Eileen Ford, the Woman Who Invented the Supermodel
Eileen Ford basically invented the supermodel. On the cover of Robert Lacey’s new biography Model Woman: Eileen Ford and the Business of Beauty, a photo of Ford, who died last year, is surrounded by headshots of some of her most successful girls: Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Christie Brinkley, Lauren Hutton, Jerry Hall, Ali McGraw, Rene Russo, Beverly Johnson, Cheryl Tiegs, Jean Shrimpton, Penelope Tree, Suzy Parker, Carmen Dell’Orefice. Ford is on the phone, ostensibly brokering a deal that would make her models—and herself—rich in the process.
Born in 1922 and raised on Long Island, Ford was herself a former model who was discovered sunbathing on the beach in Long Island. She modeled while studying at Barnard, posing for Mademoiselle and knitting magazines. By the end of World War II, she opened up an agency, getting a commission for providing secretarial work and making bookings for her clients. Modeling in the post-war era became a big business, and Ford was “a mixture of Mary Tyler Moore and Barbara Walters.” John Casablancas, her archrival and founder of the agency Elite, liked to compare her to Catherine the Great. She was a heavy drinker who drank aquavit out of a triangular glass at 4 o’clock every day, but she also comes across as shrewd, ambitious, and loyal in Lacey’s new book.
Ford’s eye for beauty was unparalleled. Even though she was fond of saying that “every woman can be her own sort of beautiful,” she knew how to spot a model and nurture her careers so she’d become the kind of icon whose name we recognize today.
Eileen Ford on making it:
There is not one girl in two hundred of those who present themselves to me has got a chance of making it as a professional model, and it is wicked to let them think otherwise. It is part of my duty to help the other hundred and ninety-nine to get on with their lives.
On the agency’s signature look:
‘The best’ would become her trademark… Ford models were seen as the aristocrats of their profession: things that stretched for miles; an expectation of blondeness, though not invariably so; and a general impression of extra sparkle, height, and slenderness—stature, in every sense of the word, including mental discipline and punctuality… Tall blonde models became quite a trademark of the Ford agency—in fact, the term Ford model became synonymous with leggy blondes. Eileen made her Scandinavian scouting trip a twice-yearly event and she grew into something of a Nordic celebrity.
On rock stars:
Beauty embraced fame, and riches were united, in a weighted love match of pop culture’s new ‘talentocracy’ that would be duplicated over the years by Ford models’ marriages to other music stars: Sara Lownds and Bob Dylan, Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr, Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger, Rachel Hunter and Rod Stewart. They were not alliances in which Eileen placed great faith—she never lost her fondness for a good, old-fashioned aristocratic title or trust fund—but in terms of shared achievement from humble origins, these matches did represent some reflection of the marital ‘balance’ she liked to recommend. At one stage in the 1980s every member of the pop group Duran Duran had a girlfriend who was on the books with Ford.
Christie Brinkley remembers the first time she met Ford:
Eileen was wearing a bikini with a sarong… and as she was leaning over, leafing though the pages, one of her breasts fell out of her top. There it was, this breast just there, rather attractive actually, but she had no idea what had happened, and she went on flipping through the pages… What were we going to say? Luckily, just at that moment, she leaned down a bit and everything fell back into place.
Rene Russo remembers Ford:
If she found a M&M’s wrapper in the trash can, she would go absolutely berserk.
Ford on dieting:
Think thin. Pull your middle in, your rib cage up, and think about how narrow and elegant you are becoming.
A young model on Ford’s habit of micromanaging:
I was assigned to wash the lettuce for the salad. Eileen tested every single leaf to make sure it was dry enough.
On why she didn’t sign Grace Coddington:
Why didn’t Grace have a ‘waist-cincher’ (a wide elastic belt) or a ‘sweater bra’ (a seamless bra)… And what about those eyebrows?
Ford on Naomi Campbell:
She left… because I wouldn’t let her smoke in the house. I always tell people that Naomi Campbell worked for us four times—and always left for the same reason
On plus-size and older models:
I’m sorry, as I see it, fat is just not fashionable…Older people don’t want to look at older models…It reminds them of themselves.
Jerry Hall remembers Ford:
Her six months living with Ford were ‘the most boring year of my life.’
Ford on Christy Turlington:
Christy would take her clothes downstairs before dinner… and would hide them, all neatly folded, inside the washing machine in the laundry room. Then, after dinner, she’d appear in her pajamas and say very casually, ‘I’m just going downstairs to do some laundry.’ She’d be out the door in a flash in glad rags—and we thought she was still downstairs or up in her room.
