Which of Today's Models Have the Most Lasting Power?

[GivenchyHomme]

At the rate that Daphne is excelling I could definitely see her being the next big thing even if it's just hype that keeps her afloat. Another potential star could be Joan Smalls , her face is instantly recognizable and her personality shines in her photographs in a way that a lot of models simply cannot emote.

 

[TheChosen1]

One huge factor that plays an important role in determining longevity of a models is the Huge Names from the industry that hold them for a very long time. E. g. Supermodels + Gianni Versace, Kate Moss + CK, Mariacarla + Givenchy, Freja + Chanel etc.

 

[Shelton123]

I'd say Lara, Freja, and Karlie, in terms of the girls that are really hot right now and will be forever. I don't like Freja or Karlie, actually, but a lot of people, including designers and editors, are obviously all over them. In terms of the medium level girls, Liu, Joan, and Constance (the Estee girls) are probably going to be around for a while. I also see Arizona and Fei Fei sticking around. The only newcomer I think will definitely stay around is Saskia (been modelling since she was 16 but just hit it big now). There are lots of others who are bigger now but I think Saskia really has something special, and that's the age. She's so sophisticated but still fresh.

I think Jac is going to get the Anna J treatment. Anna J is just about to fizzle I think, she gets an okay campaign once in a while but nothing that is ever going to match what she got S/S 09 and F/W 09. Maybe that's just wishful thinking since I don't like Jac very much.

 

[stamonopkaward]

I think Stam has already proven that she has lasting power. Meisel took her under his wing at 2002 and started walking shows at S/S 2003. She's been in the industry for 8 years!

 

[moss trey]

I'm really rooting for Aymeline Valade to have some staying power. She has such a strange power to her that reminds me a bit of the 90s supermodels. Plus she seems super intelligent and isn't 16 which is always a plus in my opinion.

 

[Sophie02]

Without a doubt, we'll see Karlie Kloss for a while.

 

[valliaddict]

Girls with staying power

Joan Smalls- She has huge support from designers, Mert n Marcus, Vogue & EL. She also brings the nineties supermodel appeal that alot of us love.
Liu Wen- The face of China. Since China's market is rapidly increasing, I doubt Liu will fall off.
Aymeline Vilade- Even though she's semi-new, she models like the icons already.
Daphne Groenfeld- I'm not a huge fan, but she does have a memorable face for fashion.
Karmen Pedaru- Her career has progressed at a slower rate than usual, but she is at at the top, and I don't see it changing for a while.
Jac- Many may disagree, but I think she will fall off the fashion seen for a while and just do beauty, then she will return when her look is back in demand. She has a very classic face that fits all eras of modelling.

Girls who I think will fall off
Lindsey Wixson- Unlike Daphne, her look is a little more animated. Designers will become bored soon.
Arizona Muse- To last long in this industry, you have to have talent as a model. Arizona does not.
Jourdan Dunn- The only huge campigns she has done after working for a while have been Burberry & YSL. I don't think they will be loyal to her much longer. I think she may end up being just a runway girl, like Vlada. I know I am about to get crucified, but its just my opinion.

 

[modelista]

Girls with staying power

Joan Smalls- She has huge support from designers, Mert n Marcus, Vogue & EL. She also brings the nineties supermodel appeal that alot of us love.
Liu Wen- The face of China. Since China's market is rapidly increasing, I doubt Liu will fall off.
Aymeline Vilade- Even though she's semi-new, she models like the icons already.
Daphne Groenfeld- I'm not a huge fan, but she does have a memorable face for fashion.
Karmen Pedaru- Her career has progressed at a slower rate than usual, but she is at at the top, and I don't see it changing for a while.
Jac- Many may disagree, but I think she will fall off the fashion seen for a while and just do beauty, then she will return when her look is back in demand. She has a very classic face that fits all eras of modelling.

Girls who I think will fall off
Lindsey Wixson- Unlike Daphne, her look is a little more animated. Designers will become bored soon.
Arizona Muse- To last long in this industry, you have to have talent as a model. Arizona does not.
Jourdan Dunn- The only huge campigns she has done after working for a while have been Burberry & YSL. I don't think they will be loyal to her much longer. I think she may end up being just a runway girl, like Vlada. I know I am about to get crucified, but its just my opinion.

i agree with almost every one you listed except i would've switched around Ayemile & Lindsey.

as for Jourdan Dunn, when i first read what u wrote, i did wanna crucify you for that one lol. thb, it was down to me hunting you down & or writing a strongly worded & exceptionally offensive & nasty letter to you lol i was like, "how DARE u!! Jourdan's PERFECT, she's AMAZING, she's STUNNING!! but after some time to calm down & think objectively, i've come to think you're probably right.

i loooove Jourdan but she really is limited as a model. you go to her if for elegance or if you want the sweet, pretty, simple, safe, girl next door look. it's like her trademark & to obtain longevity she has to think outside the box & try to pull off super sexy vixen / vamp looks, or fierce, or edgy, or cool, or provocative etc. it'd be AMAZING to see her think outside of the box & just go crazy on a shoot & play more with her angels.. maybe have Karlie teach her a thing or two lol cuz she's still not comfortable in her own skin.

imo if she didn't take 2yrs off & had focused on modeling, she'd be farther along now than she is. she's kinda operating on the same level as Melodie Monrose whereas she SHOULD be on Joan Smalls level
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[valliaddict]

^^^thanks for being impartial . IDK, I think there is still hope for Jourdan scoring a longterm Rimmel contract, though. I may be wrong & maybe Miucca or Karl will come to the realization that she is a Prada or Chanel girl. Who knows, the fashion industry is accepting girls of color much more than they used to.

 

[modelista]

^Also, i would looooove to see Jourdan change up her look once in a while, show her versatility. i mean, she's young & fresh which makes it the best time to go all Linda Evangelista/Rihanna-esq & show designers she's a chameleon & not so one note

seriously, i'd love to see her going from super long & sleek Naomi Campbell hair, to super short pixish style to super thick & curly to bangs & a asymetrical bob to different colors

i guarantee designers & industry people would be paying a heck of a lot more attention, she'd be booking & turning down jobs left & right lol & her longevity wouldn't be a question
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[Urban Stylin]

I think Stam has already proven that she has lasting power. Meisel took her under his wing at 2002 and started walking shows at S/S 2003. She's been in the industry for 8 years!

I agree, Stam is at the level of a supermodel so her having staying power is no debate. Also Vlada and Lily D were mentiioned to have dropped off but i think the fact that they have been around all this time and done alot of the most prestigious work a model could ever do and are still working shows that they are still here to stay.
Among the new girls I can see Karlie Kloss really having a major career, she is loved by all generations and seems to be really good at what she does. She is also well known among fashion insiders and also people that dont know much about fashion. Her signature walk is also quite popular and leaves a lasting impression

 

[whippie]

Yes, Karlie can definatly be the next Gisele in terms of sucess.

 

[Ochi Chernye]

I'm not a big Karlie fan, but I do have to admit she managed to stay around longer than expected. If she focuses solely on modeling for the next five years, I think she could really gain icon status. I don't know how probable that is though, considering I've read she plans on attending medical school. I still think that would be commendable though. Not many models actually go through with the plans they set aside for themselves, especially when it comes to education.

 

[whippie]

ETA: Just read a few pages back and I have to disagree with eveyone who thinks the "mature" girls who only hit it big in their 20s+ like Ameyline (no idea how to spell that), Saskia, Arizonia (are there any others?) will have lasting power. On the contrary to most of you I think their age hinders their ability to have lasting power. I know this sounds awful, but realistically models have only a short time for a career... few are prominent once over their 30s. Saskia et al have missed like 5 or 6 years that the girls who start at 15, 16, have to establish themselves as well known. If Saskia stops when she is 30 (or is she already 30? Ok, so just say 8 years older than she is now) and Jac stops when she is 30... Jac's career was the longer one. And youthfullness is everything in this industry, so I think the younger starters are the ones who will do better as they have a longer peroid of "youthfullness"... like 17 - 27 compared to 28 - 34. And I think a longer career, even with lessening campaigns towards the end as it fizzles out (as is the way with basically every model ever), is a bigger marker of staying power than a shorter one. All the models we have seen and are confirmed to have lasting power - Jessica Stam, Kate Moss, Carmen Kass, Natalia Vodianova, Coco Rocha, Daria Werbowy all starter when they were very young. I cannot think of a model who started, older then these, and is still around now.

To summarise (as that is a lot to read Older girls are already halfway through their shelf life, where as the "prepubescent teens" have agesss

 

[MulletProof]

^ Perhaps we should redefine the title of this thread because power is more associated with quality instead of quantity, what's the point of lasting if you're.. a filler? Take Tetyana Brazhnyk for instance (who started at 17), she walked shows nonstop during 7 years, occasionally landing significant gigs (Versace ad, cover of Russian Vogue), one's got to imagine a comeback and determine.. if anyone would care!, cause I don't really think she's left any sort of void, most of you probably don't even know who she is even though she was still walking until 3-4 years ago. She's an example of someone with a prolonged career, but power as a model? Hardly. On the opposite pole we have Amanda Moore, who started on the same season as Tetyana, was already in her early 20s and she still gets people talking when she makes appearances. And then there's Guinevere, who started off the previous year also in her 20s, has done a handful of shows but she's already on iconic status, with a specific line of work, editorials are almost built around her, she's not just inserted into them.

About more current names, Coco Rocha and Jessica Stam are still around and definitely favored by a couple of designers (one Marc and Miuccia while the other by.. Zac Posen) but they're completely irrelevant as models for me, not at all in the same category as Natalia or Daria (whose career- as well as Natalia's- officially took off at 20, they were certainly not walking 65 shows as teenagers), I don't think they will ever get to a point where if they take a two-year hiatus, they will come back opening Parisian shows or landing covers. At most they will open Betsey Johnson... or Zac Posen.

What makes a model influential for me is not how much she's able to endure or insist on doing the 4-capital marathon, but what she ultimately lands, her ability to reinvent herself and have something that makes you miss her when she's not working. So either there's a contradiction in the title or having a lasting career is extremely overvalued, or both.

 

[Ochi Chernye]

What makes a model influential for me is not how much she's able to endure or insist on doing the 4-capital marathon, but what she ultimately lands, her ability to reinvent herself and have something that makes you miss her when she's not working.

Yes, but I think how much a model manages to stay relevant also depends on the industry itself. For example, you mentioned Coco, a model who you kind of labeled as a filler model, b* Yes, I can acknowledge that Coco doesn't snab the same type of blue-chip work she used to before, but that's not because she stopped being a great model, *.

If you're going to bring out the "a model has to keep reinventing herself" excuse, then you also have to point out that the models who succeed in achieving lasting power are the models who adhere to the industry's criteria. There was an article published recently in the NY Times where James Scully talked about a model's relevance, and he made a great point.

I think lasting power depends on a number of factors, not just how blue-chip the work is or how much of a chameleon the model can be. It's also about how much the industry is willing to give that girl work, regardless of her "look". If you head over to the icons list on MDC, you will notice they all share one very common characteristic.

In all honesty, I think lasting power relies heavily on luck. The girls need to have someone in the industry willing to work with them, be it a designer or a casting agent. As long as they have support, they have the ability to thrive. If they don't, then it won't happen.

Here's the link to the article, in case anyone wants to read it.

 

[MulletProof]

Ochi, I had to edit your comment, please let's no go explicitly on that, I know that allegedly determined the direction of Coco's career, but this thread's still subjected to a policy.

To respond on your point, I know this won't be SC-friendly but I have never bought the idea that Coco's career decreased exclusively for that, surely it influenced the way her work decayed but she was a one-mood model, pretty much as Milagros Schmoll (whom I adore and who works at Coco's rate these days), Coco actually had luck in getting to the top and representing a time where all these ghost-like faces (Heather Bratton, Marta, etc) were getting huge, but that mood actually turned out to be a short-lasted one, she exploited the best she could, but two years later what was relevant about her anymore?. You're right in that it's luck, but I think you also have to be able to find a way to go through the fickleness and adapt yourself, there are models that had a very specific look and no one believed in them branching out, like Hannelore, but they still did it.. of course other factors come into play (connections, opportunities, new publications, you name it), but versatility is important.

Also, I'm not a Coco fanatic or a "hater" as people* like to call it in this area, but you also have to consider the way a model views herself, judging by her blog and how she carries herself, I have a feeling Coco views herself as more important and established than she actually is, she probably doesn't even see herself as having ever been a part of any trend. What she says, blogs about or speaks out about is great information, but hardly influences my opinion of her career. Clearly most people that cast models go for faces/bodies, but moods and tendencies should not be underestimated.

 

[Ochi Chernye]

^ I'm sorry. I tried to mention the point without going too much into detail, but I understand why you edited it.

In terms of versatility, I do think you're right. Models should be able to adapt to different trends, no matter how specific their looks may be. As established as a model should be, she should always strive to do something bigger, something different to help her separate herself from the pack. Icons are icons for that reason.

 

[t-rex]

I was thinking of making a thread like this. There's a lot of new/newish models to discuss!

I think Sam Rollinson has incredible potential to stay around decades, like Stella Tennant. I compare the two because I think Sam has tapped into that Stella role, the fun cool British girl who is at home clomping around the countryside as well as the London streets. I think people in the business would agree in their similarities, and that's why Sam is getting so much work that is reminiscent of Stella's.

 

[StoneSkipper]

In my opinion, Malaika Firth will surely be considered as one of the top models of the 2010's. I'm not sure who'll follow... Maybe Julia Nobis or Katlin Aas? Fei Fei Sun? Cara Delevingne will most likely become a top actress, and I doubt Kendall Jenner has staying power to become a top.