What The Original Supermodels Look Like Today

Long before Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Bella Hadid became household names, there were the original supermodels. Though the word wasn't invented in the '90s, "supermodel" will forever be linked to that decade, thanks to catwalk stompers like the Big Five, aka Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Claudia Schiffer. This quintet not only ruled the runways and dominated magazine covers, but were featured in the legendary music video for George Michael's smash hit "Freedom! '90." 

In a 2020 chat with Mr Feelgood, Crawford acknowledged that she has a bit of a love-hate relationship with the word "supermodel." "At first I found it silly — as if we wore capes and changed in phone-booths (which I have done by the way), but now the term is used so frequently that I've gotten used to it," she said. In the same interview, Campbell shared that while she didn't really get it at first, the label doesn't bother her anymore. "I feel now, as I've gotten older, that we have to embrace it and be grateful for it, and to use that as a platform for doing what we do individually as we all do different things in the world," she said.

Of course, these five were not the only models who helped define the era. And if there's one thing all of the original supermodels have in common, it's that they continue to stun year after year. Here's what the supermodels who rocked the '80s and '90s look like now.

Models come and go, but if there's one supermodel who has made a name for herself across generations, it's Cindy Crawford. Beginning with her breakout Vogue cover in 1986, Crawford has done it all in her decades-long career. In addition to appearing in a handful of major music videos, she graced the cover of huge magazines and modeled for a high-end designers and more accessible brands alike. Oh, and there was, of course, the Pepsi ad that all but broke the Super Bowl in 1992. 

In 2004, Crawford launched a skincare brand called Meaningful Beauty and as of this writing, it is still going strong. As she told Harper's Bazaar in 2025, "When I started Meaningful Beauty, I thought it was maybe a five-year project, and now here we are, celebrating 20 years. I would definitely say it's been a home run." What's more, she's watched her two children, Kaia Gerber and Presley Gerber, pave their own paths in the modeling industry. "It's been really fun for me to see my kids get their feet wet in the fabulous world of fashion," Crawford shared with Vanity Fair in 2017.

In a 2013 chat with Interview, Linda Evangelista shared that when she was first getting started in the modeling world in the '80s, her agents warned her that her career probably wouldn't last more than a few years. Oh, how she proved them wrong: Evangelista became one of the most well-known, sought-after models in history, to the point that she famously declared she wouldn't "get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day." She not only continued to model after the '90s drew to a close, but in 2016, she became the creative director for a skincare brand called Erasa.

In 2021, Evangelista made headlines thanks to a plastic surgery controversy. The model hit CoolSculpting's parent company with a lawsuit, alleging on Instagram that the procedure left her "brutally disfigured." The legal battle was settled the following year. In a 2025 interview with Harper's Bazaar, Evangelista shared that she still struggles with the lasting effects of the procedure. "I have to go through therapy to like what I see when I look in the mirror, and I still don't look in the mirror," she said.

First discovered in her teen years, supermodel Christy Turlington went on to work with huge names like Vogue, Calvin Klein, and Maybelline. Despite her success, she left the modeling world in 1994 to pursue her education. In a 2013 conversation with Interview, she shared that she had a complicated relationship with her modeling career. "For a long time I couldn't think about any of that period as positive at all. It all felt so exploitative to me at the peak of it," she said. "I am finally able to look back and see the good stuff over the rest, but it has taken time and distance. We had a lot of fun throughout those years. Now I can see there has been a positive impact on the industry."

In 2003, she married actor Edward Burns, with whom she has two kids. She also started Every Mother Counts, a nonprofit that provides maternal health to women across the world. And yes, she's still modeling. In 2024, she and her daughter hit the runway at NY Fashion Week for Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025.

In the late '80s, fashion world superstar Naomi Campbell became the first Black model to appear on the cover of French Vogue. "I didn't like the cover much, but when the August 1988 issue came out, it made a huge impact: finally, a black model on the cover of French Vogue," she wrote in The Guardian. "I was glad I only found out afterwards that I was making history. Otherwise, I would have felt far too much pressure."

On top of her legendary modeling career, Campbell has also acted in a number of movies and TV shows, appeared in a long list of music videos, and served as the executive producer for the reality show "The Face." Though a number of her contemporaries have stepped away from modeling, Campbell's still dominating runways and photo shoots to this day. And she shows no signs of slowing down. As she told Grazia in 2024, "I'm still very passionate about the work that I do, and I care about the work that I do, and I want to do it. If I'm in, I'm all in."

In 1994, Wonderbra featured Eva Herzigová in an ad campaign that not only got tongues wagging, but made her a household name. And then, after a noted fashion photographer gave her a totally new look, her career grew even more. "When I started, I was categorized as a pin-up, commercial kind of girl," she told Elle in 2010. "Then, I did this photo shoot with Mario Testino where he gave me dark hair and, suddenly, I felt completely different and was perceived differently, too."

Herzigová has modeled for huge names like Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated, and walked the runways for brands like Prada and Louis Vuitton. To this day, she still models for high-end names, including Givenchy and Dior. She has also taken on the role of editor-at-large for Vogue Czechoslovakia. In 2024, she made her triumphant return to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Supermodel Helena Christensen's breakout moment is undoubtedly her sultry performance in Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" music video. From there, she went on to model for a seemingly endless list of major brands, including Versace, Revlon, and Prada. She also was one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels.  

In 1999, Christensen welcomed a son with "The Walking Dead" actor Norman Reedus and co-founded Nylon magazine. While she continues to strut on catwalks from time to time, she's found success behind the camera. "When I work as a photographer, I get so excited and exhilarated I forget to breathe," she once told Porter (via The Standard). "I don't ever once talk about stopping for lunch as a photographer, but as a model I want to stop for lunch like an hour into the shoot." In a 2024 interview with Harper's Bazaar, she noted that photography only continues to expand her horizons. "In being constantly surrounded by different definitions and expressions of beauty, I've developed a deeper understanding and appreciation of its diversity," she said. "This exposure has allowed me to see beauty beyond the conventional standards and appreciate its many forms."

Signed to Agency Models at age 18, Yasmin Le Bon quickly became one of the highest-paid models of the '80s. When she was 21, she married Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon. The couple went on to welcome three daughters. The same year she tied the knot with Simon, she dazzled on the very first cover of Elle UK. Looking back on the photoshoot, hairstylist Sam McKnight said, "Yasmin had the best smile in the business, and she still does."

Yasmin's modeling career is still going strong: In 2025, she dazzled audiences when she hit the catwalk at Milan Fashion Week for Fendi. As she quipped to The Telegraph in 2024, "The phone was still ringing so why should we go away because somebody had made up some rule you can't do this after a certain age?" 

Discovered at age 17 and chosen by Karl Lagerfeld himself to be a Chanel model, Claudia Schiffer has worked with some of the greatest in the fashion world, including Richard Avedon, Gianni Versace, and Mario Testino. In addition to being the face of Chanel, she also was the star of the legendary Guess ad campaign that began running in 1989. Her career only continued to grow from there. "I remember flying around the US to every major city for signings," Schiffer told Vogue Australia in 2021, "appearing on Jay Leno, Oprah, and David Letterman." 

Schiffer was a staple of runways, advertisements, and magazine covers all throughout the '90s, and that same decade she began dabbling in acting. She's appeared in films like "Richie Rich," "Zoolander," and "Love Actually." In 2002, she married director Matthew Vaughn with whom she has three kids. Every few years, she'll dust off her modeling shoes and return to the catwalk: In 2017 and 2023, she walked for Versace.

Sure, most supermodels have bodies the rest of us would kill for. But Elle Macpherson's was so fabulous that in 1989, Time magazine literally nicknamed her "The Body." She's been on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue a whopping five times — and to this day, that's still the record. Of course, that isn't the only magazine she's posed for. Throughout her career, she's appeared in major publications like Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, and Maxim; the list of brands she's modeled for in ads and on runways is even longer. She took on acting roles and presenter gigs, hosting reality shows like "Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model" and "Fashion Star." 

In 2024, Macpherson released a memoir. In "Elle," she writes about her career, struggles with addiction, and her cancer journey. The model was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, and years later shared with the public that she chose holistic treatment over chemotherapy. This revelation sparked a lot of controversy. "People thought
I was crazy but I knew I had to make
a choice that truly resonated with
me," she told The Australian Women's Weekly. "To me, that meant addressing emotional as well as physical factors associated with breast cancer."

An original Victoria's Secret model, Vogue cover girl, and former girlfriend of Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose (a relationship she told Harper's Bazaar was "clearly a mistake"), Stephanie Seymour was a force to be reckoned with in the '80s and '90s. 

In 2016, when Vanity Fair asked Seymour if she thinks the younger generation of models are supermodels, she suggested that the title is obsolete. "They are completely different than we were," she began. "Supermodels are sort of the thing of the past. ... [Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid] are beautiful girls, and I support all of them, but they need their own title." She then went on to joke that they should be called the "B**ches of the moment!"

Harry Brant, one of Seymour's four children, died in 2021 from an accidental overdose. Two years later, she spoke to The Wall Street Journal about the loss of her son. For the story, she posed in one of Brant's designer suits. "I packed up these huge trunks with all his things, and I have this idea that I want to keep photographing his clothes because I think he would love it," she said.

First discovered at the age of 17, Tatjana Patitz quickly made a name for herself in the modeling world. But even though she was one of the highly sought-after original five supermodels photographed for British Vogue in the early '90s, she didn't always feel like she belonged in that world. "There were glamorous moments, but it was exhausting. ... I always thought that wasn't who I was; it was what I did," she told The Guardian in 2009. 

While she continued to work throughout the '90s, 2000s, and 2010s, Patitz made an effort to create a relatively quiet life away from the spotlight for her son. As she said in the aforementioned interview, "For the past five years I have been very active in my son's life. I didn't want to hand him over to a nanny. That's the choice I made. We all have different priorities and that was mine." Sadly, on January 11, 2023, Patitz died of breast cancer at the age of 56.

Long before the Big Five were lip-syncing and posing in George Michael's "Freedom! '90" music video, Janice Dickinson was an established model. So established, in fact, she's famously claimed that she was the very first supermodel. While that statement is certainly up for debate, her career sure isn't. Throughout the '70s and '80s, she was featured in Vogue, Playboy, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar. She also posed for brands like Calvin Klein and walked the runway for designers like Versace. 

Now, if you're a reality TV watcher, then you definitely know her as the outspoken "America's Next Top Model" judge or "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew" cast member. In 2016, Dickinson revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer. "It's still quite shocking," she told the Daily Mail. "But I am not gonna let that define me, the fear." She underwent two lumpectomies and radiation, and a few months later, she announced that she was cancer-free.

When Kate Moss strutted into the fashion world, the meaning of ramp-ready beauty turned an important corner. Her pale skin, grunge vibe, and waif-like build all worked together to create an aesthetic that shaped what people found attractive in the '90s. Kate became the definitive face of the heroin chic trend that, though controversial, defined the era. Calvin Klein helped launch her career, but Kate's influence extended across the most elite fashion brands and magazines, and it didn't take her long to secure a spot as one of the highest-paid models in the world. 

Over the decades, Kate's reach has gone far beyond modeling, as she stands in as a contributing editor for British Vogue, heads her own premium wellness brand, and (believe it or not) runs the show at Diet Coke as the brand's creative director. Backed by years of experience and audacity, the 50-something icon is also keen on passing her hard-won wisdom forward to younger generations, which includes her daughter Lila Moss. "They are so prudish nowadays ... They're all scared to be themselves and I think they should dress as they want," she told British Vogue. While Kate's own changing features have sparked speculation about cosmetic procedures like fillers and facelifts, there has been no confirmation from her, leading us to believe that, acting on her own advice, she is still boldly and beautifully herself. 

Tyra Banks is a multidimensional powerhouse. Actor, producer, author, Harvard Business School certificate recipient, television personality — the list goes on. But above all else, Banks will forever be known as a supermodel — and one of the world's first Black supermodels at that. A teenager when she started, Banks has modeled for elite brands like Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Versace. She also landed on the covers of major magazines like Sports Illustrated, GQ, and Elle. What's more, Banks is also one of the most famous Victoria's Secret models of all time. Oh, and she launched an acting career, landing roles in movies like "Life Size" and sitcoms like "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." 

In the early '00s, Banks changed the game yet again when she created the reality competition series "America's Next Top Model." Banks' show, which she also hosted for 23 seasons, redefined reality TV for audiences and hopeful models alike. She continued to expand her production banner, later also hosting the Emmy-winning "The Tyra Banks Show." 

As she added more business credentials to her name, her modeling endeavors all but took a backseat. So it was a pleasant surprise for fans when she came out of retirement after almost 20 years to walk the ramp for Victoria's Secret in 2024. As she told Harper's Bazaar, "I can be a businesswoman and have my ice cream company and speak at business institutions and get my certificate from my Harvard course and teach at Stanford and, yes, be a Victoria's Secret model." 

With her sculpted cheekbones, smoky voice, and natural elegance, Carla Bruni took the fashion world by storm when she joined the supermodel coterie of the '80s. From Dior to Givenchy, some of the biggest names in fashion were scrambling to sign her to walk the ramp for them. And Bruni delivered with panache every time, living up to the immortal status famously bestowed upon her by fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld, of being "this beautiful creature who can wear anything." 

Bruni, who was born and raised in Italy, is a person of many interests. "When I was having my hair and make-up done backstage at a fashion show, I would sneak in a copy of Dostoevsky and read it inside a copy of Elle or Vogue," she once told the Independent. "But it would be pretentious of me to say I was more intelligent than the other supermodels of that era." Never one to limit her skills to the runway, Bruni turned a corner in the late '90s.

She left her life as one of the highest-paid models of the decade behind and dove headfirst into music, her debut album "Quelqu'un m'a dit" winning massive acclaim and setting the tone for her successful music career to come. Along the way, she picked up another credential as the first lady of France, with her marriage to former President Nicolas Sarkozy. In her 50s now, Bruni is still doing everything that made her such an icon — from making music to stunning at fashion week events. 

Christie Brinkley rang in her 70th trip around the sun in 2024, and she remains every bit the force of nature that rendered her one of the most identifiable faces of the 1970s and '80s. The modeling world certainly wouldn't be the same if she hadn't been discovered at a Parisian telephone office. Frankly, Brinkley revitalized the industry like it couldn't imagine. 

In the words of Vogue, Brinkley emerged as the "Original All-American Supermodel." With her athletic physique and sunny presence, she made a splash across magazine spreads, brand campaigns, and commercials. One of the brightest feathers in her cap was her history-making appearance on three consecutive covers of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She also went down other avenues of pop culture, with roles in films like "National Lampoon's Vacation" and the ever-charming music video for her ex-husband Billy Joel's song "Uptown Girl." 

Alongside her modeling work, she branched out into a slew of other ventures — from backing businesses in eyewear, perfumes, skincare, and wine, to penning the 2025 release "Uptown Girl: A Memoir." Though she still represents a bygone golden era of classic supermodels, Brinkley remains refreshingly current in her views on what fashion stands for. As she told People, "The most beautiful thing that's happened in our industry of beauty is the expansion of what we consider beautiful. And it includes us 'seasoned' gals." 

In an industry known for its quick turnover rate, Heidi Klum's ability to stay at the top of her game for decades on end is nothing to sneeze at. Today, she is nothing short of a global brand, having kept herself relevant through the decades beyond modeling, by smartly and timely dipping her toes in the fashion industry and all its offshoots as a businesswoman — all the way from television to fragrances, and clothing lines. She first rose to international fame in the '90s, earning distinction as the first German model to become a Victoria's Secret Angel. With her charismatic appearance and megawatt smile, it didn't take long for Klum to rise through the ranks. 

She dazzled on ramps, featured in glossy pages, backed big brands, and achieved supermodel status — all while refusing to take drastic measures to meet the industry's often severe standards. "I stick to what I'm good at and have never been prepared to starve myself to death and do crazy stuff just to be like a thin rail, and fit into their clothes," she told the Independent. The sway she held over fashion transcended into 2000s pop culture, with shows like "Project Runway" and "Germany's Next Topmodel." Her recent appearances on "America's Got Talent" show that 50-something Klum has lost none of her radiance from her youth — something she attributes to eating well, using the right products, and regular massages. But the bottom line, as she told Byrdie, is that "you have to listen to your body and what feels right." 

Many know Kimora Lee Simmons as the name behind the iconic Y2K brand Baby Phat. And while to a whole generation of glam girls she is that, her fashion legacy transcends far beyond. The supermodel stepped into the industry at the young age of 13, backed by the bold vision of Karl Lagerfeld who kickstarted her career with Chanel and dubbed her "the face of the 21st century." That's certainly a lot of pressure and expectation to put on a young model, but Kimora more than lived up to it. 

Kimora, who is of Black and Asian descent, has noted that it wasn't always easy coming up in an industry that has long struggled with diversity and inclusivity. "Over time I felt beautiful, but [early on] I just felt like a weird thing. I saw myself as a United Colors of Benetton campaign, I wasn't Cindy Crawford, the 'All-American girl' apple pie," she told Coveteur. Kimora broke major barriers throughout her career while ruling runways and magazine covers left and right.

In the late '90s, Kimora launched her own billion-dollar brand,Baby Phat. After a few years of acquisition, the iconic label returned home to Kimora, who relaunched it once again in 2019. There is also talk of yet another revival from her past: a reality series called "Back In The Fab Lane." However, she is not the only Simmons rocking the fashion world now; her daughters Aoki and Ming Lee Simmons have joined the runway ranks as part of an exclusive group of younger models following in their moms' footsteps.