Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington hands down were the supermodels that I adored in the 80s and 90s. Kate Moss is waifishly cute. Naomi Campbell has the body and the walk. But Linda and Christy could look super modern on one page, and elegantly retro glam on the next.
This is Linda Evangelista on the cover of Harpar's Bazaar back in September 1992. It was under the reign when Liz Tilberis was the Editor-In-Chief and the magazine had some of the most stylish covers. Definitely my all time #1 favorite fashion magazine issue that I've saved in my collection.
Oddly enough, I was lucky enough that I've seen both these ladies in person. A few years ago, fresh off a plane in NY, I decided to do a little shopping before I had to meet a co-worker who took a later flight. It was around 4:30pm and I was walking towards 5th avenue. I see this woman turn the corner walking towards me. So much so that I have to move over a bit in my walking path. It was Linda and she was engaged in an intense conversation with a male friend about something. Could it have been about last nights party? Who knows. I could hear her voice and catch some words. At that time it was 2002 and she wasn't working so much. I didn't recognize her at first, she looked pretty normal with short bobbed hair and she was wearing a sun dress with sandals. Man was she tall. I noticed her eyes and recognized her voice which I heard from the movie "Unzipped". I turned around and was in awe and saw the girl behind me turn around and we both nodded in agreement, "yes we just both saw Linda!" I think guys around us thought we must have been insane. They must be used to it in NY.
This is the other coveted magazine I have. The October 1992 Harper's Bazaar with Christy Turlington. I love the drawn eyebrows and beret that harks back to Bonnie and Clyde.
I saw Christy up close when I was at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003. It was in the news that she had broken off her engagement to director/actor Edward Burns but there she was at the snowboarding/ski rental area with him (and his male friend.) "Oh they must be back together! That's cool I've got the scoop!" I thought. My friend Robin and I were taking snowboarding lessons that day while the rest of our friends who were already experienced took to the Park City, Utah slopes already. Let me tell you. The woman looks good in ski pants. You know that feeling when you put those pants on over your thermals or whatnot, and you think to yourself "Oh its ok that I look bulky, it's the ski pants." Just my luck I'm standing next to Christy Turlington where you humbly realize "Crap, she looks skinny and tall in ski pants!!!!" No wonder she's a supermodel.
We waited outside by the wooden fence for our class and it turned out Christy was a newbie too. Ed, his friend, and Christy walked toward us. Ed holding a coffee in hand. (He looked really good too in person, reall tall as well. They are like cute tall couple.) Ed gave her a kiss and left her to wait with the rest of us. Could she be in our class??? Robin and I were way too excited. A few minutes later she was greeted by her personal instructor and I thought, "Oh yeeessss of course she has a personal instructor!" She's not gonna be in a class with us!What I didn't think of was that the beginner ski/snowboard area wasn't that big and that for the rest of the afternoon I'd be snowboarding with Christy. We'd watch Christy fall, say "ohhh poor Christy" and have to manuver around her. I'd fall and she'd have to move around me. She was laughing. I was laughing. And now we are best friends. Ok, we're not. She left that afternoon to the arms of Ed Burns and I just got really bad bruises all over me. But hey that's a pretty good first time snowboarding story!
Christie is here in Valentino in '92 in the same dress Julia Roberts won her Oscar in years later. Linda on the cover again in February '94, looking quite fresh faced.
Lastly, my favorite video is George Michael's "Freedom" for all the models that are in it, especially Linda and Christy. It was shot just brilliantly. I don't think there will be any other era like the 80s where the supermodels just reigned and really were SUPERmodels. I will still buy a magazine with either of these 2 of the cover.
Magazine covers today celebrate celebrity, not so much fashion -- Catherine Zeta Jones, Reese Witherspoon, and Charlize Theron are all on the covers of the big fashion magazines this month. Personally, I'd like to see more fashion! Beautiful clothes on models shot artistically by a fashion photographer. Just like those bubble girls floating down the Seine by Melvin Sokolsky. Unfortunately, fashion magazines lately lack artistic sense turning instead into movie promos and I already subscribe to US magazine.
