Ivan Bart, former president of IMG Models, has died at the age of 60. The announcement was made in an Instagram post to his account late Saturday night. It featured a portrait of Bart with a caption: “Our world has lost one of the greats.” Tribute comments began pouring in immediately from people in the fashion industry who knew and loved him deeply. He was many things to many of these people—agent, mentor, supporter, champion, and friend.
Bart’s impact on fashion, both personally and professionally, was monumental. He was responsible for launching the careers of nearly every important supermodel of the last 30 years, including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Ashley Graham, the Hadid sisters, and many, many more. He was a champion of inclusivity long before it came into sharp focus over the last 10 years, representing and promoting models of all shapes, sizes, ages, and races, including most recently Paloma Elsesser, Precious Lee, and Maye Musk.
Bart with models Carolyn Murphy and Alek Wek in 2018
In March, Bart left IMG Models as president but remained on board as a senior advisor. Before joining the company in 1994, he was an agent with Ford Models. In an interview with The New York Times earlier this year announcing his new role, Stephanie Seymour (another former client) described him as “a big thinker” and someone who “had ambition for the girls.”
Not only did Bart help propel the careers of the people he represented, he also supported many of their passions and efforts to make the world a better place. As Campbell pointed out in her tribute Instagram caption, he joined her when she hosted a philanthropic fashion show to support the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in South Africa in 1998. She called him “such a positive force and loyal friend.”
Graham wrote about Bart’s important legacy and his unwavering support of her—and her peers—in her own Instagram Story. “Your impact has moved mountains and broken down so many walls for myself and so many others,” she said, adding that Bart was “a storyteller, an icon, a problem solver, a forever friend.”
