Rebecca Sanhueza has been appointed president of WME Fashion, overseeing a global fashion portfolio that includes Art+ Commerce, IMG Models and The Wall Group.
Her new role will be in addition to her role as president of Nonscripted Content for WME Group.
As president of WME Fashion, Sanhueza succeeds Susan Plagemann, who is exiting the company after three years in the role. Earlier, Plagemann had been chief business officer at Condé Nast‘s style division, prior to which she was publisher of American Vogue.
Sanhueza’s role becomes effective at the beginning of next month.
“Rebecca is a true operator who knows our business inside and out,” said Christian Muirhead, WME group co-chairman. “With her return to our fashion division, we will be focused on strengthening the ties between our fashion group and the rest of WME and unlocking new opportunities that elevate and expand how we serve our fashion talent and creators.”
Sanhueza said, “The convergence between fashion and entertainment is stronger than ever before, and I’m excited to return to the fashion business during this pivotal time in the industry. I look forward to amplifying the work of our teams and helping to identify new areas of growth and opportunity for our clients.”
In recent seasons, WME Fashion has focused more on talent management and has become less involved with its New York Fashion Week events partnership. Last year, WME Fashion pivoted from producing a centralized venue for NYFW: The Shows to concentrate its efforts on facilitating brand partnerships and creative collaborations between brands and designers. As for its activities for the upcoming September fashion shows, a spokeswoman declined to comment on their participation.
A graduate of Columbia Law School, Sanhueza has over 20 years of experience in the media and content business. She joined IMG in 2015 after 10 years at Time Inc., where she handled legal and business affairs for titles including InStyle and People. As head of legal affairs for IMG’s non-sports businesses, including its fashion portfolio, Sanhueza supported strategy and operations for IMG Models, The Wall Group, Art+ Commerce, and its fashion events business. In 2019, Sanhueza was promoted to executive vice president content strategy for Endeavor, where she built out the infrastructure for Endeavor Content, and later led the development of Pantheon Media Group, a collection of nearly 20 leading nonscripted production entities.
WME Fashion represents the world’s leading talent and creators across the fashion, luxury and beauty ecosystem. Its talent representation portfolio includes IMG Models, which represents models, influencers and celebrities, Art + Commerce, which represents image makers such as photographers, directors, stylists, hair and makeup artists, creative directors, and illustrators, and the Wall Group, which represents fashion stylists, hairstylists, makeup artists and production designers.
In March, Silver Lake took publicly traded Endeavor private again. The Endeavor brand is no longer used publicly, and its collection of assets operate under WME Group. The company is led by Ari Emanuel, executive chairman of WME Group. Mark Shapiro leads WME Group as president and managing partner, working in conjunction with Muirhead and Richard Weitz, co-chairmen of WME Group.
