ID Models by Moda Italia Net - the most dynamic model agency in New York

Paolo Zampolli Brings Back Classical Beauties

Remember the supermodels of the 1980s? They had huge salaries and egos to match. Who can forget Linda Evangelista infamous I don t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day blunder? Thankfully, much has happened since then. The waif came along to deflate the ubermodel s hair, height, and implants proving that bigger isn t always better. Then, as models shrank before our eyes, heroin chic briefly became the rage, but proved that less isn t always more.

Next came quirky chic to tell us that anyone can be beautiful. A nice idea, but it doesn t really give the average female magazine consumer anything to strive for. Enough already. Who wants to be staring at some enormous, tattooed, eye-brow-less woman searching for the beauty within? Whatever happened to the beautiful woman? ID Model Management asked the same question and decided to do something about it.

Spearheading the revival of the pretty model is ID s President and CEO, Paolo Zampolli, who says, There is a return to traditional beauty girls who are beautiful, elegant, and sophisticated.   He is confident these qualities will lead the next big trend in modeling and that the It girl of tomorrow will be the true embodiment of these attributes. Is sophistication and elegance hard to find in the mew crop of models some of whom are as young as fourteen? Not at all. Sophistication can be found at any age, he says. This is where ID s scouts come into play. We have scouts all over the world looking for these girls, he explains. Maybe you just have to know where to look.

Real beauty is coming back, he says, I mean, yes, some of the girls we represent are of that unusual, different kind of beauty, but the real direction we want to go in is return to a conventional beauty. This doesn t mean only blond hair and blue eyes.   He agrees that the latest stretching of beauty s boundaries has allowed permanent change as to who and what is beautiful. Some models are simply photographer s creations.   ID strives to represent girls who stand on their own as ideals of beauty instead of being the it s-Tuesday-we-like-redheads trend-influenced models.

While his agency, founded in January 1998, is still in it s infancy, Zampolli has already made his mark representing the new Guess Girl, the Chanel Allure woman, and even an 18-year-old beauty rumored to be a big Hollywood movie star s new girlfriend (and coincidentally soon-to-appear on the cover of Marie Claire and Vogue ). With this information in hand, I decided to visit the future faces of beauty on their home turf.

Located in the ultra-hip SoHo district of New York City, ID Model Management s building is currently expanding its office space something ID may have to do itself. The offices are probably not unlike any other bustling modeling agency with tall, slender girls with translucent skin running around, overflowing ashtrays on every flat surface and the constant droning of club music pulsating in the background. I wait for my scheduled appointment with Mr. Zampolli on a pale blue velvet couch in the lobby. Across from me are three absurd wicker chairs shaped like spoons the handle is where one sits with the round section at one s feet. A woman next to me comments that these chairs should be labeled model s only.   I m not sure labeling is necessary I wouldn t have braves sitting on them.

After about 10 minutes, the side door opens and a model agent named Tony appears to give me a tour of the agency. We start in the backroom (a messenger area where all the models books come and go) to the men s division (three bookers sitting at a large desk area surrounded by a wall of model cards of men with sculptured jaws, pouty lips, and disheveled hair). There is a sitting area where two young girls sit chatting. Then there is the women s division. This is the heart of the agency.

It consists of an enormous desk surrounded by scores of bookers answering ever-ringing phones, juggling calls as they light-heartedly rib one another. After my tour, Tony shows me to a comfortable seat as I wait for Paolo to finish the crisis currently going on behind the glass door to his office. I can see him in his over-sized, wheeled chair rolling back and forth from desk to couch a small shot of espresso in his hand. Assistants and bookers rush in and out of the glass door.

After a while, the glass door opens and the president of ID comes racing over to my chair sliding across the floor like he s wearing socks. He apologizes , explaining briefly about the unexpected burst of energy in his office the usual suspects, new girls, new business. Here, things change at a frenetic pace. Zampolli is younger and softer looking than his publicity photos. He is quite handsome and nattily dressed in a slim-cut gray-colored shirt and matching Prada trousers with a chic, but subtle Gucci belt. I begin to suspect it is a necessity to be good-looking in this industry. Be one to know one that sort of thing or at least it gets you into the party. Two minutes, I promise, he says and it isn t in one of those let s do lunch kind of ways. I believe him.

Across from me on the banquet-sized booker s table, Maurilio sits power-calling for her clients. Hi X. This is Maurilio at ID. I don t know if you re casting yet for X, but just thought I d call to see if there is anything I can do for you, blah, blah, blah. Each call sounds as fresh and friendly as the next. If I were looking for a job, I would want this woman working for me. These are what Zampolli calls his star bookers. The people who are not only business managers to these young girls often from small towns but also tour guides, confidants, father confessors, and advisors extraordinaire recommending everything from dentists to dry cleaners.

When asked why an aspiring model would want to come to ID versus an older, more established agency, Zampolli motions to the booking table. My bookers. I wanted the best bookers in the city and I got them. Plus we guide the girls from A to Z.   This is what makes ID so different. It is not a stable full of stars well, not yet. They strive to represent only new models ( That s what ID is all about a new identity. All the girls are new, new, new! ), not poach big names from other agencies. Not only does this hedge off the diva problem, but it allows ID to have a real impact on girl s career from beginning to end. They guide her toward the kind of modeling that would best suit her; build her book page by page, and help shape her look even her walk, if necessary. This is what Paolo calls total personal management which describes the process of plucking a young beauty out of Des Moines, shaping her look, and guiding her toward the best market for her. He keeps the total number of ID models small so that each one can get the attention she needs. This way everyone comes out a winner.

Two minutes later, I am whisked into his office. Ok, ask me everything, he says. At 29, Zampolli is one of the youngest agency presidents in the modeling business, but not to confuse youth with inexperience. He is a veteran in this industry and still very enthusiastic about it. He talks excitedly I have always loved the fashion industry and the modeling business.   He explains when he started his sole motivation was to become number one.   Why not be the best? he asks.

ID is broken into three divisions; men, women and the third less specific section entitled people.   This being the side of the agency that handles the mere mortals that appear in commercials and print looking like real people. The women s area is the busiest and consequently generates the most revenue for the agency. And with recent mentions in the The New York Times, Daily News, People,NY post as well as on television s Hard Copy and Access Hollywood , ID is fast becoming a household name.

After the interview, Mr. Zampolli helps me on with my coat and escorts me to the front office. As I am walking through the area where young models sit chatting and exchanging stories, I hear a woman say What beautiful twigs!   I laughed until I realized she was referring to an actual arrangement of sticks in a vase.