Today they are more than 50 years old and perhaps still admired them, guests of some television program, beautiful elegant ladies with seductive gazes: they are the 80s models . But at that time , when they were 20 or 30, they were the very image of beauty personified. They were women to be imitated, to dream and to love.
The stereotype of the beautiful woman of the Eighties imposed the image of the tall, long-legged woman, possibly blonde and certainly curly. There was little room for Latinas, for Orientals, and almost no hope for black women. But precisely in the Eighties, thanks to some gritty and courageous models, various taboos will be blown away and the catwalks will open to all races and beauty models, not only Western ones, starting for example from Naomi Campbell , who in those years moved the first steps in the world of fashion that matters.
The top models of the happy years, the beautiful ones of the “Eighties” … who were they? And why did they make the world’s heads spin so much? Here are the most famous 80s supermodels , who in this magical decade of the twentieth century left an indelible mark on women and men, who imitated and loved them with the same intensity.
Cindy Crawford
She was born in the United States, in Illinois, in a provincial town in 1966. Her career began thanks to some shots “stolen” by a passing photographer, while she, very young, helped her parents in the work of the fields!
Since then, fashion has been her job, her reason for living. She has posed for major fashion magazines, has been the face of almost all the designers, and in particular she has had an ongoing relationship with Revlon for about 11 years.
Since leaving the catwalks she has been involved in charities, especially in battles against leukemia due to the death of a young brother due to the disease. She also has a beautiful daughter, Kaia Gerber, who is retracing her mother’s footsteps.
Among the 80s models, probably the most famous.
Brooke Shields
Born in New York in 1965, she was the daughter of a fashion manager, so her career began as a newborn.
She posed for children’s clothes, baby food and toys. At the same time she has built a career in cinema and it is from a film, Blue Lagoon , that the teenager Brooke becomes an eighties beauty icon . Since then, everyone has wanted it, on the catwalks and on the sets.
He continued to work until the mid-nineties.
Jerry Hall
American born in Texas in 1956, her career as a supermodel runs between the seventies and eighties.
He has lent his face to great designers ( Versace, Valentino, Dior, Chanel, Von Furstenberg …) but his world fame is linked to two great marriages: first with Mick Jagger and then with the rich billionaire Rupert Murdoch.
One of those beauties that are not so easily forgotten.
Carol Alt
Beautiful New Yorker, Carol works as a waitress when – at twenty – she is noticed by a talent scout who offers her fashion shots.
Just two years later, in 1982, he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated and in 1986 on that of Harper’s Bazar. In ten years she has had over 500 covers and has participated in dozens of films, in America and in Europe.
His connection with Italy is special: he took part in Ballando Con Le Stelle. She is one of the most beautiful 80s models ever.
Iman
Born in 1955 in Somalia, the daughter of an ambassador and already had a degree when I start to show. In 1975, at the age of only twenty, she left her country and became a model for a modeling agency in New York, working with all the big names in fashion.
In the eighties it paved the way for African beauties, which will lead up to the consecration of Naomi Campbell, who began her first steps in those years and had her definitive consecration a decade later.
Pavlina Porizkova
Born in the then Czechoslovakia, Pavlina Porizkova became famous thanks to the photos of a photographer friend, taken a bit for fun. Her career will lead her to live in Paris, to pose for all the major fashion magazines and to sign a super contract (6 million dollars at the time) with Estee Lauder, becoming the highest paid model of the time .
At the end of the eighties he ventured into the cinema and today he runs his own independent production company.
Elle MacPherson
Eleonor Nancy Gow was born in Australia in 1965, when she was launched into the fashion world – at the age of 17 – choosing to use the surname of her mother’s second husband.
He poses for the first time for the French magazine Elle , for a nice coincidence with his name, and from there his career will take off.
Sara face and body of designers like Vuitton, Versace, Dior, Prada, Calvin Klein, Valentino, Saint Laurent…. her beauty of her is so immense that it gives her the nickname “The Body”, the body.
Carla Bruni
Born in Italy, where she lives up to the age of 7, she attends schools in Switzerland and then enrolled at the University in Paris.
While in this city she is noticed and chosen for some photo shoots. From here she begins her career in fashion which will go on for ten years, between the eighties and nineties .
From 1997 he will instead devote himself to music and politics, then also marrying the then President of the French Republic, Sarkozy.
Linda Evangelista
Born in 1965 in Canada, the daughter of immigrants from Frosinone. She becomes a model by winning the Miss Niagara beauty contest for teenagers and moves to New York, where she will work with Vogue, Chanel, Calvin Klein, Dolce and Gabbana, Versace, Valentino, Dior and many other fashion names.
Active until 2012, one of the last contracts was for L’Oreal. She has also had small roles in successful TV series like Sex and the City .
Karen Alexander
Karen Alexander has established herself in fashion with determination. At 16 she, after winning a beauty contest, she proposed with several photo books to many names in fashion. She was always discarded or advised against, perhaps because of her black skin which at the time she was not yet seen as a beauty icon.
Finally the Legends Agency decided to bet on her. Since then, Alexander has become the first “black panther” to dominate the catwalks . Despite her success, he has always had to struggle with the racism of the environment, but her courage has paved the way for models like Naomi Campbell, who came immediately after her.
Gia Carangi
Gia Carangi is one of the most famous 70s-80s supermodels ever, and at the same time with a very sad story. Her career in Gia’s fashion world begins when a photographer of her notices her in a club and decides to include her in her circle. In a short time she became one of the icons of international fashion. Unfortunately, however, she becomes a victim of drugs and alcohol. She died at the age of 26 in 1986 from HIV.
Janice Dickinson
Another 80s fashion icon is Janice Dickinson. Born in New York in 1955, she began to show at the age of 17, quickly becoming one of the most requested supermodels. Over the years she became a testimonial for the most famous fashion houses and appeared in all the glossy magazines of the time.
Openly bisexual, he has been credited with several flirts with show business men and women.
Tatjana Patitz
Tatjana Patitz is a German supermodel born in 1966 and raised in Sweden. She started in the fashion world at 17 in the city of Paris, posing for Herb Ritts, Sheila Metzner and Peter Lindbergh. She becomes the testimonial of many brands and appears on glossy covers all over the world. She also participates in some music video clips.