Monique Pillard — known as “the godmother of supermodels” during her three decades at Elite — has died at her home in Manhattan. Secretive about her age, she was believed to be in her 80s.
The French émigré worked with Cindy Crawford[1], Iman[2], Carol Alt[3] and even repped a 15-year-old Ivanka Trump[4].
When she left Ford Models to join Elite in 1977 — bringing Janice Dickinson[5], Christie Brinkley[6] and Beverly Johnson with her — Eileen Ford gave her a Bible with passages about Judas underlined in red, including, “ ‘And as they sat and did eat,’ Jesus said, ‘Verily I say unto you, one of you which eateth with me shall betray me.’ ” (Mark 14:18)
Ford also sued Pillard, Elite and the agency’s founder, John Casablancas, for $32.5 million.
“It was the best thing Ford could have done for Elite’s launch, giving Elite unlimited and timely press, drawing even more models to Elite,” Pillard’s protégée Christine Schott Ledes told me. “She was the last of the giants.”
References
- ^ Cindy Crawford (pagesix.com)
- ^ Iman (pagesix.com)
- ^ Carol Alt (pagesix.com)
- ^ Ivanka Trump (pagesix.com)
- ^ Janice Dickinson (pagesix.com)
- ^ Christie Brinkley (pagesix.com)