………………..These photos of Jac and myself were pictures I took from an Elsa Klench video. Elsa had a wonderful TV show every week on CNN [I think Sat. morning] about fashion. It was called “Style with Elsa Klench”….She was and is a fabulous lady! This particular show was about how models were cutting off their long hair and going short. The two pictures of Jac at the extreme left in my Anne Klein Fall 1989 show Jac in my Camel Hair coat over a camel cashmere TN and a black suede shirt tunic. She also had Camel Hair trousers. The suede shirt had beautiful gold and ebony buttons. The interview pictures of Jac and me were taken back stage right after the Fall show. Elsa asked us both, but separately about the short hair trend….Jac came off great as she always did….Jac had actually been wearing her hair short for a while already. At one time she had hair the length of Grace Kelly, think “Rear Window” or “To Catch a Thief”. Bill Blass loved her hair this length and used Jac for all of his fittings…..She was doing a show in Italy and the designer wanted all of the models to have “crimped” hair. If you don’t know what that means just google crimped hair and you’ll see lots of examples. It is done with a heat iron that has a crimping attachment to get these tight frizzy waves…..The minuet they put the iron to Jac’s super fine baby hair it BURNED RIGHT OFF!!! Needless to say Jac was in tears. Not only did she have this show to do, but many many more shows she was booked for in Italy and Paris and America to follow. The head hair dresser came running over and told Jac not to worry….he would give her a magnificent haircut right on the spot! Which he did. He loved the new look, but more import Jac loved it too…..She was the only model in the show to have short hair. The rest of her clients in Italy LOVED it and thought it was so new…..fickle designers! Sometimes it was a model that started a trend…The French designers all loved it too. When she came back to NY she was afraid of the reaction she would get, but when I saw her I thought it was fabulous. Almost all of her designers did….except one……..When Bill Blass saw her he was horrified…….”What did you do?! Where is my Carol Lombard, where is my Grace Kelly!!!!!!!” Thank God Tom Fallon was there, Bill’s right arm, and said to Bill….”what are you talking about, Jac looks great, she looks modern and new. Get your head out of OLD HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR and get MODERN!!!” That did it…..When Bill calmed down and listened to what Tom said Bill finally acknowledged that Jac did look terrific. The last thing a designer wants to be told is that he or she is old fashioned and isn’t modern……..Many models started to cut their hair. You can still see this interview on You Tube. It’s about models going short, and we are at the end of the interviews.
I loved Style with Elsa Klensch. I remember setting the VCR every Saturday morning, so I didn’t miss a minute of the show. Heaven bless anyone who taped over Elsa…Lol!
Jac looks gorgeous, of course. Didn’t one of the 90’s Supermodels also cut her hair and start a big trend? Was it Christy Turlington?
Michelle, it was actually Linda Evanglista, she is also in this video with Jac. She’s wearing one of the red and black check blazers. Linda was always changing her hair and the color. Out of all the girls unfortunately Linda has not aged well which is very surprising with her bone structure.
That’s right! It was Linda. As soon as you mentioned her name, Louis, i remembered. It’s interesting to see the different paths that each of those supermodels has taken over the past 25-30 years.
Louis, the fashion world is fascinating, and I adore all your stories! Could you tell us how Jac got started in modeling? Please tell us more!
Dear Enjay, It’s a fascinating story. It was just Jac, her mother and her older sister. Her father had died when Jac was 12. At 16 she graduated high school early with honors. She went, with her mother to the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. Jac wanted to make money to help the family out. She actually wanted to be a psychologist, but there was no money for that, and it would take too long to make money. Willy. as she was called, took one look at this 16 year old glamorous child, and immediately sent her to a photographer for test photos. This was not something that was normally done. When the photos came back she got in touch with Jac’s mom and said she wanted to send Jac to Paris to see designers for the upcoming shows. Jac’s mom, who was a model in Europe, agreed and took Jac to Paris. Her first go see was with Hubert de Givenchy. He was smitten with her and booked her immediately. Once that happen her agency in France spread the word that this new sensation from America was in town and was already booked by Givenchy. Then everyone wanted to see this new fresh model from America. She got many bookings that season. At one of the shows WWD took behind the scenes photos of the models getting ready. Jac’s picture ended up being on the cover of WWD. She had no idea this took place. When she got back to the states Willy called her Mom and told her from the photo alone every designer wanted to see her. At 5’10”, a beautiful young face with short blond hair, big blue eyes, a willow body with long beautiful legs, who waled like a cloud….and just 16…..she was perfection in every way….a rare flower….She was booked for many designers after they saw her….Then at 17 she went off to Versailles…..it was a whirlwind fairy tale. The rest is history.
Elsa Klensch–talk about a hair style. I loved watching her show, but her hair drove me crazy. It looked just like a wig that came with a Cleopatra costume I once had! She was so stylish otherwise. Just my personal opinion. As I recall, we were all wearing the big perm hair in 1989k, so who am I to talk!
Her hair style actually became her signature. She was a wonderful, smart as a whip person. Jac and I adored her.
Thank you so much! Loved seeing you and Jacques interviewed. She was always so poised and lovely. What a wonderful couple you made.
If you don’t mind me asking … Where was she from … initially, I thought she was European … but I think I am incorrect.
Jac was born in America, but her parents were from Belgium
I remember that series. I tried to watch every time it was on TV! I’m a big fan of and have short hair myself. Jac looked great no matter the length of her hair because her beautiful soul always shown thru! 😍😍😍
Louis, here’s the clip!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt5eprtPpfo
Cat
Thank you for the clip!
What a great clip!