What modeling agencies and clients did Melania work with in New York during the 1990s?

1. Early European work, then a New York move — the Zampolli connection

Reporting and biographical summaries say Melania changed the spelling of her surname to Knauss and sought modeling work in Paris and Milan, where she met Paolo Zampolli; Zampolli later hired her and — he says — secured a U.S. work visa and sponsored her immigration in 1996, and introduced her into Manhattan’s modeling and social circles ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Metropolitan Models and Trump Model Management: agency names in the record

Multiple sources identify Zampolli as a partner at Metropolitan Models who worked with Melania; separate reporting notes that after she met Donald Trump in 1998 she was briefly represented as a Trump model by Trump Model Management, according to contemporaneous accounts and later reporting ^{[2] [5]}. Available sources do not provide a comprehensive roster of every New York agency that represented her in the 1990s beyond Metropolitan Models and a brief association with Trump’s agency ^{[2] [5]}.

3. Specific clients documented in contemporaneous ledgers

The Associated Press and PBS reporting examined ledgers from a now‑defunct modeling firm and report that Melania was paid for 10 U.S. assignments worth $20,056 in a seven‑week window; the ledgers list clients including Fitness magazine and Bergdorf Goodman department store among those assignments ^{[3] [4]}.

4. Photographers and brand assignments cited by fashion press

Fashion coverage and photographers who worked with her recall campaigns and photographers in New York: reports note shoots for campaigns such as a 1999 Concord Watch ad shot by photographer Victor de Basseville and that she modeled for photographers connected to names like Marilyn Gauthier, with colleagues and shooters recalling Metropolitan connections ^[6].

5. Immigration timing and the controversy over paid work before a visa

AP and Guardian reporting — based on recovered ledgers and court documents from a dissolved agency — say the U.S. payments occurred in the seven weeks before a formal work visa was on file, creating questions during later political scrutiny; Paolo Zampolli, by contrast, has said he obtained a work visa for her while acknowledging it was common for foreign models to visit on tourist visas to meet agencies and clients ^{[3] [2] [4]}.

6. Shortcomings and limits in the public record

Available sources document prominent agency names (Metropolitan Models; Trump Model Management) and specific clients (Fitness, Bergdorf Goodman, Concord Watch campaign) but do not publish an exhaustive list of every New York agency or every client she worked with in the 1990s. Sources do not mention a full chronological agency roster or every client contract; therefore any claim beyond the named agencies and clients above is not found in current reporting ^{[1] [5] [3] [6]}.

7. Competing accounts and implicit agendas to consider

Contemporary reporting and later interviews diverge: agency records and ledgers published by AP/PBS/The Guardian document paid work before a visa ^{[3] [4]}, while Zampolli’s public statements emphasize that he secured a visa and that brief U.S. visits on tourist visas were routine ^[2]. Political context — scrutiny during presidential campaigns — increased attention on these records; readers should note news outlets were using recovered legal documents and former employee testimony, and Zampolli’s statements come from a former agent with an interest in defending his role ^{[3] [2]}.

8. Bottom line for researchers and reporters

If you need verifiable names to cite: sources consistently name Metropolitan Models (Paolo Zampolli) as a primary New York connection, note a brief association with Trump Model Management after she met Donald Trump, and document clients including Fitness magazine and Bergdorf Goodman among early U.S. paid assignments ^{[2] [5] [3]}. For anything beyond these items, available sources do not mention additional specific agencies or clients.