I was a major fan of Cindy in the early 90s. As a fashion model, she might have had limited range, but as a commercial model, she was a powerhouse, and she sold the idea of being in control of her career – it wasn’t another sad story of a model being exploited by everyone around her and ending up on a scrapheap. As an impressionable teen, she never made me feel bad about myself.
But by the end of the 90s, I’d lost interest, and I’ve never seen anything in the decades since that’s truly recaptured her glory. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s age, because Gisele is also very commercial - and now in her mid-40s - and any time she turns up in a magazine, it reminds you of the meaning of “supermodel”.
My personal conspiracy theory was always that Cindy had cosmetic surgery on her eyes sometime in the late 90s that added a flinty look to her expression that’s never gone away. A minor procedure - but it was enough to alter something in her face, long before the natural process of ageing which affects us all in the end.