John Casablancas is not happy. His plane landed late at O`Hare. His suit has not been returned from the hotel valet. He has one hour to relax before making an appearance at a cocktail party. And now five women-a quartet of PR mavens and one reporter-are knocking at his door.
”Are you all staying?” Casablancas asks. Clearly, the inquiry is not an invitation. Only two remain.
Yet, Casablancas quickly recovers his composure. After all, he`s used to women. As founder and owner of Elite Model Management Corp., which generates more than $85 million in bookings annually, Casablancas spends most of his waking hours surrounded by, thinking about and fretting about women.
He`s the guy who brought you supermodels Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Iman, Naomi Campbell and Paulina Porizkova. Most men would kill to be in his shoes.
While money and pretty girls are nice, Casablancas, 49, deems the transformation of aspiring models as the most titillating aspect of his business. ”You can take a little girl who`s selling vegetables in Utah and six months later put her on the cover of Vogue. It`s like being a bit of a wizard or playing Pygmalion,” says Casablancas. ”Granted, there are some cases where girls might have been better off if they hadn`t modeled, but for the most part, these women lead rich and interesting lives.”
John`s world
He takes a sip of Perrier and continues to wax: ”We all want to influence the world we live in. I can`t be a trendsetter in terms of philosophy or politics. But I can influence trends in looks.”
Casablancas`s monologue is interrupted by a phone call from the hotel manager who wants to move him into a larger suite. He refuses, saying his present quarters are fine.
Returning to his guests, Casablancas apologizes for his appearance. He needn`t have bothered. Clad in jeans, a turtleneck, sports jacket and Italian loafers, this man is no strain on the eyes.
Weighing the `sleaze` factor
Casablancas pulls no punches. When asked about his reputation as a womanizer, he laughs and says, ”You want to know if I am a sleazeball?” By his own definition, the answer is no. ”A womanizer is someone who uses women`s bodies without regard to the rest-their charm, their spirit, their intelligence, their culture,” he says.
Yet, women appear to be a definite weakness. Especially young ones.
Born in Manhattan to Spanish parents, Casablancas grew up in France and Spain. His reputation as a playboy went from bad to worse in the mid `80s when an affair with 16-year-old Elite model Stephanie Seymour put an end to his second marriage.
Currently, Casablancas has a new girlfriend. He would not disclose her name but did volunteer her age: 26-nearly a dowager when compared with Seymour. Casablancas is puzzled over America`s emphasis on age. ”In Europe, age is not considered an important factor in relationships, but here it is a favorite subject of gossips. I don`t know why-this country is not particularly solid when it comes to marriages.”
Casablancas`s sense of humor has helped him hurdle more than one bad write-up. ”I always hope for the best and expect the worst (from the press). Anyway, Bill Clinton has had it much worse.”
Guys and gals
So where does Casablancas do his girl-watching? In airports, in restaurants, in discos. (Christie Brinkley was discovered by one of his scouts in a U.S. post office.) Casablancas spends about seven months out of the year combing the globe for potential models.
In June, he will make a 30-day road trip through eastern Europe with stopovers in Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw and St. Petersburg . A self-professed epicurean, Casablancas will travel by limo, complete with a refrigerator stocked full of his favorite snacks: Portuguese sardines, Black Forest ham, Chateau Latour bordeaux. ”Of course we`ll get the vodka and caviar while we`re there,” he says.
Upon occasion, Casablancas does hang out with the guys. He`s already psyched for an October reunion with his prep school pals from Le Rosey in Switzerland. The group will charter a plane to Cairo where they will boat up the Nile River. ”And back down, of course,” he says.
The trip is a prelude to Casablancas`s 50th birthday on Dec. 12. ”There is something frightening about being a half-century old, especially in this business,” he says. ”But I think I`ve been preparing for it for the last three years.”
The curse of amateurs
One might think being in the modeling business would make aging even more traumatic, but for Casablancas, it`s the reverse. ”You`re always surrounded by youth. It makes you both feel and act young.”
So is there a downside? ”Yes, amateur agents,” Casablancas says as he rolls his eyes. ”I have to deal with amateur agents all day long-the boyfriend, the father, the mother, the accountant.”
Far less frustrating are the stars themselves. While models` temper tantrums are a given, it`s a predictable cycle, says Casablancas. ”First she is a sweetheart, then she becomes a brat, then a monster. After awhile she starts acting like a human being again.”
He recalls a recent conversation with a new model (still in Phase I, the Sweetheart). ”She was sitting in my office with her mother and there was respect shining in her eyes,” he says. ”But, she won`t send me a Christmas card next year,” referring to Phase II, the brat sequence.
Oh, well, Henry Higgins had some rough times with Eliza Doolittle, too.
