The Return of the Supermodel?

[Bertrando3]

I see high fashion girls like Vittoria, Liu Wen, Joan Smalls and so on but the problem is the industry / TV media and so on, don't promote them as superstars therefore as much as they have a personality, they will never go as close to stardom as let's say Cindy Crawford / Heidi Klum / Tyra Banks and so on. I also blame Anna Wintour who went the celebrity road. The big public does NOT know who the new girls are:

- Anna Ewers
- Imaan
- Rianne Van Rompaey
- Xiao Wen Ju

We do know them because WE love fashion and we watch every runway, ad campaign, magazine cover and lookbooks and so on however the new crop of ''supermodels'' will never ever be as big as their predecessors because the media does not show an interest in them therefore the masses have no idea who they are. We won't see these girls on talk shows or being tv hosts or create their own brand of clothing or makeup and so on. They are just super successful high fashion models but we all know that in order to become a household name one needs to have more than just fashion stardom: one needs commercial appeal and world recognition via radio / movies / ambassadorship and/or being the wife/girlfriend of a super successful actor or musician.

Karlie, Coco, Karolina and a few others made that transition because they had business savvy AND it was another time too let's be real. It's not just personality or just looks or just luck, it's a combo of it all but for REAL bonafide supermodels, to truly enjoy the success and recognition of Gigi, Bella and Kendall, let me tell you: it will take a hell of an ally and a PR company to make any of these super high fashion girls the next Heidi Klum. Sad but true. I also truly wonder if the new girls actually want to become these supermodels turned supermoguls... I am not sure 5% of them want to be ''that''. What do you think?

 

[Dior Dream]

I have a question, are Nadja Auermann and Kristen McMenamy considered supers? Because they don't have the public recognition or commercial success to be called so. Not even Amber Valletta qualifies as one IMO.

About Gisele I'd say that she's the übermodel because she is this extremely rare mix of a high fashion chameleon and a commercial powerhouse (I am certain the only one so far). Her relationship with Leo definitely helped her with fame but she was loved by editors, casting directors, photographers and designers not only for her personality or professionalism, also her versatility. There were girls after her who had the curves and the edge like Angela Lindvall, Maryna Linchuk and Lara Stone but they were almost one trick ponies, didn't have the range and the emotion. Now she has had a signature look for several years but she does that one look with more confidence and class than most others.

 

[FashionMuseDior]

I see high fashion girls like Vittoria, Liu Wen, Joan Smalls and so on but the problem is the industry / TV media and so on, don't promote them as superstars therefore as much as they have a personality, they will never go as close to stardom as let's say Cindy Crawford / Heidi Klum / Tyra Banks and so on. I also blame Anna Wintour who went the celebrity road. The big public does NOT know who the new girls are:

- Anna Ewers
- Imaan
- Rianne Van Rompaey
- Xiao Wen Ju

We do know them because WE love fashion and we watch every runway, ad campaign, magazine cover and lookbooks and so on however the new crop of ''supermodels'' will never ever be as big as their predecessors because the media does not show an interest in them therefore the masses have no idea who they are. We won't see these girls on talk shows or being tv hosts or create their own brand of clothing or makeup and so on. They are just super successful high fashion models but we all know that in order to become a household name one needs to have more than just fashion stardom: one needs commercial appeal and world recognition via radio / movies / ambassadorship and/or being the wife/girlfriend of a super successful actor or musician.

Karlie, Coco, Karolina and a few others made that transition because they had business savvy AND it was another time too let's be real. It's not just personality or just looks or just luck, it's a combo of it all but for REAL bonafide supermodels, to truly enjoy the success and recognition of Gigi, Bella and Kendall, let me tell you: it will take a hell of an ally and a PR company to make any of these super high fashion girls the next Heidi Klum. Sad but true. I also truly wonder if the new girls actually want to become these supermodels turned supermoguls... I am not sure 5% of them want to be ''that''. What do you think?

Maybe they need a reality show...a successful one at that.

 

[fashiont914]

Having seen some interviews with the top models right now... Can you blame the public? For one, they definitely do not have the personality of a Tyra, Heidi, Gisele, or the charm of a Miranda Kerr or the well-spoken training of a Liu wen. Second, who wants to listen to girls with zero life experience or camera potential. I don't blame TV shows and the media in the time of social media where random talented people are becoming stars on a daily basis. We need to stop with the excuse making or this industry will slowly bleeed to nothing.

We all dream about another Kate moss but there is still only one Kate moss. A model who transcends fashion without anyone knowing what her voice sounds like.

I see high fashion girls like Vittoria, Liu Wen, Joan Smalls and so on but the problem is the industry / TV media and so on, don't promote them as superstars therefore as much as they have a personality, they will never go as close to stardom as let's say Cindy Crawford / Heidi Klum / Tyra Banks and so on. I also blame Anna Wintour who went the celebrity road. The big public does NOT know who the new girls are:

- Anna Ewers
- Imaan
- Rianne Van Rompaey
- Xiao Wen Ju

We do know them because WE love fashion and we watch every runway, ad campaign, magazine cover and lookbooks and so on however the new crop of ''supermodels'' will never ever be as big as their predecessors because the media does not show an interest in them therefore the masses have no idea who they are. We won't see these girls on talk shows or being tv hosts or create their own brand of clothing or makeup and so on. They are just super successful high fashion models but we all know that in order to become a household name one needs to have more than just fashion stardom: one needs commercial appeal and world recognition via radio / movies / ambassadorship and/or being the wife/girlfriend of a super successful actor or musician.

Karlie, Coco, Karolina and a few others made that transition because they had business savvy AND it was another time too let's be real. It's not just personality or just looks or just luck, it's a combo of it all but for REAL bonafide supermodels, to truly enjoy the success and recognition of Gigi, Bella and Kendall, let me tell you: it will take a hell of an ally and a PR company to make any of these super high fashion girls the next Heidi Klum. Sad but true. I also truly wonder if the new girls actually want to become these supermodels turned supermoguls... I am not sure 5% of them want to be ''that''. What do you think?

 

[Bugsy]

What created Supermodels - The Sports illustratrated Swimsuit Issue. The Victoria Secret Fashion Show. Vogue Covers. Their perfection.
1. No one cares who is on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue anymore. They've turned it into a political correct diversity issue and it sucks. Doesn't help make a model anymore.
2. There is no more Victoria Secret Fashion Show.
3 There are too many Vogue Covers. Not exclusive enough at all anymore.The models on the covers just don't seem that special.
4. The top models like Gigi, Bella, Kendal, Haley, Kaia, Georgia,,,, aren't really that pretty. They only made it because of their connections and Instagram followers. They are fake models. People understand why these girls made it.

 

[Urban Stylin]

Having seen some interviews with the top models right now... Can you blame the public? For one, they definitely do not have the personality of a Tyra, Heidi, Gisele, or the charm of a Miranda Kerr or the well-spoken training of a Liu wen. Second, who wants to listen to girls with zero life experience or camera potential. I don't blame TV shows and the media in the time of social media where random talented people are becoming stars on a daily basis. We need to stop with the excuse making or this industry will slowly bleeed to nothing.

We all dream about another Kate moss but there is still only one Kate moss. A model who transcends fashion without anyone knowing what her voice sounds like.

Exactly, thats why insta and Nepo models have become the new supermodels because they have the personalities, the money and fame. They may not be the best models out there but when it comes to the non fashion industry interested public they are the Linda's and Cindy's of this era. The likes of Mayowa, Imaan and Luna Bijl among others may emote what supers did on the runway and in print but in real life they cant capture the public like Kate or Naomi did in their prime.

 

[Urban Stylin]

I have a question, are Nadja Auermann and Kristen McMenamy considered supers? Because they don't have the public recognition or commercial success to be called so. Not even Amber Valletta qualifies as one IMO.

About Gisele I'd say that she's the übermodel because she is this extremely rare mix of a high fashion chameleon and a commercial powerhouse (I am certain the only one so far). Her relationship with Leo definitely helped her with fame but she was loved by editors, casting directors, photographers and designers not only for her personality or professionalism, also her versatility. There were girls after her who had the curves and the edge like Angela Lindvall, Maryna Linchuk and Lara Stone but they were almost one trick ponies, didn't have the range and the emotion. Now she has had a signature look for several years but she does that one look with more confidence and class than most others.

I dont know if I would consider Gisele as a Chameleon, she seems more like the Cindy type of supermodel not too much high fashion range but incredibly good with what she has with lots of confidence, commercial and sex appeal. The likes of Amber, Kristen and Nadja seem more like industry supermodels though Amber has also gone mainstream with major Hollywood roles.

 

[MagFan]

Bundchen a chameleon? hahaha She was not able to even change her walk from show to show. VS, NG's Balenciaga, Dolce and Gabbana or costumey Dior, all were same to her

She is same chameleon as Kendal when Vogue called her so and compared to Evangelista

 

[keviners]

I still think Sasha Pivovarova is a very amazing model! Her Meisel images are always consistent!

 

[Drusilla_]

I don't think we're ever going to get another 'supermodel' as we understood them, ones who became so famous that even the cashier at the newsagent knew them by name based solely or mostly off their modelling work, i.e. they literally became celebrities in their own right because their work was that sensational.

The social media girls of the last 7-8 years are the "supermodels" for Gen Z but their modelling careers are allll possible only because of celebrity connections, not the other way around eg Hailey Bieber's career taking off after her marriage to a pop superstar. And of course social media fame, it's well known that follower count is a factor in even signing new models now, forget picking up work for them - it's literally a stat on most agency websites. The actual editorial photography/runway/campaign work is mostly indifferent at best, but that doesn't matter since what brands want is attention and hiring the ig girls gets it, just as hiring celebs used to get it earlier. The industry itself is partially to blame here, in the 00s they devalued models so much that even popular ones were treated as disposable the minute they hit age 23 and/or gained an inch around the hips, hired younger and younger, thinner and thinner, blander no-personality models every season as backlash against the supermodels, and then found that that wasn't really working as an advertising strategy (notably the modelling greats we do remember from the 00s were the ones who managed to be charismatic and expressive despite that) - cue the rise of social media and then finding attention was important, and so the models they get are ones who can get attention (likes) through being celebrities, not ones who are good at what we think of as modelling work. We're not going to see another Gisele or Kate out of this lot for sure. And maybe never.

 

[Bertrando3]

What created Supermodels - The Sports illustratrated Swimsuit Issue. The Victoria Secret Fashion Show. Vogue Covers. Their perfection.
1. No one cares who is on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue anymore. They've turned it into a political correct diversity issue and it sucks. Doesn't help make a model anymore.
2. There is no more Victoria Secret Fashion Show.
3 There are too many Vogue Covers. Not exclusive enough at all anymore.The models on the covers just don't seem that special.
4. The top models like Gigi, Bella, Kendal, Haley, Kaia, Georgia,,,, aren't really that pretty. They only made it because of their connections and Instagram followers. They are fake models. People understand why these girls made it.

YES YES YESSS and that's why we have the ''models'' we have today. Sorry can't call them Supermodels. They are not. Not by our standards.

 

[Scotty]

I also think it helped that only a handful of models got to do practically every show in fashion weeks, at least the ones that mattered - Paris & Milan.

It seems like every show has specific models for it nowadays, plus the "diversity" models and nepos.

 

[Drusilla_]

It's one thing for the standards to be entirely too rigid and unreasonable, as they were in the 00s when designers would drop even top models like hot potatoes for gaining a hip circumference of 35 inches or turning 23 years old, whichever came sooner... and entirely another to have no standards at all besides insta follower count. Now the hyped girls are the ones who are either celebrity-adjacent to begin with (through birth/marriage/reality tv) or ones who aren't but who tick the right boxes and who fashion can hold up as an example of "making ___ feel "seen"." And in the vast majority of cases, neither will get big for their actual work, just for whatever celebrity they manage to generate in their time in the spotlight.

I've literally seen Very Online People complaining because, despite checking off every identity box, "only attractive people get to be models", like..... the very word "model" implies an ideal, and ideal is not the same as "average". The 'supermodels' of today work best on pap walks, not so much on runways or in photography.

 

[OriginalYou]

It's a saturated market, dear. With the raise of social media, anyone can become a "model" now and back then there was just a small lake of maybe a few thousand women who could make it to the audition and professional photographers who needed very expensive cameras. Now you have to compete in the ocean with millions maybe billions of other women from all around the world all armed with cameras built right into their phones.

 

[Bugsy]

Social media has changed things. Girls are famous or have famous connections and have lots of followers on social media and then they become fake supermodels. This is the era of the fake supermodels - Kendal, Gigi, Bella, Kiai, Georgia, Lila... do people realize how many girls are on top because of their connections?

 

[jeremydante]

Bella Hadid had such a strong show season, and with her current campaign bookings - she's definitely upholding the New Supers title for the new class of girls. Which is interesting. Social media, I agree, has definitely changed the game, but everything needs to be balanced for a girl to truly penetrate the culture as a Super to be interchangeable for commercial and high end markets.

 

[jeremydante]

Social media has changed things. Girls are famous or have famous connections and have lots of followers on social media and then they become fake supermodels. This is the era of the fake supermodels - Kendal, Gigi, Bella, Kiai, Georgia, Lila... do people realize how many girls are on top because of their connections?

Totally agree. It's a social game now more than ever. You've gotta know how to tap into every area.

 

[Drusilla_]

Bella Hadid had such a strong show season, and with her current campaign bookings - she's definitely upholding the New Supers title for the new class of girls. Which is interesting. Social media, I agree, has definitely changed the game, but everything needs to be balanced for a girl to truly penetrate the culture as a Super to be interchangeable for commercial and high end markets.

She walked 23 shows for S/S 2023. An in-demand model fifteen years ago would easily do double or even triple that, but it's news when any nepo model shows commitment to the less-glamorous work of modelling/actually walking shows, because most of them don't bother, they just want to cachet of being high fashion models and they can easily get that without walking more than a single digit number of shows per season (or not walking at all - such is the desperation to capture the attention economy). The New Supers get the attention, but work-wise, they'll never match the OGs and this is part of why - they simply don't have to do that many shows, which is why it's noteworthy when one of them does.

 

[Bugsy]

Bella Hadid or the rest of connected models can never really be super models. They don’t get work because of their beauty.

 

[Drusilla_]

^ they're what passes for a super nowadays - yeah they got big because of their connections and being pushed as celebrities, it's not their modelling work that made them huge in the first place like it did for Gisele, Cindy, Kate, Naomi, Christy, Linda etc. But they're famous and they are models, that's all it takes.