PARK Magazine

INSIDE STORY
“JEAN-LUC IS CONSIDERED
A DANGER,” SAID JÉRÔME
BONNOUVRIER. “OWNING KARINS
WAS A DREAM FOR A PLAYBOY.
HIS PROBLEM IS THAT HE
KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT GIRLS IN
TROUBLE ARE LOOKING FOR. HE’S
ALWAYS BEEN ON THE EDGE OF
THE SYSTEM.’’
JEAN-LUC BRUNEL
Jean-Luc Brunel grew up among the haute bourgeoisie
in Paris, started his career in public relations, specializing
in restaurants and tourism, and got into fashion
by arranging location trips for magazines. He married a Swedish
model, Helen Högberg, who was with John Casablancas’
first modeling agency, Élysées 3, and organized dinners where
celebrities like Johnny Halliday and Omar Sharif met models.
Högberg later joined Paris Planning, where Brunel did
P.R., but when Gérald Marie arrived, Brunel gave an ultimatum
to its owner: “He said, ‘It’s Gérald or me.’”
Jean-Luc and Helen moved to Ibiza, where he opened a
bar and restaurant called El Mono Desnudo—The Naked
Monkey—with a few partners. “He had no money or at least
not enough to support his tastes,” said someone who knew
him there. “If not for Helen, he would have starved.” But Ibiza
was a refuge of decadent chic. Young British lords and ladies
with heroin habits mixed with dethroned royals and Paris
models, and they all went to El Mono Desnudo. There were
lots of women. “He had them all,” said Brunel’s friend.
Gaby Wagner, the model, was Högberg’s friend. “I knew he
was taking coke,” she said. “I knew he was cheating on Helen.
I traveled with her to Ibiza, and I went out with the crew at
night, and I saw all these girls sitting on his lap.” But then
Brunel ran afoul of some powerful people who gave him
twenty-four hours to get off the island. “Whatever it was that
he did, it was real bad,” the friend said. Borrowing money
from one of his partner’s parents, Jean-Luc ran.
Divorced, he was looking for something to do in 1979, when
another of his ex-wife’s friends, Karin Mossberg, asked him
to work for her Karins model agency. She needed a man
around because male competitors “were cleaning Karins out
completely,” Brunel said. “Karin called me up and said, ‘As
you’re going out a lot, and you know everybody, can you come
and help in the agency?’” He said he agreed to give it six months
and buy half the agency if things worked out. Two years later
he owned the place and many modeling folk say that after he
took over, he started sharing his models with his friends.
Where Gérald Marie operated “for himself,” said Jacques
Silberstein, Brunel already “operated for other people.”
“Jean-Luc is considered a danger,” said Jérôme Bonnouvrier.
“Owning Karins was a dream for a playboy. His problem is
that he knows exactly what girls in trouble are looking for.
He’s always been on the edge of the system. John Casablancas
gets girls the healthy way. Girls would be with him if he was
the butcher. They’re with Jean-Luc because he’s the boss.
Jean-Luc likes drugs and silent rape. It excites him.”
“I really despise Jean-Luc as a human being for the way
he’s cheapened the business,” said John Casablancas. “There
is no justice. This is a guy who should be behind bars. He was
the guy flying all the girls from Karins for the weekend to St.-
Tropez. They were very well known in Paris for roaming the
clubs. They would invite girls and put drugs in their drinks.
Everybody knew that they were creeps.”
Despite his bad behavior, Brunel led a charmed life. It
couldn’t have been otherwise with the American modeling