October 1987. A nightclub in Dusseldorf. Michel
Levaton, director of the Metropolitan model agency, is in a bad mood. He's
been in Germany for two weeks and has been unsuccessful in his search for
beautiful girls. ("Scouting" is the word used in this business.) Suddenly
a girl on the
dance floor catches his attention; it's Claudia! Business card in hand,
he resolutely walks up to her. "She thought I was trying to pick her up!"
says Levaton. He won't give up, so she gives him her phone number. The
following day, they meet again in a tearoom. Claudia's mother has comen
along and won't hear of photos, nor of Paris. "Claudia must finish school
first," she insists. Several weeks and many phone calls later, Claudia
goes to Paris for photo tests.
"I think we've got a star," Levaton confides
to his partner, Aline Souliers, who is immediately swept off her feet.
"Claudia has this kind of smashing, fresh ingenuity. She is like a flower:
charming, smiling, and very well behaved, too," says Souliers.
In Paris, Claudia does her first test with
photographer Marie-Francoise Prybys; then Souliers and Levaton take her
around to meet the magazine crowd. It's almost a disaster: Nobody catches
on! "People thought she looked babyish, too chubby," Souliers recalls.
"They'd say, She'll never be more than a catalog queen!" Friday, 4:30 P.M.,
the do-or-die meeting with Odile Sarron, casting director at ELLE. "Sarron
thought she was divine," Souliers remembers. "She booked her right
away for the following week, a rare feat for a beginner. Odile has always
been ahead of the game," Levaton continues. "She's got a good eye." Two
weeks later, Claudia appears in ELLE, and Levaton signs her on.
"I frankly think that Claudia lucked out with
exceptional management," Levaton jokingly explains. "We went to work
for her day and night. We bet it all on her. I must say that she had the
stuff of a star. She was serious; she never said no; she'd get up every
morning; did not drink, did not smoke, did not go out. The girl was a professional.
Of course, we had to draw her out; actually we had to teach her everything.
She was 17, from a small town, and had a very limited view of
life. In a way, we became her surrogate parents." Levaton and Souliers
quickly came up with a strategy. Claudia could have racked up assignments
in ads and catalogs, she could have made a lot of money right away, but
her agents preferred "to book her sparingly to stimulate demand." "Some
girls do all the shows, work on all the ad campaigns; they're good, but
they'll never be stars," Souliers explains. "With Claudia, we selected
every appearance. Every job had to support the image we wanted to convey,
that fresh and sensual young women."
Once Launched by ELLE, Claudia starts off faster
than a race car. Italian, German, and English newspapers begin fighting
over her. Five magazine covers later, Europe is under the spell.
America hints at sweet deals. But for Souliers and Levaton, it is still
too early; Claudia's face must be associated with a designer's name.
"Considering her look at the time, I didn't think things would work out
with Chanel," Souliers
confides. "Still, I sent her file over. When I heard back that Karl
Lagerfeld, Chanel's legendary designer, wanted to meet Claudia, I just
could not believe it!" Soon afterward, Claudia burst forth on Chanel's
runway. it was her first show. "I spent hours trying to teach her how to
walk," Souliers recalls. "I ended up calling Karl to tell him that I just
could not do it. He answered that it just didn't matter; he wanted her
to walk as if she were on the street." |
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