THE STORY OF THE MODEL AGENCY TAKE THAT!

The 90s - women like Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz, Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss and Stephanie Seymour are omnipresent on posters, magazines, TV spots or catwalks...

During this time, also the model and fashion industry in Switzerland developed slowly. In the early 90s, a handful of model agencies were founded, as among them the model agency Take That!.

Take That! was founded by Sonja Bednar, shortly after, her husband Vladimir Bednar joined the agency. Both had turned their passion into their profession: Besides managing the agency, Sonja Bednar worked on a regular basis as a make-up artist and Vladimir Bednar as an event and fashion photographer. Their talent helped them to use it in the agency for the creation of set cards, thereby giving the agency its own style.

With Peter Lindbergh's iconic photographs, the 80s and early-90s simply focused more on the sporty, feminine, very natural look of a "power woman". This changed again in the mid-90s however, when haute couture began to focus exclusively on slimness and so-called heroin chic. Take That! was known for its open rejection of the emerging "thin ideal" of international catwalks. The agency was able to manage men and women who embodied a model type, in a healthy way. Of course, there were mainly models under contract with the standard model sizes. But they also worked with models having a shorter body height, a more feminine curvy silhouette, or who rather represented an older generation. And some of them acquired many jobs for their beautiful and unique faces.

Take That! also created sed cards that did not show models with a ton of hair and make-up. After the 80s, this felt refreshing and new. It was more important to keep the images as natural as possible and therefore it was deliberately decided not to have the photos on the set cards retouched.

During the 20 years, small business up to large and well-known concerns were among their customers. The models received a wide range of jobs – from fashion shows, editorials in magazines, photo shootings for advertisements, music clips, commercials, TV shows, hair shows, test shoots for photographers, acting in movies, trade show appearances, etc. Due to the good working relationship over the years, many models have said that Take That! became an additional family for them.

However, when Sonja's husband Vladimir died unexpectedly in March 2015, she decided with a heavy heart to close the agency. The memories remained - with a multitude of beautiful photographs. A small selection of these images is shown on this website.

Former Clients

Credit Suisse, Zurich Guide, Tod’s, Hannes B., Grieder, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein, Sunrise, Geberit, Fatamorgana, Walder Schuhe, Perosa, Sloggy, La Dolche Vita, Schiesser, Thomas Anders, Glückspost, Beauty Case, Scharzkopf, KMS, L’Oreal, UBS, Rudolf Haene, Red Heel, Key Club, Tele Züri, cooperation with Mister Schweiz and Miss Schweiz, etc.