THINGS DISSECTED

Thursday night at Barolo. Mark Baker, the restaurateur and promoter, is throwing one of his special parties. Here's how it works: The promoters have a relationship with the agencies. The agencies know the promoters are "safe"—i.e., they're going to take care of their girls, entertain them. In turn, the promoters need the modelizers to take the girls out. The promoters don't always have the money to take the girls out to dinner. The modelizers do. Someone's got to feed them. The modelizer meets someone like Mr. Roque. Mr. Roque wants girls. The modelizers want girls and they also want to hang out with Mr. Roque. Everyone is happy.

Outside, on this Thursday night, there's pandemonium on the sidewalk. People pushing, trying to get the attention of a tall, mean-looking guy who could be part oriental, part Italian. Inside, the place is jammed. Everyone is dancing, everyone is tall and beautiful.

You talk to a girl with a fake European accent. Then a girl from Tennessee who just returned from a trip back home. "I was wearing bellbottoms and platform shoes, and my old boyfriend said, 'Carol Anne, what the hell are you wearing? And I said, 'Get with it, honey. This is New York. "

Jack slides by and starts talking.

"Even if they're dumb, models are very manipulative. You can split them into three types. One: The new girls in town. They're usually really young— sixteen, seventeen. They go out a lot. They might not work that much, they want something to do, they need to meet people, like photographers. Two: The girls who work a lot. They're a little older, twenty-one and up, they've been in the business for five years. They ……

And three: The supermodels. They're looking for a big-time guy who can do something for them. They're all obsessed with money, maybe because their careers are insecure. They won't even look at a guy who has less than twenty or thirty mil. Plus, they have the 'big girl' complex: They won't hang out with any girl who's not a top model, and they ignore other models or bitch about them."

You go down to the bathroom with Jack and hang out in the men's room. "By the time they get to be twenty-one, these girls have tons of baggage," says Jack. "They have a history: Children. Guys they've slept with. Guys you don't like. Most of them come from broken homes or fucked-up backgrounds. They're beautiful, but in the end, they don't do anything for you. They're young. They're uneducated. They have no values, you know? I prefer the older ones. You have to find one without baggage, and I'm on the search."

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 1020