John Casablancas

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
Occupations
  • Model agent
  • entrepreneur
Spouses
  • Marie Christine
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1965; div. 1970)​
  • Jeanette Christiansen
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1979; div. 1983)​
  • Aline Wermelinger
    ​
    (m. 1993)​
Children5, including Julian

John Casablancas (December 12, 1942 – July 20, 2013) was an American modeling agent and scout who founded Elite Model Management. He is credited with "inventing the supermodel". He was also the father of the Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas.

At age 42, while married to model Jeanette Christiansen, Casablancas began dating 14-year-old Stephanie Seymour. At age 50, Casablancas married his third wife, 17-year-old Aline Mendonça de Carvalho Wermelinger. In 2002, Casablancas was accused of sexual assault of a minor in a lawsuit by a former model.

Casablancas was friends with future U.S. president Donald Trump, representing Trump's daughter Ivanka when she became a fashion model at age 15. After he died in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 2013 at age 70, The Guardian published an obituary stating, "Casablancas was frank about his personal preference for girls of only just legal age – 'child women'." In 2020, The Guardian reported that he was connected to Jeffrey Epstein. According to a 2019 lawsuit, Casablancas sent a 15-year-old female model to meet a photographer later identified as Epstein, who sexually assaulted her.

Early life

John Casablancas was born in Manhattan, New York City, on December 12, 1942.[1] He was the youngest of three children of Fernando and Antonia Casablancas, a banker and former model, respectively,[1][2] and grandson of Spanish textile machinery inventor Fernando 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 the age of 8, he began attending Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland. He continued his education at several universities in Europe without graduating.[1]

Career

After pursuing several career options, Casablancas was offered a job in Brazil by a family friend to work as a marketing manager for a Coca-Cola factory. After several years he returned to Europe and worked at an architecture company.[1] In collaboration with a fellow Le Rosey alumnus, Casablancas founded Elite Model Management, a modeling agency, in Paris in 1972.[1] He had previously run the Paris-based agency Model Agency Elysée 3, which he founded in 1969.[4] Clients of Elite included Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Andie MacDowell and Claudia Schiffer.[5] Casablancas is credited with "inventing the supermodel."[6] He was also criticized for his habit of engaging in sexual activity with young and underage clients.[1]

Grace Jones, in her autobiography, quotes Casablancas telling her "Trying to sell a black model in Paris, is like trying to sell an old car no one wants to buy." which she describes as industry discrimination.[7]

During the years that Casablancas ran the operations, Elite grossed over $100 million in annual model bookings.[1] It also generated controversy, with investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre making a BBC television exposé which resulted in the resignation of two Elite executives. Casablancas gave an "unconditional apology" for their behaviour.[8] A sales director sued for unfair dismissal and was awarded $4.3 million.[6] The annual Look of the Year events (later Elite Model Look), at which young women could win a $150,000 modeling contract with Elite, were later criticized by The Guardian newspaper for providing an opportunity for Casablancas and other judges such as David Copperfield and Donald Trump to proposition contestants.[9] In 2003, the Los Angeles County Superior Court dismissed a case of sexual abuse brought against Casablancas by a former Look of the Year contestant because he was not a resident of California.[9]

Having sold his shares in Elite in 2000, Casablancas set up the Star System management agency and Illusion 2K, a cyber model agency.[1][6]

Sexual misconduct

See also: Acquaintances of Jeffrey Epstein and Elite Model Management § Sexual misconduct allegations

According to British newspaper The Guardian, "Casablancas was frank about his personal preference for girls of only just legal age – 'child women'.[10] His relationships were far beyond complicated, though he denied the rumours that he had charmed entire portfolios of Elite employees into bed."[10][11]

At the age of 42, Casablancas began dating 16-year-old Stephanie Seymour while he was married to model Jeanette Christiansen.[12] In 1993,[13] the 50-year-old Casablancas married his third wife, 17-year-old Aline Mendonça de Carvalho Wermelinger, winner of Elite Model Look 1992 in Brazil, who he had met as a schoolgirl. Wermelinger was close in age to Casablancas's children, who were 22 and 14 at the time. The couple had three children: John Jr., Fernando Augusto, and Nina.[1][14]

In 2002, Casablancas was accused of sexual assault of a minor in a lawsuit by a former model.[15][16][17][18]

There are allegations that Epstein had a connection to Casablancas during the 1990s.[19] According to The Guardian, a lawsuit filed in the United States in 2019, alleged that in 1990 Casablancas sent a teenage model to what was described as her first casting call at a private residence on New York City's Upper East Side, where she was instructed to meet a photographer who was later identified as Jeffrey Epstein.[19] According to the lawsuit, the model, who was 15 years old at the time, was ordered by Epstein to undress while he took photographs of her, pushed her against a wall and sexually assaulted her.[19]

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.[20]

In 1967, he met Jeanette Christiansen, a Danish model and the 1965 Miss Denmark, as well as the first model Casablancas ever represented.[1][21] They married in 1979, the year after the birth of their son Julian,[2] who would become lead vocalist of the American bands the Strokes and the Voidz.[22] They divorced in 1983.[23]

Casablancas was friends with Donald Trump and Elite Model Management represented his daughter Ivanka when she became a fashion model at age 15.[24]

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

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wilson, Eric (July 20, 2013). "John Casablancas, Modeling Visionary, Dies at 70". New York Times. Archived from the original on January 4, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Prince, Dinah (January 25, 1988). "Girl Crazy". New York. 21 (4): 32–41. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  3. ^ Cabana, Francesc (July 28, 2013). "La família Casablancas". El Punt Avui (in Catalan). Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. 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.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. ^ Wilson, Eric (July 22, 2013). "John Casablancas; modeling visionary founded Elite agency". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Williamson, Marcus (July 26, 2013). "John Casablancas obituary: Agent whose company, Elite, ushered in the era of the supermodel". The Independent. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014.
  7. ^ "Grace Jones Describes Her Own Sexual Harassment and Discrimination". Hint Fashion Magazine. November 4, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  8. ^ Schetler, John (December 2, 1999). "Fashion Scandal: Agency 'exposed' on TV say BBC film was rigged". The Independent. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Osborne, Lucy; Davies, Harry (March 14, 2020). "Teen models, powerful men and private dinners: when Trump hosted Look of the Year". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  10. ^ a b Horwell, Veronica (July 24, 2013). "John Casablancas Obituary; Entrepreneur who created wealth from beauty by inventing the supermodel". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  11. ^ Unger, Craig (January 21, 2021). ""He's a Lot of Fun to Be With": Inside Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump's Epic Bromance". Vanity Fair. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  12. ^ Smith, Emily Kent (August 14, 2021). "Models 'devirginised' by predatory agency chiefs". The Times. Retrieved August 31, 2025.
  13. ^ "Someone Old, Someone New". PEOPLE.com. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  14. ^ LIMA ABIB, Alberto. A família Wermelinger: uma aventura em dois continentes (a imigração suíça de 1819–1820). 2000, self edition, 391p, ISBN 9788590146612
  15. ^ Vogue (December 12, 2002). "CASABLANCAS ACCUSED". British Vogue. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  16. ^ from 2004-15, Booth Moore As Los Angeles Times fashion critic; Paris, Booth Moore logged tens of thousands of miles covering the runways from L. A. to; Lagerfeld, interviewing style leaders such as Karl; Ford, Tom; Versace, Donatella (December 12, 2002). "Suit accuses Casablancas of sex abuse". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 11, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Staff, Billboard (December 11, 2002). "Strokes Singer's Dad Named In Sex Abuse Suit". Billboard. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  18. ^ Bellafante, Ginia (August 13, 2021). "Why an Ex-Supermodel Who Says She Was Raped at 17 Is Suing Now". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  19. ^ a b c Osborne, Lucy; Davies, Harry; Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (March 14, 2020). "Teen models, powerful men and private dinners: when Trump hosted Look of the Year". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 3, 2026.
  20. ^ Casablancas: The Man Who Loved Women. directed by Hubert Woroniecki. Realitism Films, Maneki Lab. France. 2016. Event occurs at 13:12–15:39.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  21. ^ Casablancas: The Man Who Loved Women. directed by Hubert Woroniecki. Realitism Films, Maneki Lab. France. 2016. Event occurs at 15:00–16:57.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  22. ^ Casablancas: The Man Who Loved Women. directed by Hubert Woroniecki. Realitism Films, Maneki Lab. France. 2016. Event occurs at 53:20–54:08.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  23. ^ Wilson, Eric (July 20, 2013). "John Casablancas, Modeling Visionary, Dies at 70". New York Times. Archived from the original on July 2, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  24. ^ Steinhauer, Jennifer (August 17, 1997). "Her Cheekbones (High) Or Her Name (Trump)?". The New York Times. Retrieved November 9, 2025. Mr. Trump and Elite have a longstanding, informal relationship. Ms. Pillard served as a judge in the Miss Universe pageant, which is jointly owned by Mr. Trump and CBS, as is the Miss Teen USA pageant. John Casablancas, Elite's founder, is a friend of Mr. Trump's, and Elite has held events at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
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