Agency profiles: STORM

Storm, one of the modelling industry's most established fixtures, can sum up its mission statement in one word: risk.

No other agency has worked so tirelessly at pushing the boundaries of modelling and fashion. If this weren't enough in itself, Storm has succeeded in changing how an agency's role is perceived. Recognising that opportunities come in all shapes and sizes, Storm has gone further (and faster) by extending the shelf-life of its models, by working with them to create new and lucrative opportunities.

Agency founder Sarah Doukas, after working for another agency for seven years, decided to risk it all and set up her own modelling agency. After impressing Richard Branson with her business acumen, she secured financial backing to make Storm a reality. In 1987, operating from a tiny house in Battersea, Storm was open for business.

Sarah Doukas was very clear on how she wanted Storm to differ from other agencies. Her aim was to launch the first UK-based modelling agency that represented new talent she'd discovered herself. It was this principle that underpinned the entire business. Luckily for Storm, Doukas soon secured a reputation on her ability to spot a face. Not just any face, but that one-in-a-million, unforgettable face. Walking through a New York airport in 1988, Sarah spotted a girl on her way home after a family vacation. The girl was Kate Moss, and that discovery single-handedly ensured Storm's survival in an ultra-competitive industry.
Doukas' lucky find should not be under-estimated. Before Kate Moss, the very idea of a supermodel under 5' 8" was laughable. Sarah's willingness to take a chance on the girl from Croydon changed the course of modern fashion.
Storm's eye for diversity has launched some of the most striking and original faces in the industry. The landscape of the modelling world would look very different without Storm discoveries such as Alek Wek, Devon Aoki, Jourdan Dunn and Lily Cole. Storm, more than any other agency, has made a point of consistently challenging the boundaries of the fashion industry. These faces, while representing very different takes on beauty, all have one thing in common: without them, the trajectory of the fashion world would have gone in a very different direction.
Storm also expanded to become the first UK agency to market and book models directly with international clients. It was a radical departure from the role of traditional agencies that paid off: this worked so well that overseas agencies began trusting Storm to look after their own discoveries. But Storm's key strength is its ambition to diversify and grow, even in challenging economic times.
Storm took their know-how of marketing their models and branched out into licensing and branding. A model could quite literally become a brand. There is no better example of this than what Storm achieved with Kate Moss. By the turn of the millennium, Kate was at the top of her game - the model every designer and editor wanted to work with.
Sarah Doukas, along with Moss, made an intelligent leap of faith. Kate Moss, is synonymous with high fashion and modelling, but her own look, how she steps out of the house each morning, has been exhaustively profiled and replicated within the fashion press. Part of Kate's popularity with designers has always been her keen sense of personal style. Doukas knew that there was something in this. The idea blossomed into the hugely profitable collaboration between Moss and Topshop. It was an immediate success, with teenage girls everywhere being able to buy into the 'Kate Moss look'. Striking a fine balance between aspirational and attainable, this collaboration has taken off in ways far beyond anyone's expectations.
This highly lucrative sub-industry of Brand Moss has developed in turn to launch perfumes and a haircare range in conjunction with Moss' close friend, hairdresser James Brown. Everybody can buy a dress, or a bottle of perfume or shampoo, and feel that they are buying a little piece of Kate's style. This daring and innovative idea has made millions, and changed the face of the modelling industry forever. It is now no longer enough to scout talent, it must be nurtured and developed.
Thanks to its bold, risk-taking approach, Storm in the space of just 20 years, has carved out a unique place for itself in modelling history. It has transformed fashion, and more importantly, the fashion world's notion of beauty. Ethnicity and diversity have become celebrated as the subject of desire and aspiration. Faces that twenty years ago, would never have stood a chance of breaking into the modelling industry, are being given a chance thanks to the vision of Sarah Doukas. This is perhaps Storm's most remarkable and enduring achievement.

HELEN TOPE

AGENCY PROFILES: MODELS 1

For an agency that now boasts five divisions and a database of 7000 clients, Models 1 started from far humbler numbers over forty years ago.

Founded in 1968, Models 1 had just three models on its books. Against these odds, the agency developed and flourished into the largest and most successful agency in Europe. Forty years on, it is one of the most notable players on the modelling stage.

Models 1 have a roll-call that is the envy of every other agency. Not content to rest on the shoulders of one stellar signing, Models 1 has diversified into a multi-division behemoth. Its longevity can with some certainty be pinned down to the fact that Models 1 has recognised that there is strength in numbers.

Listing just some of the names attached to Models 1 makes it clear that this agency is central to the world of modelling:

Agyness Deyn
Amber Valletta
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Noemie Lenoir
Karolina Kurkova

These are only a few of the names attached to Models 1. The agency has cemented its fashion cache in recent years with high-fashion signings Agyness Deyn and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley: Deyn’s iconic look in particular has come to define a whole new wave of street fashion. Deyn’s influence over popular fashion is not something that should be overlooked. Her unique style is now much copied, and as much a part of pop culture as Topshop and YouTube. When fashion commentators look back on this time, Deyn’s face will be indelibly marked on it. Having the guts to sign someone as tide-changing as Deyn proves that age does not mean an agency is stuck in its past. With Deyn, Models 1 has secured its future and place within the modelling industry.

Of course, Models 1 has used its years of influence to create a mightily-impressive client list. Annually working with 1200 clients, Models 1 has links with the worlds of haute couture, ready-to-wear, through to the stalwarts of the high street.

What makes Models 1 special is that it doesn’t just focus on the current face du jour. Its Classic Women division can cite campaigns with skincare brands Garnier and Clarins. They also represent Twiggy and Marie Helvin, a reminder of Models 1’s extensive legacy.

True to form, Models 1 has cultivated a huge and diverse client base. They have built substantial working relationships with major brands such as Marks and Spencer – something that can only happen with the benefit of insight and experience. It is this huge range of clients (quite literally, Prada to Peugeot), that makes Models 1 stand apart from its competitors.

Despite their size, Models 1, from day one, have adhered to a very simple philosophy: a model’s welfare is in their strongest, most absolute, interests. They have a very good industry-wide reputation when it comes to their models. No new model is thrown out into the big, bad world without knowing the basics. Just as they build and develop existing talents’ careers, Models 1 sensibly recognise that new faces need just as much attention, sometimes more. Therefore, when a fresh Models 1 signing goes out on castings, they are prepared, professional and focused.

Working with existing talent has also brought its own rewards: names like Crawford, Evangelista, Kurkova and Valletta are the reason why Models 1 has such a strong foothold in the industry. When a model can be recognised by a surname alone, it is an indicator that there has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes getting them to that point.

Where Models 1 is succeeding currently, is with the batch of faces that are making a comeback within the modelling industry: Karolina Kurkova and Linda Evangelista are proof that there is such a thing as a second act in a model’s career. You are not necessarily done and dusted by the age of 25. Evangelista’s prolific affiliation with brands such as L’Oreal shows that Models 1 is committed to providing iconic faces at every age. The shift in advertising to target skincare aimed at consumers over 40, using models over 40, is a significant about-turn that Models 1 has taken advantage of. While other agencies have been focusing in the newer faces in the pack, Models 1 has used its extensive back-catalogue to devastating effect.

The final pointer to just how highly-regarded Models 1 is within the fashion industry, is best defined by the fact that they are the agency every ‘Britain’s Next Top Model’ season winner has been signed to. It is the most substantial, glittering prize waved at the hopefuls who take part in the televised modelling competition. It’s no wonder with a year’s contract on offer that the competition gets so ruthless.

Every BNTM winner has gone on to achieve some degree of success within the industry (Cycle 2 winner Lianna Fowler has appeared in both British and Russian Vogue – a distinction yet to be equalled by another other BNTM contestant). The fact that the show’s producers have chosen Models 1 as the grand prize shows how it is perceived, not only by fashion insiders, but the world at large. Models 1 are a force to be reckoned with. With a history of forty years to draw upon, it has the skills and the know-how to exist for forty more, and beyond.

HELEN TOPE

AGENCY PROFILES: IMG

In an age where small is beautiful, IMG stands above the parapet of the modelling world. Boasting branches dotted around the globe (Paris, London, Milan and New York), IMG is a fashion colossus.

It is responsible for some of the most famous faces in modelling. Its roster of past and present faces reads like an encyclopaedia entry under ‘modelling’. Naomi Campbell, Jessica Stam, Kate Moss, Gisele Bundchen, Tyra Banks, Erin Wasson and Maggie Rizer have all been affiliated with the agency at some point in their careers.

With an international agency of this size, you could be forgiven for assuming that new talent could get lost in the crowd. Not so with IMG. It could very easily stick with a dozen or so trusted faces – some of the names listed above would comfortably ensure the agency’s survival for the next five years – but instead of resting on its laurels, IMG strives to move on. It takes chances and readily gambles on models that fall outside the mainstream fashion trajectory.

Daria Werbowy, Gemma Ward and Alek Wek are models, who under a different agency at a different time would not have gained any further appeal than with the most avant-garde designers. Now they are well-known in the wider arena of the fashion world, winning international campaigns with big designer brands and cosmetic companies. IMG has exploded the misconception that fashion is a local business: what is popular with London-based clients will not translate to Paris and so on. IMG has made modelling a truly international industry.

A multi-strand corporation diving into many areas of traditional and virtual media, IMG has applied what it has learnt about promotion, management and development from the worlds of sport and entertainment. Where this principle has succeeded most is where models have themselves become their own brand.

Gisele Bundchen is arguably the most recognisable face in modelling today. She has walked runways for every major designer, appeared on countless magazine covers and editorial spreads, but it is the application of her name and image to advertisers outside the immediate fashion industry that has made her globally recognised. (Having a look that can be applied to virtually any product on the planet doesn’t hurt either). Gisele has sold everything from perfume to watches, all with equal aplomb. Even landing small acting roles in films such as ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, continues to boost her profile – just in case there’s anyone left who doesn’t know who she is.

IMG has transformed the modelling industry’s goals and aspirations. It is no longer enough to be ‘just a model’. The smart kids entering the modelling world today know that modelling in itself is only a finite career. With an ever-shifting aesthetic, even if you’re the hardest-working model in town, you can be literally in fashion one week, and out the next.

To last, and maintain any level of success, one must think bigger: what is it about me that makes me different? To turn yourself into a brand to be marketed and developed is a relatively new concept, and one that IMG is compellingly good at.

It has taken advantage of the fact that the world’s media now feed off each other, with an ever-circulating exchange of information. Rather than making it a cynical exercise in profiteering, IMG has placed the PR game in a very intelligent way.

Playing to models’ (and clients’) strengths, models can now be equally well-known through a variety of avenues. Heidi Klum, another noteable IMG name, is just as well known for her long-standing affiliation with lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret, as she is for producing her own fine jewellery line and presenting perennial fashion TV favourite, ‘Project Runway’. Having Heidi onboard has secured the programme a level of kudos highly unusual for a television series dealing directly with the world of fashion. The two worlds have not traditionally had a happy time of it together. But ‘Project Runway’ is an example of how careful management can get the balance right. Part of the programme’s appeal can be directly attributed to the impressively high-profile guests who regularly appear on the programme. A television show that has Michael Kors as a regular panel judge, and designers like Diane Von Furstenberg and Francisco Costa appearing as guests, must be doing something right.

IMG offers up a valuable lesson in how to make the most of every opportunity, and more crucially, playing to your strengths. The days of models routinely retiring at 22 are long gone. IMG has grasped the mettle of the world’s media and has defined for an entire generation, how a photogenic face can become a fortune.

HELEN TOPE