These Models Dominated the 80s, But What Are They Up To Now?

Jerry Hall rose to prominence in the 1970s, but she was at her peak in the ’80s. At 21, Hall had appeared in 40 fashion magazines! She appeared on the pages of French Vogue, participated in Chanel presentations, and was seen with Mick Jagger, the everlasting rock icon.

Hall performed in a one-week engagement at the Gaiety Theater in Dublin with David Soul in a repetition of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama Love Letters by A. Gurney, R. She auctioned her art gallery to Sotheby’s in 2010 and appeared at Glastonbury in 2014. Also, she has composed native country and western songs and lyrics.

In the late 1970s, Ines De La Fressange’s career began, and she was the very first supermodel to obtain the exclusive deal with Chanel in 1983.

Fressange and Lagerfeld had a publicized spat in 1989, but they reconciled in 2011 when she performed in his exhibition afterward. In recent times, La Fressange appeared in Uniqlo’s summertime 2020 campaign.

Khelfa, a French-Algerian beauty, was found at the age of 16 in a Paris café. She then became a fascination for Azzedine Alaia, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Jean-Paul Goude. She stood out at 6 ft. tall and became the centerpiece of several of Goude’s most famous photographs.

The fashionable model, who is also an actor and a director, currently leads a pretty secluded life. “I’m honored to be referred to as a style icon. Originating from an ethnic minority, dressing well was always a priority for me. It was a means of acceptance,” she remarked.

Cindy Crawford was a scholar before transitioning into a supermodel. She was the valedictorian of her college. Crawford was a chemical engineering student at Northwestern University until dropping out to follow modeling.

She received Elite Model Management’s “Style of the Year” competition in 1982, and the United States fell madly in love with her all-American beauty within weeks. She was one of the first Big Six supermodels, and she was the most commercially successful of the group. Crawford revealed in January 2019 that she would buy Nate ‘n Al, a Hollywood cafeteria, to maintain it after multiple generations of family management.

Brooke Shields gained notoriety in the modeling world after acting in films like Pretty Baby (1978) and Blue Lagoon (1980) in her pre-teen days.

She covered the much more prominent fashion publications and appeared in Calvin Klein’s contentious denim advertising. Her defining features included strong brows, perfect cheekbones, and long blonde hair. Shields has become a regular fixture co-host in the 9:00 segment of Today on NBC since 2013.

Christie Brinkley never saw herself being a supermodel. She was very reluctant to give up her job as a graphic designer. But everything changed when she drew the eye of an American photojournalist while walking through Paris’s neighborhoods.

She made the decision to join the profession, and the inevitable happened. She was on the front of Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition thrice in a row (1979–1981) and appeared in Chanel Beauty and Cover Girl countrywide ads.

Iman was spotted in 1975 by Peter Beard, who was struck by her statuesque appearance while walking in the city in Nairobi. She was a college student studying political science and conversant in multiple languages at that period.

She burst into the fashion world, appearing in several fashionable campaigns and magazines, and serving as a muse for designers such as Thierry Mugler, Calvin Klein, and Donna Karen. In 1994, the supermodel launched IMAN Beauty products, a cosmetic line aimed for black women at a period when the beauty business mostly overlooked their demands.

Elle Macpherson started her modeling career to actually finance for her law school studies at Sydney University. The Australian model traveled to New York City with the intention of staying for 12 months, but she became an immediate hit.

She had featured in all of the leading magazine covers by 1986. In 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, and 2006, she graced the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Her unrivaled physical appearance gained her the moniker “The Body.”

Carol Alt was found while attending college on an armed forces sponsorship and engaged in military training. She was working as a waiter when a photojournalist approached her and suggested she feature.

She was presented to John Casablancas, the creator of Elite Model Management, and was immediately offered a deal. She proceeded to become one of the best-known cover models of the 1980s, walking the catwalk for Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, among others.

Paulina’s modeling profession started following a fortuitous interaction on the street corners of Sweden via an Elite Model Management recruiter. She landed a role in ads for Estée Lauder, Maybelline, Escada, and other brands, and also headlines the 1984 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

She portrayed Clarissa in the CBS Daytime romance drama As the World Turns for approximately 5 episodes in 2009 through 2010. Porizkova is a Modelinia and Huffington Post columnist.

After being found by Elite Model Management at the age of 18, Kim Alexis started posing. Despite her high-end fashion career, she is best recognized for her work in the cosmetics industry, having replaced Lauren Hutton as the face of Revlon’s Ultimate II range.

She was on the cover of Sports Illustrated‘s Swimsuit Edition for six years in a row. She was a contestant on VH1’s tv program But Can They Sing? in 2005, when superstars who had never sang before were given the opportunity to compete before a crowd. After week one, Alexis was evicted.

Born in Denmark, Renée Simonsen started her modeling career in 1982. Then, she won the “Face of the Eighties” model hunt. Simonsen used the money earned in the competition to pay for education.

She was a huge hit right away, featuring in major ads and being featured in a number of publications. Although being promised the part of Bond Girl for the next James Bond movie at bidding, she quit modeling at the age of 24 to pursue her education. She now has a psychology degree and works as a full-time journalist.

Tatjana Patitz, as a teenager, came in third in Elite Modeling’ “Look of the Year” contest in 1987. Patitz’s distinct appearance and vitality captured the ire of beauty periodicals all over the world, propelling her into celebrity.

Patitz continued to model throughout the 1980s, however, it has been the now-iconic gray photograph of her with Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford in 1990 that cemented her status as a superstar. She went on to feature in different editions of Vogue while also walking runways throughout the world and appearing in profitable television adverts.

Linda Evangelista can also thank Elite Model Management for her beginning in the modeling industry; she was found by a representative from the world-famous fashion company in 1981, then after a brief stint as Miss Teen Niagara, she began appearing professionally in 1984.

Evangelista moved to New York City to pursue her ambition of being a model. She developed a tight working connection with Karl Lagerfeld of Chanel and Gianni Versace of Versace, and also worked for prominent labels including Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, and Max Mara.

Jill Goodacre, along with beauties like Stephanie Seymour and Frederique, became one of Victoria’s Secret’s ambassadors shortly after the company debuted in 1977.

The Texas resident’s tenure as a supermodel for VS was important in the product’s impressive growth, propelling it to the forefront of the profession even as it expanded to encompass loungewear, sportswear, and fragrances.

Stephanie Seymour is most recognized for being one of the renowned personalities to appear for the clothing company. She was a Victoria’s Secret Angel even before the Angels debuted.

Throughout her long career, she featured in several issues of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, Vogue, and then even Playboy. In 2014, Seymour was designated an Estée Lauder international brand ambassador. In 2017, Seymour co-founded and marketed Raven and Sparrow, an underwear collection.

Karen Alexander was turned down by many of the sector’s most powerful recruiters, like Eileen Ford and John Casablancas, when she first started contacting fashion designers.

Alexander was finally signed by Legends Agency and went on to have a great career spanning more than twenty years, featuring in a Tiffany & Co. advertisement in Autumn 2008. Karen Alexander is not anymore recognized by any management; in 2019, IMG dropped her.

Whether you liked her or despised her, there’s no doubting that Janice Dickinson was a fashionable figure to contend with. She began appearing in the late 1970s, but by the 1980s, she had established herself as a trailblazer and became one of the original ladies to be signed by Elite Model Management.

Dickinson later became a housemate on the sixteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother in the United Kingdom in August 2015. Just two days well before finale, she became the seventh star to be ousted from the show.

After her 1989 Sports Illustrated issue was published to the media, Ireland was discovered as a youngster by Elite Model Management. She went on to become one of the most known faces in the business.

Ireland’s image is still regarded as one of the most recognizable in the magazine’s history. Ireland did not limit herself to modeling; she also explored filmmaking and even created her own company in 1993. Between 2005 and 2012, Ireland’s trademark products earned $2 billion in yearly retail sales, propelling the business to the top of its sector.

Banks entered the industry when she was fifteen years old, while still in high school in Los Angeles. L.A. Models recruited her after she was denied by four other modeling companies. Banks, who is 47 years old, has gone a long way since her debut. America’s Next Top Model debuted in 2003, providing us with an infinite supply of memorable remarks, GIFs, and gags.

In April 2018, the episode’s 24th season came to an end. From 2005 to 2010, Banks held her own talk show, appeared in the film Life-Size and its 2018 remake, and published three novels. She takes over as host of Dancing with the Stars in 2020, to middling reactions.

In 1987, a manager persuaded Schiffer to start modeling (clearly it worked out). She was the ambassador of Chanel & Guess, and she graced the pages of countless magazines.

Schiffer owns the Guinness World Award for the most magazine appearances as a model. She’s been on almost 1,000 of them. Schiffer, now 50, is mainly remembered to younger audiences as the supermodel who is constantly mentioned in the movie Love Actually, only to emerge at the finale.

Christy Turlington is most recognized for her 1992 cooperation with the fashion company Maybelline. She was found at the age of 14, but it wasn’t until she was 18 that she got her breakout role, appearing in the Duran Duran music video “Notorious” and on the cover of Vogue.

The 52-year-old has shifted her concentration aside from posing and into backstage activities. In 2010, she launched her acting debut with the movie No Woman, No Cry, and unveiled her maternity campaigning foundation, Every Mother Counts, shortly thereafter.

Campbell shattered boundaries in the modeling profession, becoming the 1st Black supermodel to emerge on the covers of Time, France Vogue, and Russian Vogue, and also the first Black British supermodel to feature on the front of British Vogue.

Throughout Paris Fashion Week, Campbell continues to rule the stage and collaborate with brands such as Valentino. During the pandemic in the summer of 2020, Campbell launched her own YouTube TV show, No Filter with Naomi, wherein she interviews different personalities.

Kate Moss, who was found when she was 14 years old, is credited with coining the term “[illicit item] chic.” Moss immediately established herself as a fashionable It Girl, signing a contract with Calvin Klein around 1992.

In the fashion business and throughout the globe, Moss is still highly regarded. The 47-year-old is still performing, but she has also ventured into the fashion industry as a producer. Moss has worked with British store Topshop for a long time, developed a line of handbags for Longchamp, and gave her trademark to a number of fragrances.

Kelly Emberg was spotted in her hometown of Houston, where she was one of the college cheerleaders. She went on to headline Harper’s BAZAAR issues and sign agreements with companies like CoverGirl and Calvin Klein.

After being “found” by Alan Martin, a neighborhood Houston photojournalist who connected her to John Casablancas, she modeled part-time through college. Her print career began after Casablancas invited her to New York City to represent his new modeling firm, Elite Model Management.

Klum received a contract at Metropolitan Models in New York City after winning a competition in her homeland, Germany. She quickly relocated to the United States and began her profession. When she featured on the front page of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit edition in 1998, her fame reached new heights. Klum is most recognized for her role as the long-running presenter of “Project Runway.”

The 47-year-old is without a doubt an A-lister. She started featuring in Project Runway in 2004, over which she won an Emmy in 2013.

Helena Christensen is the last of the Magnificent Seven, a set of 1990s supermodels. Christensen, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Elle Macpherson are among the members of the club, which was named after Frank DeCaro of The New York Times.

She’s featured more than 600 fashion magazines, was a Victoria’s Secret Angel from the beginning, and memorably stood naked on a Times Square billboard, except for maybe a “cleverly positioned banana leaf.” Christensen, 52, has appeared on the covers of several magazines in recent years, notably Italian Vogue as well as French Elle.

Isabella Rossellini’s looks were designed for the big screen. She was the child of Academy Award winner Ingrid Bergman and movie producer Roberto Rossellini. Lancôme, the perfume and beauty firm that picked her up for a 14-year deal, took notice of her fashion model features.

She has also graced the covers of various magazines throughout the years. Her Hollywood breakthrough was not to be surpassed (with parents like hers, it was inevitable). Rossellini appeared in movies such as Blue Velvet, Death Becomes Her, and Silver Linings Playbook, among others. Lancôme rehired her as a corporate spokesperson in 2018, 22 years after she was judged too mature at 43.

Marpessa Hennink didn’t allow a denial from the Eileen Ford fashion company (in those days, one of the leading modeling agencies) to deter her from pursuing her lifelong passion of being a supermodel. Along with Valentino, Christian Lacroix, Oscar de la Renta, and Kenzo, she became a regular on their stages.

By the 1990s, she had gathered her belongings and relocated to Spain to pursue a career as an interior decorator. She retired and relocated to Ibiza, Spain, where she started a profession as an interior designer. In January 2011, Hennink was invited to participate in a spectacular beauty pageant in Florence, Italy, hosted by fashionista Alberta Ferretti.

This Philadelphia beauty was recognized for her turbulent history and untimely passing, however, she was also regarded as one of the earliest fashion models.

She was spotted at a nightclub in 1976 and worked as a beauty model for Dior & Versace in the late 1970s and early 1980s until she passed away at the age of 26 in 1986. Angelina Jolie appeared in the film Gia, which was based on Carangi’s experience.