The Most Famous Models From The 1990s: Where Are They Now?
The 1990s are remembered for the rise of the internet, the popularity of sitcoms like "Friends" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and a unique fashion style that made an iconic return. However, we must remember that the '90s also brought back the era of the supermodel. During that time, models made a name for themselves in more ways than one. These fierce women weren't just mannequins to showcase designer looks on the catwalks but became household names thanks to their appearances on tv shows, commercials, and even music videos.
Models of the '90s became celebrities in their own right. There was the famous "Big Six," which was comprised of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, and Claudia Schiffer. They were queens of not only the runway but were seen on just about every magazine cover and red carpet. Evangelista said it best when it came to the life of a '90s supermodel, "We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day."
Today's generation of models includes the stunning Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, but models of the 1990s had a certain je ne sais quoi. Many of these women continue to work in the industry today, while others have used the millions they've made to become activists and philanthropists. One famous model even went on to marry a former president. So let's look at what happened to the gorgeous models of the '90s.
Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford signed with Elite Model Management, one of the world's top modeling agencies, in the '80s, but she became a household name in the '90s for her run as a host on MTV's "House of Style," as her biography notes. In the early '90s, Crawford was pretty much everywhere — in 1990, she posed for the cover of British Vogue along with models Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Lina Evangelista, and Tatjana Patitz, and that same year these iconic women starred in George Michael's "Freedom! '90" music video. In 1992, Crawford's Super Bowl Pepsi commercial would become one of the most memorable to date, while her status as a celebrity grew after she married actor Richard Gere from 1991 to 1995.
Crawford has focused on her beauty line, Meaningful Beauty, ever since it launched in 2004. The line features anti-aging products with the help of famed skincare doctor Jean-Louis Sebagh. According to People, in 2021, the model extended the successful line with hair care products. She's also ventured into home furnishings, where her line is carried in several U.S. stores.
Crawford has continued modeling, too. Along with her model daughter, Kaia Gerber, who she shares with her husband, Rande Gerber, the two posed for the cover of Vogue Paris in 2016. Mother and daughter also shared the runway for late designer Virgil Abloh's collection for Off-White in 2022, per Grazia.
Kate Moss
In the modeling world, Kate Moss differed from supermodels Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford. Hailing from Britain, Moss stood out from the rest because of her waif-ish figure and large eyes. As her biography notes, Moss' partying lifestyle and drug use became highly publicized, but so was her grunge style and rebel attitude that had her on several magazine covers and advertisements.
In 2005, Moss was involved in a drug scandal that nearly ruined her modeling career. According to The Telegraph, she was dropped by H&M, who would no longer use the model in their ad campaigns, with Chanel and Burberry following. However, Moss was cleared of drug-related charges, and her career resumed, per The Guardian.
Moss' controversial career included dating "bad boys" like Johnny Depp and Pete Doherty. Her famous quote, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels," also sparked outrage. However, her rebellious ways have made her a legend in modeling. Moss has since taken the role of designer, working with several brands like Topshop and Longchamp to design collections. She is also the founder of the Kate Moss Agency, a talent agency in London that was founded in 2016. But, of course, she's also still modeling and was featured in the Marc Jacobs Resort 2022/2023 collection, per The Sun.
Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington was among the "Big Six" of supermodels in the '90s. According to British Vogue, Turlington's career highlights included being the face of Calvin Klein's Eternity fragrance, which she later returned to in 2014 with her husband Ed Burns, and starring in music videos for Duran Duran and George Michael. In addition, she's walked countless runways for major fashion houses like Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, and Chanel and has been on 74 covers of Vogue across the world.
Turlington changed paces when she became focused on advocating for global maternal health. After debuting her documentary, "No Woman, No Cry," she launched her non-profit organization, Every Mother Counts, in 2010, which helps mothers around the globe get the maternal care they need. In 2022, she published the book "Arrival Stories," which features prominent women in the entertainment industry detailing their birthing stories. After going through a "post-partum complication" after having her daughter, Grace, Turlington shared with Today, "That experience opened my eyes to a global tragedy that people don't talk about. We assume that motherhood just happens, comes easily ... it can be no farther from that."
She reconnected with her old modeling pals when she reunited with Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen in December 2022. Crawford shared a photo of the women on her Instagram, captioning it, "And nothing gets me in the holiday spirit more than catching up with family and friends!"
Linda Evangelista
Linda Evangelista was among the "Big Six" supermodels of the 1990s. Her career skyrocketed when iconic fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh suggested she chop her hair off and rock a pixie cut. He shared with Harper's Bazaar, "Julien D'Y's took that beautiful Italian hair and snipped right off. She cried for two hours. The white-shirt picture of her was taken the next day, and a new woman was born. She was a good model, but she became the model."
Evangelista posed again for Lindbergh, along with the original supermodels, for the legendary 1990's British Vogue cover that was said to be the start of the supermodel era. The model would also be dubbed the "chameleon" for her constant hair color changes, per Vogue. She was also a muse for designer Karl Lagerfield, having walked in her first show for Chanel in 1985 and returning in 2003, where she closed the show in a spectacular Chanel wedding dress.
According to People, Evangelista left the limelight after revealing that she was "permanently deformed" after going through several CoolSclupting sessions, a fat-freezing method, from 2015 to 2016. She filed a lawsuit against cosmetic company Zeltiq Aesthetics for $50 million in damages, with CNN reporting that the suit was settled in June 2022. Despite what has happened, Evangelista returned to the catwalk after 15 years to close the Fendi show in September 2022 and posed for British Vogue that same month.
Helena Christensen
Helena Christensen may not have been a part of the original supermodel clan, but like them, she was known on a first-name basis. Christensen ruled the world of modeling in the '90s, having been one of the first Victoria's Secret Angels alongside Tyra Banks and Stephanie Seymour. She was known for her campaigns with Revlon and Prada, and she famously starred in Chris Isaack's music video for "Wicked Games."
Christensen continues to model, and in 2017, closed the Versace Spring 2018 fashion show along with '90s models Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and Claudia Schiffer. Additionally, the model appeared in Dolce & Gabbana's Spring/Summer 2019 campaign and, in February 2022, walked in Off White's Fall 2022 Paris fashion show, which paid tribute to the late designer Virgil Abloh, who died of cancer in November 2021.
Besides modeling, Forbes reported that Christensen became the Creative Director of Strangelove, a fragrance line created in 2014. She is also a professional photographer with an impressive resume, having photographed Gigi Hadid for Vogue and The Weeknd for Notion Magazine. Since 2019, Christensen has been an ambassador for Goodwill.
Claudia Schiffer
Claudia Schiffer was just about everywhere in the 1990s. Her defining moments included becoming the face of Guess Jeans and Chanel, and she became the first model to be on the cover of People, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. She's walked countless runways for major fashion houses, appeared on several ad campaigns, and since 1997, continues to be a L'Oreal ambassador. When asked how she knew she was one of the OG models of the '90s, she told AnOther, "When the other girls and I were on the cover of every magazine and in every campaign."
At one time, Schiffer held the Guinness World Record for appearing on the most magazine covers, with more than 1,000 covers to her name, per Forbes. According to Vogue, her runway appearance for Yves Saint Laurent in 2002 was supposed to be her last, but she returned in 2017, walking for Versace with her '90s model pals Carla Bruni and Helena Christensen.
Schiffer collaborated with Frame to design a line of clothing inspired by the '90s in 2022. She continues to model, posed for the cover of Elle France in 2020, and did a fun Halloween shoot for Harper's Bazaar UK. In 2020, she was honored with GQ's Woman of the Year Award.
Tatjana Patitz
One of Tatjana Patitz's career achievements included posing for the January 1990 cover of British Vogue along with OG supermodels Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, and Linda Evangelista. She was also among the beautiful women to appear in George Michael's "Freedom! '90" music video and appeared on over 200 magazine covers across the globe.
Patitz modeled here and there, but she eventually found new passions as an animal rights activist. She shared with Kendall Conrad that she became especially inspired by helping African wildlife. "I am a proud foster parent of eight elephant babies at The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust," she said. In addition, when she lived on a ranch in Malibu, California, Patitz raised two horses and became an ambassador for the American Wild Horse Sanctuary, per Vogue.
Speaking to Prestige about life outside of modeling, Patitz shared that she was most comfortable at home. "I'm a mom; I wear jeans and T-shirts and comfortable dresses. I've always loved Dior, Chanel, Tom Ford. But when you live in semi-nature like I do, you don't run around in high heels and fabulous clothes; you just don't. It's more jeans and riding boots." Sadly, Patitz died from cancer on January 11, 2023. She was 56.
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell's name is synonymous with the word supermodel. As her biography notes, she has broken boundaries in the industry after becoming the first Black woman to appear on the cover of French Vogue. She became known for being a part of the "Big Six" and dominated every runway. According to The New York Times, Campbell has had a reputation for being hard to work with and was involved in a few incidents that made headlines, but that hasn't overshadowed her prolific career as a top model.
Campbell continues to model. In September 2022, she closed Tod's Spring/Summer 2023 show, with veteran model Carla Bruni joining her on the runway. That same month, Campbell walked for Hugo Boss, Messika High Jewelry, and Burberry and walked for Alexander McQueen the following month, per her modeling profile. In addition, she landed the cover of British Vogue in March and Vogue Arabia in November 2022. There's clearly no stopping the iconic model from doing what she does best.
Besides modeling, Campbell's life changed forever when she became a mom at 50 in 2021. It came as a shock to the world when the model, who has yet to share her daughter's name, told British Vogue, "I can count on one hand the number of people who knew that I was having her ... But she is the biggest blessing I could ever imagine. It's the best thing I've done."
Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni made a name for herself in the modeling world in the late '80s, which included walking in Karl Lagerfield's Chanel show and nabbing a campaign for Guess. She became a leading model of the '90s, working for high-end fashion designers, including Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, and Christian Dior.
Bruni quit modeling in 1997 to focus on a music career. During an interview with Vogue, she looked back at some of the most defining moments in her career, which included her first-ever album cover. The album, titled "Quelqu'un m'a dit," which was released in 2002, featured Bruni in a T-shirt and her guitar. It was different than seeing the model wearing high-end fashion on the runways. "I made this picture from my album as far as I could from sophisticated world because I wanted to give another message which was — this was all going to be about the music." Bruni has released six albums as of this writing, with her latest being 2020's "Carla Bruni."
In 2008, Bruni married then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy, with Vogue reporting that after he left office in 2012, Bruni focused less on politics and more on her music. According to Harper's Bazaar, she returned to the catwalk in 2017 to pay homage to the late Gianni Versace for the label's Spring 2018 collection.
Eva Herzigova
Eva Herzigova was considered the Marilyn Monroe of the '90s. After appearing in the first Wonderbra advertisement in 1994, which featured Herzigova in a black Wonderbra with the words, "Hello Boys," the Czech's model career boomed. After that, she was featured in Guess campaigns, walked Victoria's Secret shows, and graced the covers of several international Vogue magazines.
Herzigova is still very active in the model industry. She starred in campaigns for Roberto Cavalli and Bottega Veneta in 2017 and continues to appear on countless magazine covers, including the January 2019 cover of Vogue Czechoslovakia and Elle Spain's January 2021 issue. In addition, she joined the original '90s models for Dolce & Gabbana's Spring 2019 campaign and walked the Schiaparelli Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2022 show. Looking at the model's Instagram proves that she isn't stopping.
Speaking to Elle in 2010 about how she's managed to continue to have a successful modeling career, Herzigova shared, "I've been doing it for 20 years, and I would never have expected it. There's the return of the supermodels from the '90s, and I think that's because they have a story to tell that people can connect to."
Stephanie Seymour
Stephanie Seymour made waves in the '90s when she graced the pages of Victoria's Secret catalogs and posed for Playboy and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. According to Vogue, she became one of the very first Victoria's Secret Angels, along with Tyra Banks and Helena Christensen, and became known as one of the "original supermodels" of the '90s.
Besides turning heads with her modeling career, Seymour made headlines for her relationships. She dated Elite Model Management founder John Casablancas, who was 26 years her senior and who was married at the time. She married and divorced guitarist Tommy Andrews, dated Charlie Sheen and Warren Beatty, and Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose. She starred in the band's two music videos for "Don't Cry" and "November Rain." The two ended on a sour note in 1993, with both stars suing one another and eventually settling their dispute, per Page Six.
Seymour is still modeling, having posed for Salvatore Ferragamo with '90s supermodel Claudia Schiffer for the brand's 2007/2008 campaign, per Vogue. She posed for Vogue France in 2018, covered Vogue Italia in 2019, and closed the Fall 2019 Versace runway show in a stunning black gown. When she's not modeling, Seymour runs a lingerie company called Raven & Sparrow, which she launched in 2017.
Shalom Harlow
Shalom Harlow was discovered at a Cure concert when she was 16 years old in 1989. From there, her life changed forever, walking the catwalks for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Valentino, posing for Vogue magazine, and being featured in several ads for designers like Versace and Christian Dior, per FMD. In 1996, she hosted MTV's "House of Style," taking over Cindy Crawford's duties, and made her acting debut in the 1997 film "In & Out." Her most notable role came in 2003 when she starred alongside Kate Hudson in "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."
Harlow's modeling resume is extensive, but she had to take a step back from her incredible career in the 2000s when her health began to decline. In 2020, she told InStyle that at one point, she needed to use a wheelchair to get around. She had Lyme disease, parasites from traveling worldwide, and black mold poisoning. "I did have complex PTSD from the level of infections in my body ... My unhealed physical, mental, and emotional wounds had finally caught up with me," Harlow said.
Harlow eventually returned to the runway in 2019 when she walked the Spring 2019 Versace show. She continued to showcase her modeling strut for Ralph Lauren's Spring 2023 collection in October 2022. She's also still posing for high-end fashion brands like Mugler and Moschino and graced the covers of Vogue Japan and Vogue Poland.
Kristen McMenamy
Kristen McMenamy was different from the original supermodels of the '90s, thanks to her androgynous appearance. According to Vogue, McMenamy was a natural redhead when she began her career, but once she chopped off her locks and dyed her hair black, people began to take notice. In 1993, she became a muse for Chanel's Karl Lagerfield and worked for fashion houses like Calvin Klein and Versace.
Having gone grey-hair chic, McMenamy has worked well into the 2000s. According to Vogue, she joined Naomi Campbell on the catwalk for Chanel's Spring show in 2004 and hit the Givenchy runway in 2007. In 2010, designers Viktor & Rolf had McMenamy at center stage for a fashion performance where the model had layers of clothes peeled off. In 2018, she opened the Valentino Spring/Summer 2019 show, and in 2021, she opened up the "Fendace" show, which was a collaboration between Fendi and Versace. In 2022, the 58-year-old model walked for Jean Paul Gaultier but made headlines for taking a tumble on the runway, per People.
When she's not modeling in front of an audience, McMenamy is showing off her fashion on social media. Her Instagram is filled with the model wearing brightly colored designs and striking her best poses.
Tyra Banks
This list of models of the 1990s would not be complete if it didn't mention the "smize" queen Tyra Banks. Her biography notes that she signed with Elite Model Management in 1990, and her career skyrocketed as a runway model. However, she found significant success as a lingerie model for Victoria's Secret. She broke boundaries when she became the first Black woman on the cover of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late '90s.
In 2003, Banks became a fixture on our television screens when she hosted the reality competition series "America's Next Top Model" and would later get her own talk show titled, "The Tyra Banks Show" from 2005 to 2011. One of the show's most famous moments came in 2007 when Banks told those who criticized her body in a bikini to "Kiss my fat a**!" while wearing that same swimsuit on tv. For her work on the show, Banks won two Daytime Emmy Awards. In addition, the supermodel has hosted the 12th and 13th seasons of "America's Got Talent" and has been the host of "Dancing With the Stars" since season 29.
Banks' most important mission is advocating for body positivity, especially after she faced criticism for not being the typical stick-thin model. "I am telling people that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and ages. I have to put my money where my mouth is. I have to make sure my message is pure," she told Sports Illustrated (via People).