Ivan Bart, the former president of IMG Models, passed away over the weekend after a brief illness. Bart was instrumental in launching the careers of models such as Lauren Hutton, Carolyn Murphy, Stephanie Seymour, and Gigi and Bella Hadid. He was 60.
A black and white portrait of Bart accompanied the announcement on his official Instagram account. Our world has lost one of the greats,” the photo’s caption reads. From 1963 to 2023, Ivan Bart. There were no more details available at this time. Following the agency’s 2014 merger with WME, he was promoted to the position of president.
The careers of Hailey Bieber, Alton Mason, Wisdom Kaye, and others were launched by Bart at IMG Models. Bart has been a lifelong advocate for inclusive casting, and his work has helped to pave the way for such models as Alek Wek, Hari Nef, Precious Lee, Zach Miko, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Paloma Elsesser.
He was also an advocate for models of all sizes. Ashley Graham and other plus-size models were dumped by Ford Models in 2014, prompting IMG to sign them. The April 2023 issue of British Vogue featured three of the agency’s plus-size models, Jill Kortleve, Lee, and Elsesser.
Many of the industry’s top names, including Zac Posen, Christian Cowan, Shanina Shaik, Karen Elson, and their stylists and celebrity makeup and hair artists, expressed their astonishment and sorrow on Bart’s Instagram page. “Heartbreaking,” as described by make-up artist Pat McGrath. “Love you Ivan,” Bieber said on his website.
Ivan, I adore you. Beautiful, courageous, ground-breaking spirit, I hope you have a peaceful night’s sleep. When Elsesser wrote, “Our hearts are breaking over and over,” she meant it. Rachel Zoe said, “I have known and loved Ivan from the day I started in the industry. We have lost our top performers.”
A statement from Endeavor’s president and COO, Mark Shapiro, referred to Bart as “a trailblazer in the fashion industry.” “During the course of three decades at IMG Models, Ivan quite literally changed the shape and face of the modeling industry from within,” Shapiro shared.
“His relentless pursuit for diversity and inclusion challenged fashion’s gatekeepers and created household names whose omnipresence has inspired generations. I literally sat beside him at a table with the former management team at Victoria’s Secret while he politely argued that they had to change their annual runway television special and diversify their models — size, age, race, background. He was the voice before there was a voice. He was courageous. He saw beauty in all its forms.”
Shapiro also praised Bart for having foreseen the potential of social media to provide models a platform from which to advocate for reform. He went on to say that Bart was the driving force behind the company’s decision to buy The Wall Group, a trade association for cosmetologists, hairstylists, and makeup artists, and that Bart’s insights had proven to be “prescient.”
Bart, who has been with IMG since 1994, oversaw the opening of the Sydney office and the 2012 worldwide relaunch of the IMG Models men’s board. Bart spearheaded the establishment of the Los Angeles office in 2017, where clients including Diana Silvers, Lori Harvey, Maddie Ziegler, and Millie Bobby Brown are represented.
The company’s current global footprint includes New York City, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Milan, and Sydney. Bart was appointed to oversee all of IMG’s worldwide fashion events, including its fashion weeks, four years after he was made president of IMG Models.
“I feel very privileged to have worked the last couple years pushing our message of inclusivity, and finding new and exciting talent,” Bart told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 of his then-new role. “Why not bring that to a bigger platform?” Bart stepped down as president in March to take on the role of senior adviser. That shift occurred as a result of a shakeup at Endeavor’s parent firm.
In addition to serving on the boards of the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Neuberger Museum of Art, Bart, a resident of Brooklyn, New York, was designated one of Business of Fashion’s 500 driving the global fashion business. Grant Greenberg, a cameraman and the man he was married to, died after him.
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