John Casablancas

John Casablancas (December 12, 1942 – July 20, 2013) was an American modeling agent and scout who founded Elite Model Management in 1972.

Casablancas was born in Manhattan, New York City, on December 12, 1942, the youngest of three children of Fernando and Antonia Casablancas, and grandson of Catalan textile machinery inventor Fernando Casablancas Planell. His parents had fled to the United States to escape the Spanish Civil War during the 1930s.

At age 8, he began attending Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland where he met “many children of the international jet set, and began a somewhat wayward life for the next two decades.” He continued his education at several universities in Europe but never graduated.

Casablancas founded the Elite Model Management, a modeling agency, in 1972 in Paris, France. Casablancas is credited for developing the concept of supermodel in the popular culture, turning models into celebrities that were featured in mass media as personalities rather than just faces. Elite proved to be a success, grossing nearly $100 million in annual model bookings during the years that Casablancas ran the day-to-day operations of the agency.

By promoting the concept of supermodel, it was said that “turning models into idols, their egos (expanded) in direct proportion to their earnings potential.” In 1990, Linda Evangelista, who, at the time was married to Gérald Marie [nl], the president of Elite in Paris, told Vogue something “”that came to define the vainglorious world of modeling that Mr. Casablancas had created: “We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day.”””

Casablancas founded the John Casablancas Modeling and Acting Agency and School,and the Star System model and talent management agency.

Casablancas divorced his second wife Jeanette Christiansen in 1983, as he was having a public affair with Stephanie Seymour, then 16 years old. Casablancas is the father of Julian Casablancas, lead vocalist of the American bands, The Strokes and The Voidz. He also had three younger children with his third wife Aline Casablancas (née Aline Mendonça de Carvalho Wermelinger), who was the winner of Elite Model Look 1992 in Brazil.

A resident of Miami, Florida, Casablancas died on July 20, 2013, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he had been receiving treatment for cancer. He was 70 years old.

• "Casablancas: The Man Who Loved Women", 2016 documentary (81 minute-long) by Hubert Woroniecki.