The Bold and the Beautiful

How Canada’s top model scouts put the “super” back in “supermodel.”

By Christine Murray

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Elmer Olsen with supermodel-to-be, Madeleine Berrevevoets.

Photo by Shannon Ross

I’ve been riding the escalators of Toronto’s H&M for a good 20 minutes before I scout my first model. “She’s tall,” I say, pointing to the head and slim shoulders towering above the melee of shoppers. Elmer Olsen follows my gaze and grabs my arm excitedly. We set off, stalking the willowy brunette through the aisles, dodging earring displays and mannequins, until Olsen catches a glimpse of her face and speeds toward her.

“Hi, my name’s Elmer Olsen, and I’m a modelling agent,” he says with a voice like a kindergarten teacher’s, equal parts earnest and encouraging. “What’s your name?”

Lauren blushes and giggles. Olive-skinned with green eyes, chestnut hair and an endearing set of dimples, she admits she’s been approached about modelling before. Her mother is less calm and collected, stammering and clucking hysterically: “Elmer Olsen, I’ve heard of you! Your name came up on a soccer field last summer…”

It’s no surprise that Olsen’s reputation precedes him. In 2002, when Olsen left Elite Canada to found Elmer Olsen Model Management, the New York Post reported on it and supermodel-du-jour Daria cancelled her contract to follow him. Not bad for a former hairdresser and Saskatchewan farm boy.

Olsen couldn’t have picked a better time to found his own agency. Over the past three years, Canucks have toppled the reign of Russian and Brazilian girls with snow-fed beauties like Heather Marks, Jessica Stam, Lisa Cant and Yasmin Warsame. Even Halle Berry has caught the Canadian-model bug, having picked up Montreal beau Gabriel Aubry on the set of a Versace ad campaign. You can’t open an international fashion rag without tripping over another fresh young face from what The New York Times calls “The ‘Eh’ List.” The sheer volume of model exports has industry insiders at Hintmag.com (who have the authority to declare such things) hailing Canada as “the promised land for model scouts.”

As a result, Canadian boutique agencies such as Elmer Olsen’s, Calgary’s Mode Models International and Toronto’s Sutherland Models are consistently outperforming multinationals like Ford and Elite. Mode Models alone saw four of its girls – Marks, Julia Dunstall, Darla Baker and Brandi Brechbiel – walk the runway for Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2006, possibly the most difficult show in the world to book for.

“I don’t know that Canada is the new Brazil. We certainly don’t have the beaches,” says Kelly Streit, president of Mode Models, tongue firmly in fashionable cheek. “What we do have is a wonderful mix of ethnicities that is culminating in some of the world’s most loved faces.” Olsen also plays the multiculti card, referring to our “interesting-looking girls.” Their explanation is a no-brainer; you need only read over a list of model surnames – Berrevoets, Warsame, Brechbiel – to see that cultural diversity results in a hotbed of unique beauties. But the natural resources argument can’t explain away the fact that these days, every country, from the U.S. to Germany, is just as much of a melting pot. And Canadian models aren’t exactly timber or nickel reserves.

Back in the neon atmosphere of the department store, if we are in the midst of discovering the next Daria, the moment is not as glamorous as you’d expect. To the soundtrack of Jessica Simpson, Olsen is quizzing Lauren with small-town familiarity about her 10-year-old brother (“Is he a pest?”) and the perils of being in Grade 9. He compliments her eyes and she admits that she likes them too. They discuss her height: She’s 5’ 9” and he tells her 5’ 11” would be ideal. “I don’t want to get any taller!” Lauren exclaims. Olsen hands over his business card and jokingly thanks them for shopping at H&M, and they part with an invitation to visit his office.

It’s a slightly awkward meeting, but this, Olsen assures me, is the way models are scouted. Take, for example, the story of Tegan Dearing, who was slipped Olsen’s card while managing a Tim Hortons in Alliston, Ont. One visit to Olsen’s office, and six months later Dearing had exchanged coffee pots for couture frocks and was walking the runway for Dior.

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