THE MONSTER OF MODELLING

For decades, fashion agent Jean-Luc Brunel preyed on generations of young girls who had travelled to Paris to make it as models. The Frenchman killed himself in prison in February while awaiting trial for rape. Here, former models speak out about him, his friend Jeffrey Epstein and an industry that seemed to turn a blind eye.

- Lucy Osborne

In the autumn of 1985, 22-year-old Marianne Shine had the world at her feet. A newly minted graduate in classical art and archaeology from her college in Pennsylvania, the bright academic decided to place her love of archaeological digs on hold to head to Paris for a shot at a modelling career. Her Danish mother, a travel agent, and Hungarian father, a gynaecologist, encouraged her to go, convinced that the modelling agents there would take good care of her.

When Shine found herself at the sunny offices of one of Paris’ top modelling agencies – Karin Models – it felt full of promise. It was run by one of the most powerful men in the industry, Jean-Luc Brunel, and being accepted on their books felt to her “like joining an exclusive club”. After her first day, Brunel whisked her off in a limo to a Sade concert. “I was so excited,” she says. “Being a model with Karin gave us this privilege. Where there would be the velvet rope and people queuing up outside, they would just let us in. It felt so cool, like we were celebrities.”

Brunel was a leading model agent in Paris and was befriended by VIPs, princes, pop stars and movie producers. At his apartment near the Karin headquarters on Avenue Hoche, Brunel would host legendary dinner parties fuelled by bowls of cocaine that were provided for his guests and, of course, scores of young models.