Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford: You know their faces because they were models, but you know their names because they were supermodels.
Now a new Apple TV+ documentary about the fashionable foursome who took the modeling industry to new heights in the late 1980s and early 1990s is helping to define their legacy.
Larissa Bills, co-director The supermodels With Roger Ross Williams, she says the women remind her of her coming of age – a time when the worlds of fashion, celebrity and pop culture collided, creating the conditions for the supermodel era.
“What these women represented to me when I was a young woman was that they were powerful,” Bills said.
VIEW | The official trailer for The Super Models:
The four-part series covers many areas – from modeling careers as teenagers, to the peak of their fame, to their second outing as entrepreneurs, mothers and philanthropists. It also revisits her famous Vogue cover and the iconic George Michael’s music video Freedom 90!in which they played the main roles alongside the late Tatjana Patitz.
The series has a lot to say, but is just as interesting for what it doesn’t say but shows: that part of the supermodel legacy is the ability to carefully craft a public image.
A curated lens
Since it is a project that depends on the audience’s nostalgia for its themes, The supermodels is polished and reserved. Although the oral history of the uglier side of the industry leaves something to be desired, it documents the highs and lows of these women’s careers.
Evangelista talks about her regret over her famous remark that she “can’t get out of bed on less than $10,000 a day”; Crawford speaks somewhat openly about her failed marriage to Hollywood actor Richard Gere; Turlington talks about preferring professional freedom to a restrictive contract.
In the docuseries, Naomi Campbell spoke about the racism she faced as a young black woman in the modeling industry. (Apple TV+)
Campbell, a trailblazer who became the first black model to appear on the cover of French Vogue, has a more complex story. She talks about her experiences with racism in the industry and how her fight for equal pay and increased visibility has led to a reputation as being difficult to work with.
“All I can say about this documentary is that it was meant to be a celebration,” Cambpell said in a recent interview with Women’s Wear Daily. “I don’t think it’s the celebration it was originally intended to be.”
Despite it, The supermodels Campbell’s history of assault convictions is not included, and other supermodels of the time – such as Helena Christensen, Claudia Schiffer and Tyra Banks – are rarely mentioned.
Bee Quammie, a Canadian cultural critic and former model, says the strength of The Supermodels This makes the subjects appear more human – as in an emotional sequence in which Evangelista describes how she underwent a cosmetic procedure that she believes disfigured her body.
Canadian supermodel Linda Evangelista has spoken out about regretting past comments and having undergone plastic surgery that she says left her disfigured. (Apple TV+)
“I was still conscious of the fact that these women in the ’90s had such great control over their images and I’m sure they didn’t give up that ability and that skill in making these documentaries. Quammie told CBC News.
“So I still think we saw it through a very curated lens.”
Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple was originally set to direct the series, but took on the role of executive producer alongside Crawford, Campbell, Evangelista and Turlington.
Michael Gross, an investigative journalist who wrote the book Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Womenwas interviewed for The supermodels. When he spoke to CBC News, he hadn’t seen the series yet.
He said he asked around during production and got the distinct feeling that one or more of the models “objected to the way Barbara Kopple exercised her editorial control over the documentary,” which led to it she switched to a different role.
In response to an email from CBC News, a representative for Kopple said she had no comment.
The series has a lot to say, but it’s just as interesting for what it doesn’t say but shows: that part of the legacy of the supermodel era lies in the ability to carefully craft a public image. (Apple TV+)
The power of supermodels
The supermodel era “was the height of the modeling business,” Gross told CBC News. “It would never get any higher than that.”
After all, people like Crawford, Turlington, Campbell and Evangelista had the power to decide how fashion shows and photo shoots were run and even what their clothes looked like. But the fashion industry eventually regained control, as the third episode of the documentary shows.
“The tail was wagging the dog, the models were the tail,” Gross said, explaining that this led to a new cohort of similar-looking, mostly unknown models leading fashion shows in the mid-1990s.
As Crawford says in the series, “It almost felt like a rejection of the supermodel and everything we embodied.”
VIEW | Cindy Crawford’s 2015 interview on CBC’s The National:
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Coco Rocha, a Canadian supermodel who rose to fame during this period, said that she did not realize the precedent that Crawford, Campbell, Turlington and Evangelista had set until early in her career.
“We were seen as a backlash against the supermodel era,” she told CBC News.
In an industry where women were vulnerable to predatory agencies and individuals, the four top models decided which designers, photographers and editors they wanted to work with. Crawford spoke about how she exerted control over her image from a young age to Current Profile in Fashion.
“Women like these four changed popular culture, society and the way women could advocate for themselves,” Rocha said. “They have a lot of courage, a lot of history. And they have done a lot for this industry and other industries too.”
The supermodels is now streaming on Apple TV+.
In an industry where women were vulnerable to predatory agencies and individuals, the four top models had an unparalleled ability to decide which designers, photographers and editors they wanted to work with. (Apple TV+)
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2023-10-21 20:29:28
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