– came from pre-existing family fame, and are known for their social media presence as much as their modelling. Why is it that, despite the industry’s best attempts – and an excess of nostalgia for the original generation – the world seems to be less interested in the idea of new supermodels than ever before?lthough a handful of models achieved name-brand status during the 80s, it wasn’t until the 90s that supermodel hype went into overdrive.
Precious Lee, one of British Vogue’s ‘new supers’, walks for Balmain during Paris fashion week in 2022.Kate Finnigan, a fashion writer who hosts the underwear podcast Hello Girls, was a teenager during the era. She remembers feeling “starved of glamour” growing up, and finally seeing it in the supers. She points to Gianni Versace’s March 1991 show, in which Campbell, Evangelista, Turlington and Crawford walked the runway, as the moment most people identify as the dawn of the supermodel era.
“These global monsters started to appear – you could get Calvin Klein or Dolce & Gabbana in Hong Kong, New York, London, every city in between. As these companies started consolidating into huge corporations, they needed supermodels to promote their stuff. The more of them you had on your catwalk, the bigger you looked.”