Will Miranda Kerr be IMG Models Sydney's first client?

backstage at david jones SS1112/frockwriter

You wouldn't start a new model agency without a big name, would you? In further developments to frockwriter's story yesterday about the world's biggest model agency about to commence operations in Sydney - now confirmed by the IMG Models headquarters in New York -  industry speculation is now rife that the first model who will be signed by the new agency will be Miranda Kerr. 

Kerr is represented by IMG outside Australia, where she makes most of her earnings - which were estimated by Forbes to have been USD 4million last year, making her the world's seventh-highest paid model according to Forbes. Note six of the ten highest-paid models on the latest Forbes list are repped by IMG: alongside Kerr, Gisele Bundchen, Kate Moss, Caroline Murphy, Lara Stone and Candice Swanepoel.

In Australia, Kerr is represented by Chic Management. Kerr remains on the company's website and according to Chic Management, it is business as usual at the moment.

The company did, however, confirm that although responsibilities for handling the agency's models are spread across a large team, Chic's general manager, Danielle Ragenard, has always been Kerr's main point of contact. Ragenard, of course, is now due to head up IMG Models' activities in Sydney.

Beyond her independent Kora Organics skincare business, Kerr's primary Australian modelling contract is with David Jones, an estimated less than AUD 1million deal that was first announced in April 2008, but which may have been signed as early as December 2007.

If Kerr were to jump ship to IMG in Australia, any ongoing contracts would remain with Chic.

But with Kerr's David Jones contract reportedly up for renewal at any moment, little wonder people are talking. Frockwriter understands it's a little more than idle chatter. 

If Kerr re-signs with David Jones, it would potentially represent hundreds of thousands of dollars in commission and/or an agency fee for the agency involved.

Which other Australian models are currently represented outside Australia with IMG?

Big names such as Nicole Trunfio and Jessica Gomes, who are also with Chic. And a plethora of others who have been signed during the many Australian trips made in recent years by IMG Models Vice President of Development David Cunningham and his colleague Jeni Rose.

They include Bridget Malcolm (Chic); Claire Collins, Kendall Schuler, Nicole Harrison, Ashleigh Wesseling and Sarah Lorimer (Chadwick); Kirsty McPhail and Emilia Skuza (Finesse, Adelaide); and Shanna Jackway, Tori Trigg and six other new faces from Pride Models in Adelaide, some of whom have so far not been placed with any agency in Sydney.



With Australia emerging in recent years as a major casting market, it is hardly surprising that IMG Models would seek to step up operations locally.