Supermodel

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A supermodel is a highly-paid elite fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term took hold in the popular culture of the 1980s and 1990s.

Application

The elite models who are given the appellation of "supermodel" often share similar traits. These models are reputable in the fashion industry. They usually work for top fashion designers and labels. They have multi-million dollar contracts, endorsements and campaigns. They have branded themselves to be household names, having worldwide recognition associated to their modeling profession. They have been on the covers of various magazines. Claudia Schiffer stated, "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." First-name recognition is a solid indication of supermodel status in the fashion industry.

History

Origins of the term

According to Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women by Michael Gross, the first known use of the term "supermodel" was in the 1940s by an agent named Clyde Matthew Dessner in a 1943 "how-to" book he wrote about modeling. However, a writer named Judith Cass used the term prior to Dessner in October 1942 for her article in the Chicago Tribune, which headlined "Super Models are Signed for Fashion Show". The term "supermodel" took hold in the popular culture of the 1980s and 1990s.

Janice Dickinson has frequently claimed to being the originator of the term. In an interview with ET, Janice Dickinson claimed to have coined the term "supermodel" in 1979, as a portmanteau of superman and model. According to her, her agent Monique Pilar of Elite Modeling Agency, asked her, "Janice, who do you think you are, Superman?" She replied saying, "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 be the first supermodel.

However, the term "supermodel" had been used several times in the media prior to Dickinson's claim. Some examples can be seen: On May 1967 The Salisbury Daily Times referred Twiggy as a supermodel, the February 1968 article of Glamour magazine listed all 19 "supermodels", the Chicago Daily Defender wrote "New York Designer Turns Super Model" on January 1970, the Washington Post and Mansfield News Journal on 1971, the Chicago Tribune and Advocate on 1974 have also used the term "supermodel" in their articles.

Also, American Vogue used the term "supermodel" on the cover page to describe Margaux Hemingway on the September 1 1975 edition.

First supermodel

Lisa Fonssagrives is considered by most in the fashion industry as the world's first supermodel. Fonssagrives was in most of the major fashion and general interest magazines from the 1930s to the 1950s, including Town & Country, Life, Vogue, the original Vanity Fair, and Time. The relationship between her image on over 200 Vogue covers and her name recognition led to the future importance of Vogue in shaping future supermodels.

1960s - 1970s

In 1968, an article in Glamour described Twiggy, Cheryl Tiegs, Wilhelmina, Veruschka, Jean Shrimpton, Lynn Sutherland, and fifteen other top models as "supermodels. The term supermodel gained currency in the 1960s by analogy with Andy Warhol's "Superstars." Of the prominent models of the 1960s, "Twiggy" (Lesley Hornby) is an example of a supermodel of the era, as is Donyale Luna, the first African American model to appear in Vogue. The first African American model to be on the cover of American Vogue was Beverly Johnson.

In the 1970s, some models became more prominent as their names became more recognizable to the general public. In 1975, Margaux Hemingway landed a then-unprecedented million-dollar contract as the face of Faberge's Babe perfume and the same year appeared cover of Time magazine, labelled as one of the "New Beauties," giving further name recognition to fashion models. Other prominent models of the 1970s included Janice Dickinson, Cheryl Tiegs, Jerry Hall, Iman Abdulmajid, Patti Hansen, Anna Bayle, Beverly Johnson, Gia Carangi and Christie Brinkley.

1980s - 1990s: Supermodel Era

In the early 1980s, fashion designers began advertising on television and billboards. Models became individually familiar to the masses, no longer nameless but beautiful faces. Catwalk regulars like Carol Alt and Paulina Porizkova began to endorse products with their names as well as their faces, getting in front of everything from Diet Pepsi to Ford Trucks. Elle Macpherson, who became known as "The Body," sold more pin-up posters than any actress in Hollywood. As the Models began to embrace old-style glamour, they were starting to replace movie stars as symbols of luxury and wealth. In this regard, many viewed supermodels not so much as individuals but as images.

By the 1990s, the supermodel became increasingly prominent in the media. The title became tantamount to superstar, as her fame arose simply from "personality." She did talk shows, was cited in gossip columns, partied at the trendiest nightspots, landed movie roles, inspired franchises, dated or married a movie star, and earned herself millions. Fame empowered her to take charge of her career, to market herself, to command higher fees.

When Linda Evangelista mentioned to Vogue that "we don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day," she may have been playfully pretending the role of an up-scale union representative, yet that 1990 comment became the most notorious quote in modeling history. In 1991, Christy Turlington signed a contract with Maybelline that paid her $800,000 for twelve days' work each year. Four years later, Claudia Schiffer reportedly earned $12 million for her various modeling assignments. Authorities ranging from Karl Lagerfeld to Time had declared the supermodels more glamorous than movie stars.

Although many models were referred to as supermodels during this time, only the so-called "Big Six" were officially recognized and accepted by the fashion world as supermodels: Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington. They were the most heavily in demand, collectively dominating magazine covers, fashion runways, editorial pages, and both print and broadcast advertising. Excluding Moss, they are known as the "original supermodels."

Late 1990s - present: Decline of the supermodel

In the late 1990s, actresses, pop singers, and other entertainment celebrities began gradually replacing models on fashion magazine covers and ad campaigns. The pendulum of limelight left many models in anonymity. A popular "conspiracy theory" explaining the supermodel's disappearance is that designers and fashion editors weary of the "I won't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day" attitude made sure no small group of models would ever again have the power of the Big Six. Yet Charles Gandee, associate editor at Vogue, has said that high prices and poor attitudes contributed less to the decline of the supermodel. As clothes became less flashy, designers turned to models who were less glamorous, so they wouldn't overpower the clothing. The majority of models come from non-English speaking countries and cultures, making the crossover to mainstream spokesperson and cover star difficult. The opportunities for super stardom were waning in the modeling world. Supermodel Tyra Banks left the business in May of 2005. In September of 2007, Claudia Schiffer said that "supermodels, like we once were, don't exist any more," and that Gisele Bündchen was the only one close to earning a supermodel title. The popular media apply the term loosely to some without worldwide recognition and extensive experience in haute couture. Geraldine Maillet, the celebrated French writer and former model, relates with humour and cynicism the rise and decline of the supermodels in her book Presque Top Model.

Male supermodels

Men's fashion represents just a fraction of the industry. Men nevertheless have played a part in the fashion world, while commanding less compensation than their female counterparts.

Criticism

Criticism of the supermodel as an industry has been frequent inside and outside the fashion press, from complaints that women desiring this status become unhealthily thin to charges of racism, where the "supermodel" has generally to conform to a Northern European standard of beauty.

According to fashion writer Guy Trebay of The New York Times, in 2007, the "android" look is popular, a vacant stare and thin body serving, according to fashion experts, to set off the couture.

This wasn't always the case. In the 1970s black, heavier and "ethnic" models predominated the runways but social changes since that time have made the power players in the fashion industry flee suggestions of Otherness.

In other areas

"Supermodel" is a term used by mathematicians and the like when modeling a particular problem, meaning a model that is composed of several models to solve a particular problem.

References

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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 16:13:38 PDT (GMT -0700)
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