[quote]Fashion will have to recreate that moment again organically but it seems it hasn't happened yet.
It probably won't happen again. The '90s supermodel phenomenon was a happy accident, but the ending of it was deliberate on the part of fashion designers. This has been discussed in books, videos, and magazine articles about that time.
During the '90s, models who represented classic or traditional ideas of beauty were still hired, but there was also an interest in using models with mixed ethnicity. Christy has El Salvadoran blood. Naomi has Jamaican and Chinese ancestry. Helena is Danish and Peruvian. The industry also liked women with an ambiguous ethnicity. In photos, with the right makeup, Cindy could look Latina, Middle Eastern, or Italian. Linda could pull off any hairstyle, hair color, and yes – various skin tones (see Linda's Cuban look, below).
Gianni Versace was the designer instrumental in building the supermodel momentum because he routinely used the big print models as runway models for his shows. Before that, there was often a separation of duties. A print model had the beautiful face used for big ad campaigns and commercials. A runway model had the walk and the right dimensions to fit the sample sizes, but she didn't necessarily have a memorable face.
Instead of '90s actresses, supermodels were the main symbols of glamour for the media. They got more attention than the clothes. Runway shows became more expensive to produce, but hiring supermodels for them ensured a lot of press coverage. Designers soon resented this and were tired of paying the high salaries the top models could demand. Yet, these designers profited greatly from these women who were mainstream famous. They felt they were held hostage by the clout models held. In their eyes, the phenomenon was a Frankenstein's monster they couldn't control.
The power players in fashion can say an unremarkable model is a muse and everyone else falls in line and agrees. It's an oligarchy. The industry ended the supermodels by promoting their opposite. Enter Kate Moss. The press criticized Kate a lot when she got noticed for her Calvin Klein ads. They thought she was anorexic and that her image would encourage eating disorders in young girls. She was backed by designers, but she wasn't the public's newest darling as some history revisionists would like you to believe.
Instead of self-assured women with some curves, the next group of models were skinnier, adolescent-looking women with passive personalities. Designers stopped using walks that were sexy. They discouraged an independent "attitude". Cindy even said in an interview on VH1 that, by the mid-90s, models were expected to pose and walk in a subdued manner. Reticent, not confident, was the desired trend. The glamazon was replaced by the waifs. Then came heroin chic. Today, we have nepotism hires and amateurish models who are interchangeable and forgettable. Hey, but the clothes aren't overshadowed anymore, right? People often ask why they don't bring supermodel types back. The industry doesn't want models to have that much power again.
[quote]Who is the most beautiful of these Top Supermodel’s from the 90’s(sic)?
Hard to choose. There were many uniquely beautiful women then. I used to think Cindy because she had a healthy body and an approachable persona to go with her looks. She turned into another Hollywood creature. I choose Christy. She's a class act often described as a down-to-earth; a beauty inside and out who never succumbed to all the hype.