The 1990s supermodel
Back in the heady days of 1991, Italian designer Gianni Versace sent five models down his autumn/winter runway. Lip-synching to the George Michael song Freedom, they looked sensational, and a phenomenon was born. We had entered the age of the supermodel.
These days a boringly generic description, back then the term supermodel referred to five glorious, glossy women, who from that moment were known simply by their first names: Naomi, Christy, Cindy, Linda and Claudia.
With that one catwalk show, the supermodel was catapulted from a mere clothes horse to a living, breathing embodiment of the heady excess of the decade. Greed was good, more was more, and these five impossibly beautiful woman (and they were astonishingly gorgeous) ruled the world. Elevated far above mere mortals, they were far too busy being fabulous to “get out of bed for less than $10,000”.
Symbols of the American dream (although only two, Christy and Cindy, are American), they exuded health, wealth and class. Untouchable, mysterious and all a respectable size 10 (US 6), these girls positively gleamed with youthful beauty. Then, like exotic but short-lived butterflies, they faded. By 1998, Time magazine had declared that the era of the supermodel was over.
The supermodel of today
Cara Delevingne, Karlie Kloss, Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid are as well known for their Instagram accounts as they are for their modelling careers. Together they boast a staggering 61 million followers, and are global internet powerhouses.
Booked as much for their following as for their looks, these girls are a new kind of famous. Their every move is tracked, tagged and posted. As much a brand as the clothes they promote, each girl has an online following that is now as billable as her time – and fees are negotiated accordingly.
However, as the size of their Instagram following grows, that of the designer clothes they are paid to wear is shrinking. The result? A breed of impossible tall and thin young women, who are no longer just prettier, slimmer versions of everyone else. The new measurements are little short of terrifying. Gigi Hadid, who looks relatively robust on camera, is 5 feet 10.5 inches tall, measuring a tiny 34, 25, 35, and is a UK size 8. Karlie Kloss stands at 6 feet 1 inch, and measures 31, 25, 34, a UK size 6. Super tall and super skinny, these girls are almost physical anomalies. In summary, today’s so-called supermodel lives her life online. Karlie is famous for her friendship with Taylor Swift, Cara is famous for her eyebrows (and for wanting to be taken seriously as an actress), and Kendall is famous for her family.
smaisey@thenational.ae
