NEW YORK — As the long-awaited “Epstein Files” continue to saturate public discourse in 2026, investigative journalists have unearthed chilling details about a 1991 teen modeling contest that critics claim served as a “hunting ground” for the world’s most powerful millionaires.
At the center of the controversy is the 1991 “Look of the Year” competition. Hosted at Donald Trump’s Plaza Hotel and judged by the future president himself, the contest featured 58 aspiring models—some as young as 14 years old.
A Front for Exploitation?
While the competition was marketed as a prestigious path to supermodel fame, a special investigation by The Guardian has revealed a much darker reality. According to testimonies from several former contestants, the “Look of the Year” was often a front for wealthy men to gain proximity to vulnerable teenage girls.
Models from the era describe a system where they were “required” to attend private dinners and yacht parties—most notably aboard the Spirit of New York—where they were surrounded by older men in their 40s and 50s.
“It wasn’t an invitation,” one Australian model, who was 16 at the time, told The Guardian. “It was presented as our duty. You had to go and do this.”
The Trump and Casablancas Connection
In 1991, Trump was the headline sponsor of the event, working closely with his longtime friend John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Model Management.
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The Role of a Judge: Trump, then 45, was one of ten judges who personally interviewed and evaluated the contestants.
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The Epstein Overlap: Recently released footage and documents from the Epstein files show Trump and Jeffrey Epstein socializing during this exact period, highlighting the shared social circles of men who were deeply embedded in the “teen modeling” industry.
The “Machine” That Groomed the Supermodel Era
Industry insiders now describe the modeling agencies of the 90s not as talent scouts, but as “refiners” for high-profile clients. While no specific allegations of sexual misconduct regarding this 1991 contest have been leveled directly at Trump, his presence as the “owner of the venue” and “judge of the children” has raised significant ethical questions during his current term in office.
The investigation suggests that the coercion was baked into the contracts: models were often placed in “debt traps”—charged exorbitant rents for shared apartments and forced into illegal work visas—making them even more susceptible to the demands of powerful sponsors.
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