Supermodels of the ’90s: then and now

Long before there was Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and Kaia Gerber,   there were the “Big Five”. Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Claudia Schiffer; the original ’90s supermodels. With their mile-long legs, iconic haircuts, million-dollar faces, and ultra-chic “off-duty style”,  they were some of the most recognizable women in the world.

They attained the cult of celebrity and became larger-than-life personalities who famously, “[didn’t] get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day”. Three decades into their careers, these five supermodels are still among the most famous faces in fashion. This is what they look like now.

As the first black model to grace the cover of French Vogue and American Vogue’s September issue, Naomi Campbell made her catwalk debut for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week in 1986. As one of the original “Big Five”, the British-born model was declared “the reigning megamodel of them all“ by Interview magazine in 1990.

One of the original supermodels, Claudia Schiffer‘s breakthrough moment came when she was hand-picked by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel. The German-born model was featured in George Michael’s  Freedom! ’90 music video alongside her supermodel contemporaries and starred in influential campaigns for Guess, Versace, and L’Oréal.

After winning the “Look of the Year” contest by the Elite Modeling Agency in 1982, Cindy Crawford gained widespread appeal with her all-American looks and famous beauty mark. She appeared in an iconic Pepsi commercial during the 1992 Super Bowl halftime show and hosted MTV’s House of Style, catapulting her further into notoriety.

Dubbed the “Face of the 20th Century” by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Christy Turlington signed a record-breaking seven-figure contract to be the face of Calvin Klein when she was only 20 years old. With a reputation as one of the nicest models in the industry, Christy Turlington turned her superlative modelling career towards public health and education, earning a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University in 2009 and founding the nonprofit Every Mother Counts the following year.

A fixture among ’90s supermodels, the Canadian hair chameleon famously once said, “[I] don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day.“ During the height of her three-decade career, Linda Evangelista was the ultimate cover girl, gracing over 800 titles and becoming a muse to famous fashion photographer Steven Meisel.

Original text: Kayla Kuefler
Updated content: Emma Trimboli