About the Agency
Only a handful of agency owners actually sit on the booking board daily, plugging away in the trenches for their models.David Bonnouvrier does this and this is an important factor. Even fewer agencies have relationships that go back a decade with some of the most influential power players in the industry and again Bonnouvrier has this in spades. Add to that the ruthless drive and ambition of a booking table packed with killer agents like Marguerite Franklin, Didier Fernandez and Trudi Tapscott and what you have is a shop pulsing with raw ambition.
Decisions have been made by this agency over the past several years that have posted spectacular results. From runway to editorials to campaigns, the new generation of modeling’s most valuable players Natalia, Edita, Magdalena,Eugenia, Eva J. came flooding out of DNA.
PRO: In the grand old days of the modeling industry, legendary model-masters used to elegantly but unabashedly set the booking terms to the clients as to the market value of their models. The tradition lives on at DNA, the single most consistent and selective NY boutique operation of the last five years.
By obsessively nursing their high-end relationships with Conde Nast and a small circle of the industry’s most powerful photographers, DNA is every inch as elite and successful as they want to be. This is great news for those lucky new models like Ali Michael that they take on. A new model scouted by DNA might want to feel privileged at being selected because the track records of Natalia Vodianova, Doutzen Krous and Karolina Kurkova are inspirational indicators of where excellent management can take a girl.
The lifetime dream of the Bonnouvriers to host the chicest agency in NY has indeed come true in all its manifestations. Legendary supermodels + impeccable management of established girls + a steady upflow of blue chip new faces = stability and security, which is a coveted thing for a boutique to gain.
CON: Thinking multi-media, movies, music? DNA is probably not the best place to pursue that agenda. DNA is a high fashion ship and sails defiantly in that one direction, whatever the industry trends to the contrary. High fashion isn’t what it used to be (maybe that’s why it’s high fashion) and the massive incursion of celebrities onto the fragrance and cosmetic contract market means it’s the Karolina’s, Natalia’s and Doutzen’s that are DNA’s bread and butter revenue babes.
SCOUTING CALL: The red hot results speak for themselves. DNA can clearly market a new model to the best of the best. If you see yourself as being an ultra exclusive Vogue girl, a Calvin Klein face or a couture catwalker then this is the NY destination for you.
Text courtesy of: Models.com