Building Great Bowery, Fashion's Super-Agency by cudress

Building Great Bowery, Fashion's Super-Agency by cudress .....

fashion

Date: 10/24/2016 9:10:05 PM ( 8 y ago)

190 Bowery is one of the most mythic buildings in all of Gotham. Erected in 1898 as the Germania Bank, it was abandoned and decrepit by the time the photographer Jay Maisel raised $102,000 — less than half of what it cost to build — to purchase the building in 1966. Maisel and his family lived and worked in its (approximately) 37,000-square-foot space, spread across 72 rooms, for nearly 50 years, the structure’s neo-Renaissance exterior camouflaged by layers of graffiti. But in 2014, the controversial real estate tycoon-turned-art-collector Aby Rosen — who owns a slew of landmark properties like the Seagram Building alongside famous works by the likes of Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Jean-Michel Basquiat — convinced Maisel to sell it to him for a cool $55 million.

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For New York City’s creative class, many of whom are struggling to find affordable housing, the transaction was perhaps the most satisfying (and envy-inducing) real estate flip of all time.

Rosen announced plans to transform 190 Bowery into upscale office space. But while there were presumably more than a handful of prospective tenants eager to move into the Germania Bank, it wasn’t too surprising when the name Great Bowery Inc. showed up on the lease.

After all, Great Bowery, the super-agency brainchild of talent agent Matthew Moneypenny, represents many of the creatives who, over the years, helped to shape the New York art scene. In a show of respect — and clever branding — Moneypenny and his partners culled the company’s name from the “GB” insignia etched into the building’s doorknobs. But the company has its sights set on the future, specifically, the future of fashion as popular entertainment.

Currently, Great Bowery’s cohort of 12 businesses include: Trunk Archive, the image licensing firm where Moneypenny has been chief executive since 2007; Streeters, which represents stylists including Karl Templer and Patti Wilson along with many other image makers; Bernstein & Andriulli, whose roster includes photographers, illustrators and CGI studios; M.A.P, home to photographers including Jamie Hawkesworth, Tyrone Lebon and Dan Martensen; and CLM, or Camilla Lowther Management, which looks after photographers like Josh Olins, Juergen Teller and Tim Walker and stylists such as Katie Grand and Clare Richardson.

In October 2016, the company acquired high-end photography and creative agency Wenzel & Co., which represents Mikael Jansson, Vanina Sorrenti, Sofia Coppola (for photography only), among others. Principal Annette Wenzel has joined Great Bowery as a partner alongside Camilla Lowther, Beverley Streeter, Tim Howard and others, and will continue to operate her business under the Wenzel & Co. name.

Then, there are fashion talents such as Grace Coddington and Inez and Vinoodh, who are represented by individuals who work directly for the parent company, although there are no plans to create an actual agency under the Great Bowery moniker. The setup has the feeling — and some of the business efficiencies — of a conglomerate; a collection of companies, living under one umbrella, that benefit from shared resources and back-end infrastructure, but are also often in competition with each other.