Have You Heard?

Maryann Van Sickle

WICHITA — Sunday was a big night for Models and Images co-owner Maryann Van Sickle, and not only because she was throwing her annual model showcase at the Orpheum Theatre.

She also announced that she and Howard Sherwood are selling the company they started in 1985.

“We chose that time because the parents were there, (and) the international scouts were there,” Van Sickle says.

Alleigh Allen, who started working for Van Sickle 18 years ago when she was 17, will be the new owner of the company as of Nov. 1.

“I know I have very big shoes to fill,” Allen says.

“Everyone — everyone — knows Maryann,” she says. “If you’re part of the modeling industry, you know her name. You know Models and Images. Maryann has a reputation of having an amazing eye.”

It never was Van Sickle’s intention to have an internationally known modeling agency.

“It started quite by accident,” she says. “Our mission was basically to train young people to … have confidence and feel good about themselves.”

As a former model, though, she knew the industry and had contacts. When a scout passed through Wichita and wanted to know if Van Sickle could show her any models, it gave her an idea.

“We thought, wait a minute. This is what we should be doing.”

Until then, she says, Wichitans who wanted to be models “had to get on a plane and go to New York.”

“We just started inviting these scouts to come in. The word kind of got out in the industry. … It happened little by little.”

She says, “I felt that if the person has the right look, they might as well be working in New York, Paris and Milan and earning a lot of money.”

A couple of what Van Sickle calls her “superstar status” models who have gone on to international fame are Lindsey Wixson and Maria Bradley.

“She’s hot right now,” Van Sickle says of Bradley. “She’s one of the hottest new properties in New York.”

Alleigh Allen

Now, she says Allen is poised to take the company to another level.

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