Interview by Wayne Sterling
At just about the point where Harley Viera-Newton comes rumbling through the door of The Establishment Casting agency, a fabulous mass of brunette hair and vintage Robert Lee Morris jewelry, tottering on those high wire high heels only the really stylish girls can pull off, I start to wonder if it was all a set-up. Is it possible for any company to be so entrenched in all that is new and now and New York and still live?
In the two hours I had been chilling at the office, dozens of cool new New York androgynes had come running in and out. There had been a beautiful girl who looked a beautiful boy who happened to be the door person of the legendary Sugarland parties in Williamsburg. Then there was Shayne from Hood By Air peeking in shyly through the door. They were there for a casting for Love Issue # 2, a job Establishment’s proprietress, Anita Bitton was handling with great composure and a compelling brand of charisma. Midway through all that Ryan Korban, erstwhile interior designer and Edon Manor co-owner pops in to say hello.
Which leads me to conclude that it is not a set-up but rather the daily Downtown dealings of the life of Miss Bitton. Later, over a very long and languorous lunch at Cafe Select (a lunch so languorous that we ended up ordering dinner) we talked about Anita’s past, her passion, her casting aesthetic and her long time collaboration with the newly blue chip Alexander Wang. From young London model to an enviable position as one of New York’s most vital casting directors, it certainly was a captivating odyssey. Here’s Anita’s perspective on that journey
WS: OK Anita, from London girl about town to woman-in-the eye-of-the Downtown NY storm. How’d it all start?
AB: You have to realize this always felt like a dream world to me ..When I was 10 I had started modeling for a store called Mini Rock by Barbara Hulanicki on King’s Road and there was this girl called Lara Bobroff…We did these pictures and there was all this horror that young girls were made up. That’s how I started modeling. My parents would take me to the store and Saturday and I’d give out hats…I became incredibly inspired by the whole atmosphere..the store… Barbara…but I wasn’t good at being a model. I just didn’t feel comfortable with being looked at… but I loved the lights and the creativity… I liked being around it and I knew it was something I wanted to continue with in the future. For years I went on and off with modeling…I did catalogues… knitting patterns… but I went to drama school …and got kicked out of a number of schools … for a few years. I grew up in South London where we were just obsessed with magazines… music.. style.. movies. When I went to University and I got the opportunity to get some work experience I went straight to i-D magazine. I went in there on an internship and got to work with Edward Enninful. He had just arrived there as fashion editor and that was really my introduction to that world. I just loved it. He was incredible. We worked with a number of photographers…people like Craig Mcdean and Jeny Howarth among others. It was a really great time to be there but as a kid you don’t really know that. I was also interning at a PR company and then at night I’d go work at TGIF. So everyday I’d work in fashion and then at night, go to make some money. I was really, really driven because I didn’t come from a privileged background. While at University I’d write Club and band reviews for the north of England for i-D magazine. I really was one of those kids… I was just very ambitious. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted more… it was an adverse circumstance and I really didn’t want to be there. So when I got the job in New York it was like…. ah escape… I emailed a friend in New York. She worked at DNA Models . I had met her at a London agency called So Damn Tuff. So I said to her “I really want to move to New York. Do you know of anything” She happened to be leaving DNA to go work at Next at the Men’s division. She said well I think Next is looking for an assistant on the women’s board. Next flew me out here. I interviewed. I moved to New York two weeks later.
I was an assistant on the women’s board at Next. I worked with Faith (Kates) and Alexis (Borges). It was the time of Filippa (Hamilton), Tasha (Tilberg), Carolyn Park, Jan Dunning…. It was so fun. I would go to Milan and Paris and hang out with the girls. Georgina Grenville got her American Vogue cover. I LOVED it. I was there for a few years. Then I got a phone call from Ford. They were looking for someone to go and do their editorial and marketing stuff. I met with them.. I wasn’t really planning on leaving …but they made me such a great offer I couldn’t refuse. So I went to work on their editorial board. Katie Ford was such a good boss. I really loved working with her. Neal Hamil… Katie Ford… that was really a great job. It was one of my favorite life experiences ever. This is like in 1999. It was the time of Erin O Connor, Vivian Solari, Maggie Rizer, An Oost, Fanny, Delphine. It was that kind of Belgian cool from Ford… I loved it but it came to the point where I didn’t really didn’t want to be an agent anymore. I loved what I did. I loved working with people. I always likened my family situation to the Royal Tennenbaum’s. It was eclectic… and amazing… multi-cultural.. It still makes me giggle when I think about it. I went to work with Kevin Krier after I left Ford. I worked for him for while . We traveled to Milan and Paris, we worked on Gucci and YSL and Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss in New York. I had a lot of difficulties… Kevin was very good to me… but I had to take a break. I had to get my act together. I think you get to a point where you have to make a decision. I had all these opportunities and all these angels around me and then I started working with Miles Aldridge. He was doing the Neiman Marcus advertising. …Then I got another opportunity to work on DKNY with Peter Lindberg. I felt so lucky. I kept getting opportunity after opportunity. I didn’t imagine ever being given those opportunities. Things like working with Irving Penn. That to me was unimaginable. That was the catalyst for my wanting to cast full time. I had a desk. I worked on 30th Street. I shared a space with Greg Kadel. He gave me the space. I always had angels. Then it became two desks. My friend Anna had a production company called AZ Productions then she was like… “Come and work here”… but clients don’t stick around if you don’t work for them. Then I got the opportunity to work with DKNY on the fold-out newspaper project.
AB: You have to realize this always felt like a dream world to me ..When I was 10 I had started modeling for a store called Mini Rock by Barbara Hulanicki on King’s Road and there was this girl called Lara Bobroff…We did these pictures and there was all this horror that young girls were made up. That’s how I started modeling. My parents would take me to the store and Saturday and I’d give out hats…I became incredibly inspired by the whole atmosphere..the store… Barbara…but I wasn’t good at being a model. I just didn’t feel comfortable with being looked at… but I loved the lights and the creativity… I liked being around it and I knew it was something I wanted to continue with in the future. For years I went on and off with modeling…I did catalogues… knitting patterns… but I went to drama school …and got kicked out of a number of schools … for a few years. I grew up in South London where we were just obsessed with magazines… music.. style.. movies. When I went to University and I got the opportunity to get some work experience I went straight to i-D magazine. I went in there on an internship and got to work with Edward Enninful. He had just arrived there as fashion editor and that was really my introduction to that world. I just loved it. He was incredible. We worked with a number of photographers…people like Craig Mcdean and Jeny Howarth among others. It was a really great time to be there but as a kid you don’t really know that. I was also interning at a PR company and then at night I’d go work at TGIF. So everyday I’d work in fashion and then at night, go to make some money. I was really, really driven because I didn’t come from a privileged background. While at University I’d write Club and band reviews for the north of England for i-D magazine. I really was one of those kids… I was just very ambitious. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted more… it was an adverse circumstance and I really didn’t want to be there. So when I got the job in New York it was like…. ah escape… I emailed a friend in New York. She worked at DNA Models . I had met her at a London agency called So Damn Tuff. So I said to her “I really want to move to New York. Do you know of anything” She happened to be leaving DNA to go work at Next at the Men’s division. She said well I think Next is looking for an assistant on the women’s board. Next flew me out here. I interviewed. I moved to New York two weeks later.
I was an assistant on the women’s board at Next. I worked with Faith (Kates) and Alexis (Borges). It was the time of Filippa (Hamilton), Tasha (Tilberg), Carolyn Park, Jan Dunning…. It was so fun. I would go to Milan and Paris and hang out with the girls. Georgina Grenville got her American Vogue cover. I LOVED it. I was there for a few years. Then I got a phone call from Ford. They were looking for someone to go and do their editorial and marketing stuff. I met with them.. I wasn’t really planning on leaving …but they made me such a great offer I couldn’t refuse. So I went to work on their editorial board. Katie Ford was such a good boss. I really loved working with her. Neal Hamil… Katie Ford… that was really a great job. It was one of my favorite life experiences ever. This is like in 1999. It was the time of Erin O Connor, Vivian Solari, Maggie Rizer, An Oost, Fanny, Delphine. It was that kind of Belgian cool from Ford… I loved it but it came to the point where I didn’t really didn’t want to be an agent anymore. I loved what I did. I loved working with people. I always likened my family situation to the Royal Tennenbaum’s. It was eclectic… and amazing… multi-cultural.. It still makes me giggle when I think about it. I went to work with Kevin Krier after I left Ford. I worked for him for while . We traveled to Milan and Paris, we worked on Gucci and YSL and Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss in New York. I had a lot of difficulties… Kevin was very good to me… but I had to take a break. I had to get my act together. I think you get to a point where you have to make a decision. I had all these opportunities and all these angels around me and then I started working with Miles Aldridge. He was doing the Neiman Marcus advertising. …Then I got another opportunity to work on DKNY with Peter Lindberg. I felt so lucky. I kept getting opportunity after opportunity. I didn’t imagine ever being given those opportunities. Things like working with Irving Penn. That to me was unimaginable. That was the catalyst for my wanting to cast full time. I had a desk. I worked on 30th Street. I shared a space with Greg Kadel. He gave me the space. I always had angels. Then it became two desks. My friend Anna had a production company called AZ Productions then she was like… “Come and work here”… but clients don’t stick around if you don’t work for them. Then I got the opportunity to work with DKNY on the fold-out newspaper project.
WS: I am amazed at the level of enthusiasm you still have for your work. You’re not the least bit jaded.
AB: Every job makes me gasp still. I get excited still. There’s now a staff and an office …but… it’s still very exciting.
AB: Every job makes me gasp still. I get excited still. There’s now a staff and an office …but… it’s still very exciting.
WS: Is there such a thing in your mind as a star casting director ?
AB: I see myself as a facilitator. I’m not a star casting person. I think it’s a tough position to put yourself in. I think casting is very subjective and it’s a very tough thing to do… Take three different designers… any three… there’s going to be three sets of different requirements.. styling… hair and make-up is going to be very different things to the girls. Natasha Poly can give you those three different things that new girls can’t. So it’s sort of difficult to cast only new girls…So there’s no such thing as a star casting director… making stars… I like to base things on fact… I’ve been interviewed about my opinions on girls but I feel like.. does it matter what I think? It’s important what the designer thinks.. It’s important what the stylist thinks. My job is as the gatekeeper. We’re there to be a facilitator, an organizer of your fit models… your looks models.. We’ll bring you the five best girls for your needs… and if those don’t work… we go back and find another five. We get them there on time. We communicate with the agencies so you don’t have to deal with that stress… We can help guide you to making the best decision for your project but we don’t dictate.
AB: I see myself as a facilitator. I’m not a star casting person. I think it’s a tough position to put yourself in. I think casting is very subjective and it’s a very tough thing to do… Take three different designers… any three… there’s going to be three sets of different requirements.. styling… hair and make-up is going to be very different things to the girls. Natasha Poly can give you those three different things that new girls can’t. So it’s sort of difficult to cast only new girls…So there’s no such thing as a star casting director… making stars… I like to base things on fact… I’ve been interviewed about my opinions on girls but I feel like.. does it matter what I think? It’s important what the designer thinks.. It’s important what the stylist thinks. My job is as the gatekeeper. We’re there to be a facilitator, an organizer of your fit models… your looks models.. We’ll bring you the five best girls for your needs… and if those don’t work… we go back and find another five. We get them there on time. We communicate with the agencies so you don’t have to deal with that stress… We can help guide you to making the best decision for your project but we don’t dictate.
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