Almost a week after the death of John Casablancas, Models Direct has been intrigued to witness the modelling industry’s response to the loss of the man that many would describe as the creator of the supermodel.

Considering the extent of his impact on the modelling world it may be thought strange that there has not been more made of his passing. The reason for this? A controversial lifestyle and legacy…

For some, Casablancas was a genius entrepreneur, the owner of an incredibly successful business and an enviable lifestyle. But others labelled him ‘exploitative’ or ‘sleazy’ and will not forgive his fearless breaking of unspoken fashion industry rules, even after his death.

Whatever your opinion of him, Casablancas single-handedly transformed the modelling industry and has left his mark on the world of fashion forever. In the early 1970s he launched Elite Model Management, and with it offered a new route to fame for the models whom it represented: “I identified what I perceived to be the weak point of other agencies,” he said. “They didn’t cater to the ego of their models… I created an agency like a small private club where I could make a fuss of them and treat them like celebrities.

“I only had stars, so I could bill customers more because they couldn’t bargain me down on price by refusing to book any of our less important girls… We gave them huge amounts of money, and we gave them names and personalities. We let them give interviews. Suddenly, they became a dream for the larger public. They became supermodels.”

By 1977 this approach had paid off for his company. “The gamble was that maybe it wouldn’t appeal to some of the parents,” he confessed. “But the kids liked it — and it worked.”

True enough, the new agency concept provided Casablancas with his first supermodel – Christie Brinkley – whose earnings tripled in a year under his watchful eye. Many more followed. The success of household names such as Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Gisele Bündchen can all be attributed, at least in part, to his vision.

Meanwhile, however, a darker side to the money-making machine that he had set in motion was apparently growing. This was highlighted in a book by Ian Halperin, who wrote that: “Countless stories were floating around about how some of the girls [Casablancas] recruited as models were being steered into the party life of drugs, alcohol and sex … Two of his models were dead before Elite was barely a year old.”

Before long the ‘father of the supermodel’ had sold Elite and was later heard to refer to the supermodels he had created as “odious”, “spoiled”, “monsters” who were “surrounded by idiots and leeches”.

“One of my biggest regrets is that I created the supermodel,” he eventually said in a Daily Telegraph interview. “They can be impossible. Elite single-handedly brought modelling rates to a peak that no one could have imagined, but the girls never thanked me for it.”

This does not appear to have changed even following news of his death – but as one who certainly wasn’t associated with romantic ideals it is doubtful that this outcome would have impacted too negatively upon him personally. For the family he leaves behind, Models Direct staff express sincere condolences for their loss.

R.I.P John Casablancas. 12th December 1942 – 20th July 2013.