Saturday, October 10, 2009

Supermodels


growing up with vogue and bazaar, how could i not be in awe of the supermodels?




they were like these insanely beautiful glamorous women who created amazing photographs and got to wear the most high fashion stuff out there. and that was all in a day's work. i remember first seeing them around 1991/1992 when i first really started to pay attention to fashion magazines. 
i remember Christy and Naomi in that Vogue 1992 cover, jumping around on a boat 
dock; Linda dressed as Peter Pan (during her red hair phase) with Helena as Wendy and Mark Morris as Captain Hook; Cindy vamping for Helmut Newton in Monaco.  and of course, who could forget George Michael's Freedom video.  after seeing Linda, Christy, Cindy, Naomi, and Tatjana on the January 1990 British Vogue cover, Mr. Michael cast them in his must-see iconic music video, shot by future film auteur David Fincher.  i became scarily obsessed with them - i think that's how i really started learning how to draw faces and bodies.  it was from those girls' editorials.  i'd study their faces and bodies, desperately trying to copy their eyes, lips, and poses.  i had some experience drawing superheroes and comic book characters before but here i really studied giving character and personality to my drawings.  and while most kids would count sheep to go to sleep, i (again to show how much of a obsessed freak i was back then) would name models ('linda, christy, cindy, naomi, claudia, stephanie, helena, nadege, yasmeen ..............") to lull me to dream.  Peter Lindbergh was one of the founding fathers of the supermodel phenomenon.  Mr. Lindbergh shot the famous 1990 British Vogue cover mentioned above as well as one my favorite Vogue editorials, Wild at Heart.  he cast the supermodels as a tough downtown biker gang - albeit ones dressed in Versace and Chanel couture.