{"id":117346,"date":"2026-10-06T14:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=117346"},"modified":"2026-10-07T14:19:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:19:49","slug":"ali-kavoussi-fashion-week-runway-golden-era","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/ali-kavoussi-fashion-week-runway-golden-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali Kavoussi on Fashion Week, Models and the Runway\u2019s Golden Era"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NEW
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 14: (L-R) Paul Arnhold, Paige Paul, Pamela Anderson, Fran Lebowitz, Lux Pascal, Camila Mendes, Lucy Hale, Ego Nwodim, Charlotte Lawrence, Natalia Dyer and Rei Ami attend the Carolina Herrera fashion show during New York Fashion Week: The Shows at David Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on September 14, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by TheStewartofNY\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Ali Kavoussi<\/a>, Fashion Week has never really been about the front row.<\/p>\n

As founder and managing partner of The Lions Management<\/a>, the New York-based agency launched in 2014 with an approach that looked beyond traditional model bookings, Kavoussi has spent decades discovering, developing and guiding some of fashion\u2019s most recognizable faces. Today, The Lions represents talent including Candice Swanepoel, Behati Prinsloo, Stella Maxwell and Amelia Gray, but Kavoussi\u2019s own Fashion Week<\/a> story began long before the agency existed.<\/p>\n

It goes back to 1997, when his best friend from high school, Taylor Foster, booked a Prada exclusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really the seed that brought me into this world and ultimately led me to do what I do today,\u201d Kavoussi says. \u201cSo that moment will always mean something very different to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Candice-Swanepoel-Ali-Kavoussi-Shakira\"
Candice-Swanepoel-Ali-Kavoussi-Shakira<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By 1998 or 1999, Kavoussi had moved to New York and was sent to chaperone Caroline de Maigret to a Marc Jacobs show. More than 25 years later, he still remembers the backstage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was legendary,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was something so incredibly cool about that period that simply doesn\u2019t exist in the same way anymore. It was the definition of major \u2014 a real moment in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the era of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano at Dior, Versace and Thierry Mugler, when the runway could be as much theater as fashion and the right show could create a star.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u201990s and early 2000s were my time,\u201d Kavoussi says. \u201cThere was an energy, fantasy and sense of spectacle around fashion then that was extraordinary. Those shows could create icons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The industry has changed considerably since then, but Kavoussi still believes in the power of the right booking to alter the trajectory of a career. He saw it happen with Irina Shayk after introducing her to Carine Roitfeld. Roitfeld subsequently introduced Shayk to Riccardo Tisci, leading to her first Givenchy runway appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a real turning point,\u201d he says, \u201cand one of those moments when you could feel a career shifting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, those decisions are highly strategic. \u201cThere is no single formula, and what works for one model may be completely wrong for another,\u201d Kavoussi says. \u201cWe curate the approach individually around the model, where she is in her career and where we believe she should go next.\u201d<\/p>\n

That individualized approach is also central to The Lions, which was created around a more holistic model of talent management, developing careers and personal brands rather than simply filling a booking calendar.<\/p>\n

And managing the person behind the career is another skill entirely.<\/p>\n

\"Ali
Ali Kavoussi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou basically need a PhD in psychology,\u201d Kavoussi says, laughing. \u201cTrust happens over time. It comes from experience, consistency and being there through both the highs and the lows.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all that has changed since that first Prada booking in 1997, what keeps him interested is remarkably similar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what excites me most \u2014 and probably always will \u2014 is the underdog,\u201d he says. \u201cThe girl everyone said no to, or the comeback of an older model who has been away and everyone has counted out.\u201d<\/p>\n

And more than two decades later, Kavoussi is still waiting for the next one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will always love discovering and launching new talent,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing quite like watching someone\u2019s career begin.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42712,"featured_media":117347,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[6939,17,16],"yoast_head":"\nAli Kavoussi on Fashion Week and the Runway\u2019s Golden Era<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Lions Management founder Ali Kavoussi looks back on more than two decades of Fashion Week, from Prada to Irina Shayk\u2019s breakthrough.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/ali-kavoussi-fashion-week-runway-golden-era\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ali Kavoussi on Fashion Week, Models and the 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