cracking the whip ? ( how awefull ) this would be for me the worth way to deal with someone, they are models, not inmates in a jail !
So i am a very relaxed boss, but very demanding too, no room for unprofessionalism.
Have any of your former employees gone one to work for other big agencies or open their own?
Work with other agencies ? yes when i sold Madison, did not happen at Silent.
Tell me about your new endeavor into opening in New York? Is it going to be called Silent New York? Is there a partnership with another agency?
Paris is the image, models build up their books and their image in Paris, after they start working in NY where they grow their revenues, the US market is much larger than the French one, so we have to be on both sides of the Atlantic because we are growing and we wont be able to handle our models carreer worldwide from Paris as we did with
2- 3 models, once you have 10 or more, you have to have an agency in NY.
Do you miss the traditional working model on covers of magazines and in lots of beauty ads that celebrities seem to have taken there spot. Etc.?
No, the world is in a constant evolution, fashion too !
Do you ever have to take the model shopping themselves so they have the right clothes to wear on appointments.?
Oh yes, almost with all of them when they are new faces, they need to have a "style" and no need to spend too much money for that, they must
impress our clients, a very few of them have this "style" naturally, so this is also another part of our job, it is essential, the first step.
You have such a great reputation as being very fair, nice, professional and not a snob. In such a borderline mean business where being really tough is very common. How did you do it? Do you feel like you are one of the lucky ones.
The answear is work, i have been working a lot, i spend a lot more time working than usual people, and i believe i have a good eye to scout models, i think it is enough....
When you vacation, where do you go, how do get away from the business to unwind and refresh. I usually go to Asia, often to my beloved Bali, but also Vietnam, Cambodia, there is no better place to feel good than in Asia.
Can you please say a few things to recommend the potential person that has dreams of being a model. Any last comment, recommendations, suggestions:
Don't pay for anything , a good agency would advance all expenses for a new model, if money is asked ? run away. Check the website of these agencies and have a look at the models they represent, see if they work for good magazines, good advertising campains. And don't loose your time trying to become a model if you don't have the physical caracteristics required. Becoming a top model is as easy as becoming a champion of tennis, be prepared for a lots of sacrifices and a lot of work, it is a great job but a hard job.
