I watched the Apple TV+ series The Super Models and it looks at the rise of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington. Powerhouse women that turned the world upside down. I’ve always liked fashion, always enjoyed dressing in nice clothes, feeling pretty. These women made me fall in love with fashion and the world around it.
The series takes you down some of the dark roads these women had to travel to get to the top. It wasn’t all glitz and glamour. They each got to tell their own stories, in their own way. They had their struggles and instead of letting them defeat them, they found strength in themselves and in each other. I learned a lot about these ladies, things I didn’t know. They used their fame to help make the world a better place, a more beautiful one. But the most beautiful thing of all? Their friendship. Women who were there for each other and held each other up.
What it really got me thinking about though is if this world we are living in would accept these women. I have never nor will I ever be thin like they were. I’m of the big boned and thick variety and I’m ok with that. I really didn’t care that there wasn’t someone who looked like me on the runway. I wasn’t looking at them to see myself. I looked at them and I saw beauty. Where people might see waif-like figures and sunken cheekbones. I saw slender sensuality, structured faces, eyes that can make you see what they want you to see. I was obsessed with Linda. Those eyes, her nose, her amazing hair styles. I mean the way she photographed was a thing of beauty. She was out of this world, still is. The way Naomi would strut down that catwalk, gives me goosebumps.
I saw beauty in the clothes they were modeling. The way fabrics and silhouettes would fall on their bodies. They were wearing the clothes, not the other way around. I fell in love with the biggest fashion houses in the world. Gucci (when Tom Ford was at the helm), Prada, Miu Miu, Chanel, Missoni. I can only dream of owning something as exquisite as Chanel tweed suit or that Prada coat that paired chartreuse type of purple to make something so epic. Linda, Naomi, Christy, and Cindy graced the covers of my favorite magazines, and I couldn’t get enough of them. In fact, I used to collect my favorites. I would tear out the pages and save them in binders. I used to be able to tell you who was wearing what without fail.
Their beauty, their power extended the runaway and pages on magazines. They were at movie premieres, on the arms of rockstars, red carpets, but best of all, they brought fashion back to the Oscars. It was as if they brought fashion to life. It was everywhere. But for me the most pivotal moment of that era was George Michael’s “Freedom ‘90” video, directed by David Fincher, where these icons were the main attraction. As I’m typing this, I’m getting chills. George Michael did not want to appear in the video. It was about these women. It was about the power, the strength and owning it. That to me was sexy. It also didn’t hurt that George Michael was a genius and it’s an incredible song.
This series made me nostalgic for that time, these icons. They left me with a profound love of fashion and an industry that regret not being a part of in some way. I’ll tell you a little secret. There was a time that all I wanted to do was something in fashion, not as a designer, but on the fashion merchandising side. I even went to check out the program at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. The why’s and why nots are for another time. Maybe in my next life I’ll come back as a buyer for Neiman Marcus or head of Marketing for Carolina Herrera. But until then, I will watch as many red carpets and do as much window shopping as I can. I will find the beauty in the feel of a well-tailored suit and in the beauty of all the chaos.
Comments