Anita Bitton

An A-list casting director and head of her own agency, The Establishment, Bitton has worked on campaigns and runway shows for brands including Alexander Wang , Marc Jacobs , Celine and Dior.

Growing up in South London, Bitton was inspired early on by magazines and club culture and interned for stylist Edward Enninful at i-D magazine. After university, she landed a job at Next Model Management in New York and has worked in the city ever since.

“I was an assistant on the women’s board at Next,” she said. “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. Then I got a phone call from Ford. They were looking for someone to go and do their editorial and marketing stuff.”

Over the course of her career, Bitton has collaborated with celebrated photographers like Tim Walker , Peter Lindbergh and Irving Penn. “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. Then it became two desks. Every job makes me gasp still. I get excited still. There’s now a staff and an office but it’s still very exciting,” Bitton told Models.com.

“I see myself as a facilitator. I’m not a star casting person. 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,” continued Bitton. “My job is as the gatekeeper. We’re there to be a facilitator, an organiser 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.”