Eileen Ford
Encyclopedia
Eileen Ford is a model agency executive and co-founder, in 1946, with her late husband Gerard William "Jerry" Ford
, of Ford Models
, one of the earliest and internationally best known modelling agencies in the world.
, modeling for the Harry Conover modeling agency, one of the first in the United States. She graduated from Barnard in 1943. In 1944, she met her future husband Jerry (Gerard Ford), at a drugstore near the Columbia University
campus and married him in November 1944 in San Francisco. After eloping, Jerry, who was in the Navy, was shipped out for WWII. While Jerry was gone, Eileen became photographer Elliot Clark's secretary, a fashion stylist, a copywriter, and a fashion reporter for the Tobe Report.
Meanwhile in 1946, model Dorian Leigh
left New York's Harry Conover agency because of his inefficient phone system. Dorian's clients had a difficult time reaching a Conover secretary on the phone to book her. Because of this, Dorian told Conover she was leaving and that she would hire her own secretary to take her modeling phone calls instead. Soon, a handful of models used Dorian's secretary. She then applied for a license because technically, it was a modeling agency at that point. At a fashion photographer's studio, Dorian met Eileen, who was fascinated how Dorian's modeling agency worked. Dorian explained that models had to manage their own invoices and billings, and often, the clients that models worked for, would take weeks, months, or even years to pay them for their work, if at all. Dorian told Eileen that she came up with the idea of a "voucher system." With this system, the agency was in charge of getting models jobs and keeping track of their billings. The models would be paid every Friday by the modeling agency, regardless whether the clients paid for the model's work on time or not, minus the agency's 10-20% fee. Eileen, also a former Conover model, was intrigued by Dorian's voucher idea.
An interesting fact is that Conover's onetime modeling business partner was also named Jerry Ford, who thirty years later became President Gerald Ford
.
Although the Ford's location was terrible, within a year, the modeling agency was the second or third most successful in the United States, grossing $250,000. The Ford's first superstar model was Jean Patchett. The Fords also had the capital to instill the voucher system, something that other modeling agencies were not affluent enough to offer. Dorian Leigh, described Eileen as "one of the hardest working, most persistent persons I have ever known, two qualities which made her my very good friend for years and later, my unanticipated enemy."
Eileen offered superb service, and after only two years, the Fords began to seriously compete with the Huntington Hartford
modeling agency and the John Robert Powers
agencies, the two most successful modeling agencies at the time. Dorian Leigh, meanwhile, closed her modeling agency when she was pregnant with her third child in 1948. Dorian called Eileen and told them that her 15-years younger sister, Suzy Parker
, age 16, was only making $25 per hour working as a model for Huntington Hartford
. Dorian felt that Suzy, although very young, should be making $40 per hour. Dorian told her that she would join her two-year-old agency only if they took Suzy sight-unseen. Anxious to represent top-model Dorian, they agreed to her idea. Expecting a younger version of the raven-haired, blue-eyed, extremely thin, 5'4" Dorian, the Fords met Suzy, accompanied by Dorian, for the first time at a Lexington Avenue restaurant. They were shocked to see that Suzy was 5'10", had a large frame, orange hair, green eyes, and freckles. The Fords said, "Oh, my God!" when they saw her size, but they could see that Suzy had possibilities to become a successful model. Soon thereafter, Suzy Parker would become the most successful model of the 1950s, pushing the Ford's agency to number one. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Fords represented top models Mary Jane Russell, Carmen Dell'Orefice
, and Dovima
.
By 1954, the Fords were extremely successful and were living in a duplex apartment on Park Avenue
. To make sure that their models were the most successful, the Fords provided hair dressers, dermatologists, and Eileen dispensed diet advice constantly. She allowed models to live with her to "keep a close eye on them so they'd stay out of trouble and make their early morning appointments." Eleven of Ford's busiest models were featured on the April 1955 issue of McCall's magazine. They were Jean Patchett, Patsy Shally, Lillian Marcuson, Nan Rees, Leonie Vernet, sisters Suzy Parker
and Dorian Leigh
, Georgia Hamilton, Dolores Hawkins, Kathy Dennis, and Mary Jane Rusell.
Eileen became very demanding of her models and her husband. Jerry resented Eileen's "bossy" ways and began to have an affair with one of their top models, Barbara Mullen. The Ford's marriage was in trouble and Jerry told Eileen, "mend (your) ways or we'll be divorced!" Eileen told author Michael Gross
in a 1990s interview, " . . so I mended my ways. That's why I'm so docile now."
By the late 1950s, Eillen had given birth to four children, Jamie, Billy, Katie, and Lacey.
In the Fall of 1957, Dorian Leigh, age 40 and retired from modeling, was living in France. She decided to start another modeling agency, this time in France. The police and courts, however, insisted that Dorian was running an illegal employment agency, and she was fined. After WWII, employment agencies were declared illegal. Dorian then contacted the Fords about starting a legitimate modeling agency, the first of its kind in that country. Dorian continued to run a successful agency, but in 1959, Dorian was charged in court again, and after hiring a lawyer, she finally won her case. The Fords agreed that they would expand their modeling business into Europe, and Dorian would represent them in France as well as scout for potential models all over Europe. Dorian was so successful that she opened branches in London and Hamburg, Germany. She would trade her European models for Ford's American models and vice-versa.
In the early 1960s, Ford represented then-model Martha Stewart
, who like Eileen, went to Barnard
. Stewart modeled for a brief time in her early 20s, while in college, including for Chanel
. In the 1970s, Stewart would cater parties and weddings with another former Ford model, Dorian Leigh
, who was a cordon bleu level chef after retiring from the fashion industry.
On the twentieth anniversary of the Ford Agency in 1966, Jerry Ford told The New York Times that they were billing $100,000 per week and that they were the first modeling agency to have a computer system. They had 175 female and 75 male models that booked 70 percent of modeling jobs in New York City and 30 percent world-wide.
Their top models in the 1960s included Wilhelmina Cooper
(who would go on to run a successful modeling agency of her own in the 1970s, until her death from lung cancer due to heavy smoking in 1980, at age 40), Jean Shrimpton
, Tilly Tizani, Sondra Peterson, Donna Mitchell, Ann Turkel, Agneta Frieberg, Ali MacGraw
, and Candice Bergen
.
In 1968, Eileen wrote the book, "Eileen Ford's Book of Model Beauty," which gave beauty, nutrition and exercise advice. The book also includes a biography and photos of Ford's most successful models from the 1950s and 1960s.
In the early 1970s, Ford was still the number one modeling agency in the world. They represented Jerry Hall
, Christie Brinkley
, Rene Russo
, Kim Basinger
, Janice Dickinson
, Lisa Taylor, Bitten Knudsen, Lauren Hutton
, and Karen Graham. Hutton and Graham were the earliest models to get exclusive make-up contracts with Revlon
and Esteé Lauder
. By 1977 however, John Casablancas, who started Elite
, began to poach Ford's top models and her top booking agent, Monique Pillard. The Fords tried to sue Casablancas, and hired famed attorney Roy Cohn
. The Fords also had to compete with several smaller modeling agencies, such as Wilhelmina, which represented late 1970s models Gia Carangi
, Patti Hansen
and Shaun Casey
, who very briefly became Esteé Lauder's "face" in the early 1980s after Karen Graham retired.
By the late 1970s, the "model wars" between Elite and Ford was in full stride with top models going back-and-forth between Elite, Ford, and smaller agencies like Zoli, which represented Rachel Ward
and Esmé Marshall. By this point, many top models were getting terrible reputations for drug use, staying out all night at Studio 54
and for being very unprofessional.
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Eileen said that several of Ford's models from the 1950s and 1960s had died from smoking and breast cancer. Some 1970s models had also died from drug use, and top photographers, tired of their behavior, refused to work with them any longer.
In 1981, the Fords began an international modeling competition called "Face of the 80s," later known as Ford Models Supermodel of the World
.
By the mid-1980s, drug-addicted blonde models were out, and more professional, brunette-haired models such as Cindy Crawford
, Renée Simonsen
, Carol Alt
, Linda Evangelista
, and Christy Turlington
came on the scene. As a result, modeling fees rapidly accelerated and several models were making millions of dollars per year. Fashion editor Polly Mellen said, "The girls are getting rich, so rich." Turlington, at the age of 16, moved into Ford's townhouse during the summer of 1985, and would rapidly become one of the Ford's biggest successes ever. Twenty-five years later, Turlington still is a top model.
In 1993, Eileen said that her agency received 10,000 letters per year and 7,000 personal visits to her office. Out of these, she said, maybe only four or five are "really good ones (models)."
Also in 1993, Ford's home in Tewksbury Township, New Jersey
was almost completely destroyed in a fire.
In December 2007, Ford was sold to Stone Tower Equity Partners. John Caplan took over as CEO while Katie Ford was on the Board of Directors.
Jerry Ford, Eileen's husband of sixty-one years, died at the age 83 on August 24, 2008. He was survived by Eileen, his four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Eileen's story has been told in Good Housekeeping
in 1968, Life
in November 1970 and Ladies Home Journal in 1971 among many others. She appeared in the 1997 film Scratch the Surface about a teen model turned documentary film-maker, Tara Fitzpatrick's examination of the clothing industry and in Intimate Portrait: Eileen Ford in 1999 and again in Celebrity Profile: Brooke Shields in 2001 and a profile of Christie Brinkley
.
Gerard W. Ford
Gerard William "Jerry" Ford was an American businessman who founded Ford Modeling Agency with his wife Eileen Ford in 1946 in their apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.- Life :...
, of Ford Models
Ford Models
The Ford Modeling Agency, or as it is known today Ford Models, is a modeling agency in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen and the late Gerard W. Ford.-Company:...
, one of the earliest and internationally best known modelling agencies in the world.
Early life
Eileen Ford, née Otte, grew up on the north shore of Long Island, New York. Eileen was a model during the summers of her freshman and sophomore years at Barnard CollegeBarnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
, modeling for the Harry Conover modeling agency, one of the first in the United States. She graduated from Barnard in 1943. In 1944, she met her future husband Jerry (Gerard Ford), at a drugstore near the Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
campus and married him in November 1944 in San Francisco. After eloping, Jerry, who was in the Navy, was shipped out for WWII. While Jerry was gone, Eileen became photographer Elliot Clark's secretary, a fashion stylist, a copywriter, and a fashion reporter for the Tobe Report.
Meanwhile in 1946, model Dorian Leigh
Dorian Leigh
Dorian Leigh was an American model and one of the earliest modelling icons of the fashion industry. She is considered one of the first supermodels and was well known in the United States and Europe.-Biography:Dorian Leigh Parker was born in San Antonio, Texas, to George and Elizabeth Parker...
left New York's Harry Conover agency because of his inefficient phone system. Dorian's clients had a difficult time reaching a Conover secretary on the phone to book her. Because of this, Dorian told Conover she was leaving and that she would hire her own secretary to take her modeling phone calls instead. Soon, a handful of models used Dorian's secretary. She then applied for a license because technically, it was a modeling agency at that point. At a fashion photographer's studio, Dorian met Eileen, who was fascinated how Dorian's modeling agency worked. Dorian explained that models had to manage their own invoices and billings, and often, the clients that models worked for, would take weeks, months, or even years to pay them for their work, if at all. Dorian told Eileen that she came up with the idea of a "voucher system." With this system, the agency was in charge of getting models jobs and keeping track of their billings. The models would be paid every Friday by the modeling agency, regardless whether the clients paid for the model's work on time or not, minus the agency's 10-20% fee. Eileen, also a former Conover model, was intrigued by Dorian's voucher idea.
An interesting fact is that Conover's onetime modeling business partner was also named Jerry Ford, who thirty years later became President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
.
Ford Modeling Agency
After questioning Dorian about her agency, a pregnant Eileen, started to work as a secretary for several models, taking calls at her father's New York City law office, charging each model $65–$75 per month. After giving birth to her first child, daughter Jamie in March 1947, she continued to work hard. Jerry returned from the war in March 1946, and despite knowing nothing about the fashion industry, he joined Eileen in creating an agency. After only a year, Eileen and Jerry, sold their car and re-located their agency to a third-floor walkup on Second Avenue.Although the Ford's location was terrible, within a year, the modeling agency was the second or third most successful in the United States, grossing $250,000. The Ford's first superstar model was Jean Patchett. The Fords also had the capital to instill the voucher system, something that other modeling agencies were not affluent enough to offer. Dorian Leigh, described Eileen as "one of the hardest working, most persistent persons I have ever known, two qualities which made her my very good friend for years and later, my unanticipated enemy."
Eileen offered superb service, and after only two years, the Fords began to seriously compete with the Huntington Hartford
Huntington Hartford
George Huntington Hartford II was an American businessman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and art collector. The heir to the A&P supermarket fortune, he owned Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and had numerous other business and real estate interests over his lifetime including the Oil Shale Corporation...
modeling agency and the John Robert Powers
John Robert Powers
John Robert Powers was an American actor and founder of a prominent New York City modeling agency.In 1923, John Robert Powers founded a modeling agency. The John Robert Powers Agency represented many models who went on to success in the Hollywood film industry, and even Betty Bloomer who became...
agencies, the two most successful modeling agencies at the time. Dorian Leigh, meanwhile, closed her modeling agency when she was pregnant with her third child in 1948. Dorian called Eileen and told them that her 15-years younger sister, Suzy Parker
Suzy Parker
Suzy Parker was an American model and actress active from 1947 into the early 1960s. Her modeling career reached its zenith during the 1950s when she appeared on the cover of dozens of magazines, advertisements, and in movie and television roles.She appeared in several Revlon advertisements, but...
, age 16, was only making $25 per hour working as a model for Huntington Hartford
Huntington Hartford
George Huntington Hartford II was an American businessman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and art collector. The heir to the A&P supermarket fortune, he owned Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and had numerous other business and real estate interests over his lifetime including the Oil Shale Corporation...
. Dorian felt that Suzy, although very young, should be making $40 per hour. Dorian told her that she would join her two-year-old agency only if they took Suzy sight-unseen. Anxious to represent top-model Dorian, they agreed to her idea. Expecting a younger version of the raven-haired, blue-eyed, extremely thin, 5'4" Dorian, the Fords met Suzy, accompanied by Dorian, for the first time at a Lexington Avenue restaurant. They were shocked to see that Suzy was 5'10", had a large frame, orange hair, green eyes, and freckles. The Fords said, "Oh, my God!" when they saw her size, but they could see that Suzy had possibilities to become a successful model. Soon thereafter, Suzy Parker would become the most successful model of the 1950s, pushing the Ford's agency to number one. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Fords represented top models Mary Jane Russell, Carmen Dell'Orefice
Carmen Dell'Orefice
Carmen Dell’Orefice is an American model and actress, born in New York, NY. She is known within the fashion industry for being the world's oldest working model as of the Spring/Summer 2012 season. She covered Vogue at the mere age of 15, and has been modelling ever since.-Early life:Carmen’s...
, and Dovima
Dovima
Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba , later known as Dorothy Horan, and best known as Dovima, was a model during the 1950s....
.
By 1954, the Fords were extremely successful and were living in a duplex apartment on Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
. To make sure that their models were the most successful, the Fords provided hair dressers, dermatologists, and Eileen dispensed diet advice constantly. She allowed models to live with her to "keep a close eye on them so they'd stay out of trouble and make their early morning appointments." Eleven of Ford's busiest models were featured on the April 1955 issue of McCall's magazine. They were Jean Patchett, Patsy Shally, Lillian Marcuson, Nan Rees, Leonie Vernet, sisters Suzy Parker
Suzy Parker
Suzy Parker was an American model and actress active from 1947 into the early 1960s. Her modeling career reached its zenith during the 1950s when she appeared on the cover of dozens of magazines, advertisements, and in movie and television roles.She appeared in several Revlon advertisements, but...
and Dorian Leigh
Dorian Leigh
Dorian Leigh was an American model and one of the earliest modelling icons of the fashion industry. She is considered one of the first supermodels and was well known in the United States and Europe.-Biography:Dorian Leigh Parker was born in San Antonio, Texas, to George and Elizabeth Parker...
, Georgia Hamilton, Dolores Hawkins, Kathy Dennis, and Mary Jane Rusell.
Eileen became very demanding of her models and her husband. Jerry resented Eileen's "bossy" ways and began to have an affair with one of their top models, Barbara Mullen. The Ford's marriage was in trouble and Jerry told Eileen, "mend (your) ways or we'll be divorced!" Eileen told author Michael Gross
Michael Gross
Michael Gross may refer to:*Michael Gross , Israeli painter, sculptor and conceptual artist*Michael L. Gross , American professor of chemistry, medicine, and immunology*Michael Gross , American actor...
in a 1990s interview, " . . so I mended my ways. That's why I'm so docile now."
By the late 1950s, Eillen had given birth to four children, Jamie, Billy, Katie, and Lacey.
In the Fall of 1957, Dorian Leigh, age 40 and retired from modeling, was living in France. She decided to start another modeling agency, this time in France. The police and courts, however, insisted that Dorian was running an illegal employment agency, and she was fined. After WWII, employment agencies were declared illegal. Dorian then contacted the Fords about starting a legitimate modeling agency, the first of its kind in that country. Dorian continued to run a successful agency, but in 1959, Dorian was charged in court again, and after hiring a lawyer, she finally won her case. The Fords agreed that they would expand their modeling business into Europe, and Dorian would represent them in France as well as scout for potential models all over Europe. Dorian was so successful that she opened branches in London and Hamburg, Germany. She would trade her European models for Ford's American models and vice-versa.
In the early 1960s, Ford represented then-model Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart is an American business magnate, author, magazine publisher, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she has gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising...
, who like Eileen, went to Barnard
Barnard
- People :Some of the Barnard family are believed to have been Huguenots who fled from the Atlantic coast region of France to England, Ireland, Holland and the New World circa 1685 or earlier than that date. See,...
. Stewart modeled for a brief time in her early 20s, while in college, including for Chanel
Chanel
Chanel S.A. is a French fashion house founded by the couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, well established in haute couture, specializing in luxury goods . She gained the name "Coco" while maintaining a career as a singer at a café in France...
. In the 1970s, Stewart would cater parties and weddings with another former Ford model, Dorian Leigh
Dorian Leigh
Dorian Leigh was an American model and one of the earliest modelling icons of the fashion industry. She is considered one of the first supermodels and was well known in the United States and Europe.-Biography:Dorian Leigh Parker was born in San Antonio, Texas, to George and Elizabeth Parker...
, who was a cordon bleu level chef after retiring from the fashion industry.
On the twentieth anniversary of the Ford Agency in 1966, Jerry Ford told The New York Times that they were billing $100,000 per week and that they were the first modeling agency to have a computer system. They had 175 female and 75 male models that booked 70 percent of modeling jobs in New York City and 30 percent world-wide.
Their top models in the 1960s included Wilhelmina Cooper
Wilhelmina Cooper
Wilhelmina Cooper was a model who began with Ford Models and, at the peak of her success, founded her own agency, Wilhelmina Models, in New York City in 1967.-Life:...
(who would go on to run a successful modeling agency of her own in the 1970s, until her death from lung cancer due to heavy smoking in 1980, at age 40), Jean Shrimpton
Jean Shrimpton
Jean Rosemary Shrimpton is an English model and actress. She was an icon of Swinging London and is considered to be one of the world's first supermodels....
, Tilly Tizani, Sondra Peterson, Donna Mitchell, Ann Turkel, Agneta Frieberg, Ali MacGraw
Ali MacGraw
Elizabeth Alice "Ali" MacGraw is an American actress. She is known for her role in Love Story, for which she won a Golden Globe and received an Academy Award nomination.-Early life:...
, and Candice Bergen
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
.
In 1968, Eileen wrote the book, "Eileen Ford's Book of Model Beauty," which gave beauty, nutrition and exercise advice. The book also includes a biography and photos of Ford's most successful models from the 1950s and 1960s.
In the early 1970s, Ford was still the number one modeling agency in the world. They represented Jerry Hall
Jerry Hall
Jerry Faye Hall is an American model and actress, also known for her long-term relationship with Mick Jagger, with whom she had four children.-Early life:...
, Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley is an American model and actress best known for her three consecutive appearances on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late 1970s and early 1980s, for her long-running contract with CoverGirl, the longest ever of any model in history, and for her marriage...
, Rene Russo
Rene Russo
- Early life :Russo was born in Burbank, California, the daughter of Shirley , a factory worker and barmaid, and Nino Russo, a sculptor and car mechanic who left the family when Rene was two. Her father and maternal grandfather were of Italian descent. Russo grew up with her sister, Toni, and their...
, Kim Basinger
Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again , and Vicki Vale, the female lead in Batman . Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture...
, Janice Dickinson
Janice Dickinson
Janice Doreen Dickinson is an American actress, author, fashion photographer, model and talent agent.Initially notable as a model, she has described herself as the first supermodel. One of the most successful models throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she expanded her profession to reality television...
, Lisa Taylor, Bitten Knudsen, Lauren Hutton
Lauren Hutton
Lauren Hutton is an American model and actress. She is best-known for her starring roles in the movies American Gigolo and Lassiter, and also for her fashion modeling career.-Personal life:...
, and Karen Graham. Hutton and Graham were the earliest models to get exclusive make-up contracts with Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
and Esteé Lauder
Estée Lauder
Estée Lauder may refer to:* Estée Lauder * Estée Lauder Companies...
. By 1977 however, John Casablancas, who started Elite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
, began to poach Ford's top models and her top booking agent, Monique Pillard. The Fords tried to sue Casablancas, and hired famed attorney Roy Cohn
Roy Cohn
Roy Marcus Cohn was an American attorney who became famous during Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations into Communist activity in the United States during the Second Red Scare. Cohn gained special prominence during the Army–McCarthy hearings. He was also an important member of the U.S...
. The Fords also had to compete with several smaller modeling agencies, such as Wilhelmina, which represented late 1970s models Gia Carangi
Gia Carangi
Gia Marie Carangi was an American fashion model during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Carangi is considered by some to be the first supermodel, although that title has been given to others, including Janice Dickinson, Dorian Leigh, and Jean Shrimpton...
, Patti Hansen
Patti Hansen
Patricia "Patti" Elvina Hansen is an American model and actress.-Early life and career:Hansen, who is of Norwegian ancestry, was born and raised in the Tottenville section of Staten Island, New York. The youngest of six children, Hansen was discovered by photographer Peter Gert at age 14...
and Shaun Casey
Shaun Casey
Shaun Casey was a model active from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s. By 1987 she had given up modeling for all but a few favorite clients....
, who very briefly became Esteé Lauder's "face" in the early 1980s after Karen Graham retired.
By the late 1970s, the "model wars" between Elite and Ford was in full stride with top models going back-and-forth between Elite, Ford, and smaller agencies like Zoli, which represented Rachel Ward
Rachel Ward
Rachel Claire Ward, AM is a British actress, columnist, film director, and screenwriter who has primarily pursued her career in Australia.-Early life:...
and Esmé Marshall. By this point, many top models were getting terrible reputations for drug use, staying out all night at Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
and for being very unprofessional.
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Eileen said that several of Ford's models from the 1950s and 1960s had died from smoking and breast cancer. Some 1970s models had also died from drug use, and top photographers, tired of their behavior, refused to work with them any longer.
In 1981, the Fords began an international modeling competition called "Face of the 80s," later known as Ford Models Supermodel of the World
Ford Models Supermodel of the World
Supermodel of the World is an international modeling contest established by Eileen Ford in 1980. The contest showcases young fashion model entrants from over 50 countries in order to discover new talent for the fashion industry...
.
By the mid-1980s, drug-addicted blonde models were out, and more professional, brunette-haired models such as Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford
Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford is an American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...
, Renée Simonsen
Renee Simonsen
Renée Toft Simonsen is a former model from Denmark, who currently works as a writer. Simonsen was one of the most successful models in the world during the 1980s.- Biography :...
, Carol Alt
Carol Alt
Carol Ann Alt is an American model and actress.- Early life:Alt was born in Flushing, Queens, New York, the daughter of Muriel, an airline employee and model, and Anthony Alt, a fire chief. She was noticed waiting tables in her hometown of East Williston, New York. When she was 18, she decided to...
, Linda Evangelista
Linda Evangelista
Linda Evangelista is a Canadian model. She has been featured on over 600 magazine covers and has garnered work on numerous modeling assignments with companies, most recently with L'Oréal.- Early years :...
, and Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington Burns is an American model best known for representing Calvin Klein from 1987 to 2007. She has worked on dozens of modeling contracts with companies including Maybelline Cosmetics and Versace. Turlington starred in her fashion documentary Catwalk and Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped...
came on the scene. As a result, modeling fees rapidly accelerated and several models were making millions of dollars per year. Fashion editor Polly Mellen said, "The girls are getting rich, so rich." Turlington, at the age of 16, moved into Ford's townhouse during the summer of 1985, and would rapidly become one of the Ford's biggest successes ever. Twenty-five years later, Turlington still is a top model.
In 1993, Eileen said that her agency received 10,000 letters per year and 7,000 personal visits to her office. Out of these, she said, maybe only four or five are "really good ones (models)."
Also in 1993, Ford's home in Tewksbury Township, New Jersey
Tewksbury Township, New Jersey
Tewksbury Township is a Township located in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and is located within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township population was 5,993...
was almost completely destroyed in a fire.
Retirement
In 1995, the Ford's daughter Katie Ford, took over the agency after Eileen and Jerry ran it for 50 years. The 50th anniversary of the agency was highlighted in several articles including the July/August 1996 issue of American Photo magazine and in January/February 1997's Top Model magazine ("Ford at 50!"). She was CEO from 1995-2007.In December 2007, Ford was sold to Stone Tower Equity Partners. John Caplan took over as CEO while Katie Ford was on the Board of Directors.
Jerry Ford, Eileen's husband of sixty-one years, died at the age 83 on August 24, 2008. He was survived by Eileen, his four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Eileen's story has been told in Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
in 1968, Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
in November 1970 and Ladies Home Journal in 1971 among many others. She appeared in the 1997 film Scratch the Surface about a teen model turned documentary film-maker, Tara Fitzpatrick's examination of the clothing industry and in Intimate Portrait: Eileen Ford in 1999 and again in Celebrity Profile: Brooke Shields in 2001 and a profile of Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley is an American model and actress best known for her three consecutive appearances on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late 1970s and early 1980s, for her long-running contract with CoverGirl, the longest ever of any model in history, and for her marriage...
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Publications
- EILEEN FORD'S BOOK OF MODEL BEAUTY by Eileen Ford. Published by Trident Press New York 1968
- Eileen Ford's a more beautiful you in 21 days by Eileen Ford. Published by Simon and Schuster, New York 1972. ISBN 978-0-671-21191-2