Supermodels

The term supermodel refers to those few models who consistently model for top luxury brands, appear on high-profile fashion runways and magazines, garner large paychecks, and are considered international celebrities. The “birth” of the supermodels, as some industry insiders call it, resulted from a unique confluence of factors that have not been seen before or since, making the supermodel moment a rare one in fashion history. Consequently, supermodels of today, although well paid and frequently photographed, rarely achieve the same hefty paychecks and saturation of exposure enjoyed by supermodels in the 1980s and 1990s.

Although the term supermodel has been bandied about since 1943, when model agent Claude Dessner used the word in a model how-to book, the supermodels who gave the term its current meaning included Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, and, “depending on your mood, Kate Moss” (Kuczynski 1999). Fashion photographer Steven Meisel, famous as much for his rabbit fur hats and kohl-lined eyes as for his photographs, hung out with and photographed Evangelista, Turlington, and Campbell so often they became known as “the Trinity.” They took the fashion scene by storm, sometimes refusing to be booked separately, telling People magazine in June 1990, “We're only a third without each other” (Colacello 2008, 354).

In the space of a few short years, the Trinity, along with Stephanie Seymour, Cindy Crawford, and Claudia Schiffer, became so famous they needed bodyguards “to protect them from the mobs of fans waiting outside of shows” (Colacello 2008, 395). They dated rock stars (Seymour had a volatile relationship with Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose that ended in allegations of violence on both sides) and prizefighters (Campbell dated Mike Tyson), associated with royalty (Schiffer was linked to Prince Albert of Monaco), and married movie stars (Crawford married movie star Richard Gere in Las Vegas). Whole issues of Vogue seemed devoted to them (Gross 1995, 492). They posed nude for Rolling Stone, appeared on celebrity television shows like Entertainment Tonight and MTV News, and lip-synched in George Michael's rock video, “Freedom 90.” As interest in models [Page 1409]and modeling—and the paychecks—grew, even some men got into the game. Although Marcus Schenkenberg and Mark Vanderloo garnered far less attention or money, they were dubbed “supermodels” as well.

By the mid- to late-1990s, the supermodels' place in the celebrity pantheon was secure. In 1996, models Karen Mulder, Naomi Campbell, and Claudia Schiffer were immortalized as action figure dolls. Several invested in a restaurant, the Fashion Café in New York City, temporarily making it the epicenter of the public interest in supermodels (Tillotson 1995). In 1997 and 1998, both Marcus Schenkenberg and Veronica Webb published autobiographies. The same year, two well-known authors published novels about models: Model Behavior by Jay McInerney and Glamorama by Brett Easton Ellis. A series of teen novels emerged with catchy titles such as Model Flirt and Picture Me Famous.

A unique convergence of factors wrought model superstardom. First, while 1970s tabloids tracked every detail of model Christy Brinkley's marital problems, models played to paparazzi at Studio 54, increasing interest in and publicity about models as stars. Second, 1980s cable television's need for content fanned an interest in models' lives outside of the photo studio. Third, fashion's consolidation and transnationalization demanded faces that could sell globally, a need exacerbated by the recession that followed the 1987 stock-market crash. Fourth, an upswing in mergers created media conglomerates that wanted to buy only media with proven broad appeal. Fifth, cable television created new markets for fashion images, broadening opportunities for modeling work in general. Suddenly, paying outrageous figures for a supermodel “brand” began to make sense, since the new conglomerates were launching “worldwide cross-platform campaigns to reach their newly expanded consumer base,” emblazoning the model's image “simultaneously across the pages of magazines, on billboards, and on bus placards” (Koda and Yohannan 2009, 134). This ubiquity bred familiarity, and the “sheer amount of exposure brought almost immediate international name recognition and global celebrity status to models” (134).

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