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Supermodel

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File:Naomicampbell.jpg
Supermodel Naomi Campbell on the cover of British Vogue magazine.

A supermodel is a highly paid fashion model in an elite group with a worldwide reputation. According to Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women by Michael Gross, the first known use of the term was in the 1940s in a how-to book for models by an agent named Clyde Matthew Dessner. In an article in Glamour Magazine in 1968, the author described Twiggy, Cheryl Tiegs, Verushka, Jean Shrimpton and fifteen other top models as "Supermodels" (Click link to right to see article)[1] The term "Supermodel" gained currency by analogy with Andy Warhol's "superstars" of the 1960s, and, like "superstardom", it has been conflated to include almost anyone who finds steady access to work, with top designers, fashion magazines and commercial clients; uncommon in the highly volatile fashion industry. In the early 60s the term "top models" was used by magazines/fashion critics to define famous and highly paid models, way before the term "supermodel" became popular. Today, these two terms are used to define two different groups. "Supermodels" according to Tyra Banks are famous highly paid models, and "top models" are noted fashion models.

While the term gained popularity in the 1980s, a number of models had become famous in their own right as far back as Dorian Leigh in the late 1940s. Amongst the first models whose name and face were familiar to those outside the fashion industry include Suzy Parker, a model in the 1950s, and Cheryl Tiegs in the 1960s. Others claim that Janice Dickinson has the right to the title of first supermodel since she is credited with the coining the term in 1979. However, as shown by the 1940s book by Dessner, she did not coin the phrase, but gained wide notoriety by publicly proclaiming herself as "The World's First Supermodel". Still others claim Lisa Fonssagrives, wife of two photographers, first of Fernand Fonssagrives and then Irving Penn, to be the world's first supermodel; none have surpassed her over 200 covers of Vogue alone. She was in every fashion magazine during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s from Town and Country, Life, Life, Vogue, and the original Vanity Fair to the cover of Time. Jean Shrimpton, Colleen Corby, Twiggy as well as Veruschka (all from the mid- Sixties) have claim to the title of Supermodel too.

The high point of the supermodel era was in the 1980s and 1990s, with some of the most famous being "The Trinity" of Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington. Also in this era, models like Paulina Porizkova paved the way for an influx of Eastern European models. It was at this time that Cindy Crawford successfully leveraged her modelling fame into hosting her own television show, MTV's House of Style, creating and promoting many exercise video tapes, and posing in Playboy (she was the first supermodel to do all of these).

Supermodels are, almost by definition, sex symbols. Supermodels of today are globally famous, and often parlay their celebrity into product endorsement deals and acting careers. Examples include Milla Jovovich, Elle Macpherson, Rebecca Romijn, and Tricia Helfer, as well as Twiggy before them.

According to Forbes magazine, as of 2004, the five highest-paid supermodels in the world were, in descending order, Milla Jovovich, Gisele Bündchen, Heidi Klum, Caroline Murphy, and Tyra Banks. VH1's recent episode of The Fabulous Life Of...Supermodels included Naomi Campbell as among the top 3 wealthiest supermodels in the world. [2].

Almost all supermodels have been female; however, more and more male models are also becoming famous. The position of the world's most famous and highest paid male supermodel is currently usually contested between Jamaican-American actor and model Tyson Beckford, and British-Somalian Supermodel and Actor Mason Smillie aswell as Dutch-Swedish model and bodybuilder Marcus Schenkenberg; and Mark Vanderloo

See also

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