A supermodel is a highly paid fashion model who has a worldwide reputation and background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became popular in the 1990s. Supermodels usually work for prominent fashion designers and clothing brands. They may have multimillion-dollar contracts, endorsements, and campaigns. Supermodels have branded themselves as household names and worldwide recognition is associated with their modeling careers. They have been on the covers of leading fashion magazines. Claudia Schiffer stated in 2007 that, "In order to become a supermodel one must be on all the covers all over the world at the same time so that people can recognise the girls."
History Origins An early use of the term supermodel appeared in 1891, in an interview with artist Henry Stacy Marks for The Strand Magazine, in which Marks told journalist Harry How, "A good many models are addicted to drink, and, after sitting a while, will suddenly go to sleep. Then I have had what I call the 'super' model. You know the sort of man; he goes in for theatrical effect ..." On 6 October 1942, a writer named Judith Cass had used the term super model for her article in the Chicago Tribune, which headlined "Super Models Are Signed for Fashion Show".Chicago Tribune archives Cass, Judith. Chicago Daily Tribune. Super' Models Are Signed for Fashion Show" 6 October 1942. pg 21. Later in 1943, an agent named Clyde Matthew Dessner used the term in a "how-to" book about modeling, entitled So You Want to Be a Model!, in which Dessner wrote, "She will be a super-model, but the girl in her will be like the girl in you—quite ordinary, but ambitious and eager for personal development." According to Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women by Michael Gross, the term supermodel was first used by Dessner in the 1940s. In 1949, Cosmopolitan magazine referred to Anita Colby, the highest-paid model at the time, as a "super model": "She's been super model, super movie saleswoman, and top brass at Selznick and Paramount." On 18 October 1959, Vancouver's Chinatown News described Susan Chew as a "super model".
The term supermodel had also been used several times in the media in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, the encyclopedic guide American Jurisprudence Trials used the term "super model" ("...at issue was patient's belief that her husband was having an affair with a super model"). On 21 March 1967, The New York Times referred to Twiggy as a supermodel; the February 1968 article of Glamour listed all 19 "supermodels"; The Chicago Daily Defender wrote "New York Designer Turns Super Model" in January 1970; The Washington Post and the Mansfield News Journal used the term in 1971; and in 1974, both the Chicago Tribune and The Advocate used the term "supermodel" in their articles.BarryPopik.com Supermodel 25 July 2004 American Vogue used the term "super-model" to describe Jean Shrimpton in the 15 October 1965 edition, and "supermodel" on the cover page to describe Margaux Hemingway in the 1 September 1975 edition.Vogue cover scan. 1 September 1975 edition . Archived from Ebay.co.uk. Subheadline says, "New York's new supermodel, Margaux Hemingway". Hemingway was again described as a "supermodel" in the 25 July 1977 edition of Time. Jet also described Beverly Johnson as a "supermodel" in the 22 December 1977 edition."Words of the Week: Beverly Johnson" 22 December 1977. Jet. Vol. 53, No. 14, page 40.Model Janice Dickinson has incorrectly stated that she coined the term supermodel in 1979, as a compound of Superman and model.Dickinson, Janice. Instinct Magazine: Janice Dickinson Archived from original link. 1 June 2006. InstinctMagazine.com. Retrieved 9 June 2009. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dickinson stated that her agent, Monique Pilar of Elite Model Management, asked her, "Janice, who do you think you are, Superman?" She replied, "No... I'm a supermodel, honey, and you will refer to me as a supermodel and you will start a supermodel division." Dickinson also claims to have been the first supermodel.
Lisa Fonssagrives is widely considered to have been the world's first supermodel, with a career that began in the 1930s. She was in most of the major fashion magazines and general interest magazines from the 1930s to the 1950s, including Town & Country, Life, Vogue, the original Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, and Time. Evelyn Nesbit (with a career launched around 1900) and Dorian Leigh (her career launched in 1944) have also been called the world's first supermodel, as well as Jean Shrimpton (early 1960s), and Gia Carangi (late 1970s).
Dutch-born model Wilhelmina Cooper holds the record for most covers on American Vogue, appearing 27 or 28 times throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Cooper would go on to found Wilhelmina Models modeling and talent agency in 1967.
1960s–1970s In February 1968, an article in Glamour described 19 models as "supermodels": Cheryl Tiegs, Veruschka, Lisa Palmer, Peggy Moffitt, Sue Murray, Twiggy, Sunny Harnett, Marisa Berenson, Gretchen Harris, Heide Wiedeck, Iris Bianchi, Hiroko Matsumoto, Anne de Zogheb, Kathy Carpenter, Jean Shrimpton, Jean Patchett, Benedetta Barzini, Claudia Duxbury, and Agneta Frieberg.Cokal, Susann. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 1999. Michigan: Gale Group.
Donyale Luna is widely regarded as the first black supermodel. She was the first black model to appear on the cover of Harper's Bazaar in 1965, where she was depicted in an illustration, and the first to appear on the cover of British Vogue in 1966. Naomi Sims has been referred to as the first black supermodel. She was the first black model to be featured on the cover of Ladies' Home Journal in 1968 and Life in 1969. In 1971, Carol LaBrie became the first black model to grace the cover of Vogue Italia. Beverly Johnson was the first black model to appear on the cover of American Vogue in 1974 and French Elle in 1975. Pat Cleveland is another pioneering black model whom fashion editor André Leon Talley described as "the all-time superstar model."
Anna Bayle, a Filipino-born model who rose to fame in the 1970s, has been cited as one of the first Southeast Asian supermodels.
In the 1970s is when many consider the origin of the supermodel, some models becoming more prominent as their names became more recognizable to the general public by commercial endorsements, magazine covers, posters, securing large sums of money for cosmetic contracts, TV appearances and movie roles. Sports Illustrated editor Jule Campbell abandoned then-current modeling trends for its fledgling Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue by photographing "bigger and healthier" California models, and captioning the photographs with their names, turning many of them into household names and establishing the swimsuit issue as a cornerstone of supermodel status.
In 1973, Lauren Hutton became the first model to receive a contract from a cosmetics company when Revlon hired her to sell their Ultima line. She has also appeared on the cover of Vogue 26 times.
In 1975, Margaux Hemingway landed a then-unprecedented million-dollar contract as the face of Fabergé's Babe perfume and the same year, appeared on the cover of Time magazine, labelled as one of the "New Beauties", giving further name recognition to fashion models.
Christie Brinkley has the distinction of having the longest-running cosmetics contract of any model in history when she represented CoverGirl for twenty five years.
1980s
In October 1981, Life cited Shelley Hack, Lauren Hutton, and Iman for Revlon, Margaux Hemingway for Fabergé, Karen Graham for Estée Lauder, Cristina Ferrare for Max Factor, and Cheryl Tiegs for CoverGirl by proclaiming them the "million dollar faces" of the beauty industry. These supermodels negotiated previously unheard of lucrative and exclusive deals with the giant cosmetics companies, were instantly recognizable, and their names became well known to the general public.Best–Selling Beauties, Life October 1981, page 120
In the early 1980s, Inès de La Fressange was the first model to sign an exclusive modeling contract with an haute couture fashion house, Chanel.Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week: Gaultier's 51-Year-Old Runway Star: Inès de la Fressange During the early 1980s, fashion designers began advertising on television and billboards. Catwalk regulars like Gia Carangi, Tiegs, Christie Brinkley, Kim Alexis, Paulina Porizkova, Yasmin Le Bon, Kathy Ireland, Brooke Shields, and Elle Macpherson began to endorse products with their names, as well as their faces, through the marketing of brands, such as Diet Pepsi and Ford trucks. In 1980, 14-year-old Shields was the youngest fashion model ever to appear on the cover of Vogue. Later that same year, Shields appeared in controversial print and TV ads for Calvin Klein jeans. The TV ad included her saying the famous tagline, "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing."Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2008Sischy, Ingrid. "Calvin to the Core"Style.com Brooke Shields Brooke Shields' ads would help catapult Klein's career to super-designer status.Hall, Ann C. (1998). Delights, desires and dilemmas: essays on women and the media. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. xii.
As the models began to embrace old-style glamour, they were starting to replace film stars as symbols of luxury and wealth. In this regard, supermodels were viewed not so much as individuals but as images.1980s: Fashion: Supermodels bookrags.com. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
1990s
By the 1990s, the supermodel became increasingly prominent in the media."We Three Queens" by Alex Williams, New York online retrieved 7 July 2006 The title became tantamount to superstar, to signify a supermodel's fame having risen simply from "personality". Supermodels did talk shows, were cited in gossip columns, partied at the trendiest nightspots, landed movie roles, inspired franchises, dated or married film stars, and earned themselves millions. Fame empowered them to take charge of their careers, to market themselves, and to command higher fees.
The new era began in 1990, with the era-defining British Vogue cover of Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Tatjana Patitz,"January 1990" . Vogue Magazine Archive. Retrieved 10 August 2015. photographed by Peter Lindbergh, which created such an impression on the fashion world that they came to embody the term "supermodel". Each model had gradually attained fame since the mid-1980s and was now among the industry's top stars. Selected by Lindbergh for the January cover of Vogue, the cover inspired singer George Michael to cast the same five models in the music video for his song, "Freedom! '90", directed by David Fincher. The other photograph that captured this new generation of fashion models is the black and white nude of Crawford, Patitz, Campbell and Stephanie Seymour taken by Herb Ritts that originally ran in the May 1989 issue of Rolling Stone, until a variation of this image which included Turlington was released in the 1990s, only after a contract exclusively binding her to Calvin Klein expired - thereby publicly revealing the now iconic image "Stephanie, Cindy, Christy, Tatjana, Naomi, Hollywood 1989." Lindbergh's and Ritts' group images helped each model attain worldwide fame by sharing covers of all the international editions of Vogue, walking the catwalks for the world's top designers, and becoming known by their first names alone.