2023-09-19 08:05:00
Naomi, Christy, Linda and Cindy: four names that shone on the catwalks of the 90s and changed the history of fashion… and mentalities, as told in the series “The Supermodels” on Apple TV.
“We had never really had access to their stories, personal and collective, from their point of view,” says Larissa Bills, co-director of this series that will premiere on Wednesday. All of them are now over fifty years old and “are in a more reflective moment in their lives, with a more open and honest relationship with their past,” she continues. It is his story, but also that of an industry, fashion, in constant transformation.
Naomi Campbell (British, 53 years old), Cindy Crawford (American, 57 years old), Linda Evangelista (Canadian, 58 years old) and Christy Turlington (American, 54 years old) are the main names, to which Claudia Schiffer (German, 53 years old) and Helena Christensen (Danish, 54 years old): names and faces that have survived the years and crossed borders.
Dreams and opportunities
They walked for the greatest designers, were immortalized by the greatest photographers and have embodied the faces of the greatest beauty brands. The music video for the song “Freedom” by George Michael stands out in this miniseries, which definitively made them THE Supermodels.
Admired, glorified and (very) well paid, they were the first influencers, explains the stylist Donatella Versace in the series. “The ’90s were, in a way, a unique period in which everything converged: music, art, fashion,” emphasizes Larissa Bills.
They all have one thing in common: modest origins. For Linda Evangelista, modeling was a dream. For the other three, an opportunity. But the most interesting thing is not there, but in the way they view this sector, often plagued by scandals: addictions, thinness, sexual harassment, cosmetic surgery… In front of the camera, they confess between laughter and tears.
The tears of Naomi Campbell (who had her second child in June), when she talks about the French-Tunisian fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa, who died in 2017, who was her protector and whom she calls “dad.”
Regrets and menopause
Or those of Linda Evangelista when she talks about her ex-husband Gérald Marie, accused by other women of rape and sexual assault, before seeing the complaint closed due to medical prescription in early 2023.
Evangelista also evokes her breast cancer and her cosmetic surgery (revealed in 2022) that “disfigured” her.
Supported by archival photographs, the series also gives voice to couturiers such as John Galliano, Marc Jacobs and Donatella Versace. And remember their friendship, which led Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington to refuse to walk without Naomi Campbell, the first black woman to pose on the cover of French Vogue.
Supermodels also lift part of the veil on their privacy, and on their mistakes. Linda Evangelista regrets her famous phrase: “I don’t get up for less than $10,000 a day.”
The series also tells the story of the arrival of new stars on the catwalk: Kate Moss, then the Hadid sisters, and most recently Kaia Gerber… the daughter of Cindy Crawford. The years go by, but the Supermodels are still there.
In early September they proudly appeared on the cover of the American and British editions of Vogue magazine. A much commented photo… because her faces appear “rejuvenated.”
Anyway, Larissa Bills emphasizes, «I think it’s time to congratulate them. Becoming the face of a brand at 16 years old, in a sector that is not regulated at all, and having the career that they did: it is to take your hat off.
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