• by Joshua Laurent
• – on Sep 26th
• in Beauty

While the term “supermodel” can be found to regularly describe the most famous models of a given time as early as the 1960s, the term didn’t come into prominence until the mid-1980s. While there had been well-known models such as Twiggy, Lauren Hutton and Christie Brinkley, the mid-80s were the first time many models crossed the line into full-blown celebrity. This is largely attributed to a spike in sales of the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues, the expansion of Victoria’s Secret stores into malls and the choice of many fashion and cosmetic lines regularly using models’ names in their advertising.

While some double-dipped, most of the supermodels of this area either focused on runway or print modeling and the introduction of shows such as the Cindy Crawford-hosted House of Style on MTV helped introduce the average American to the intricacies of the industry and the personalities behind the pretty faces.

By 1998, Time magazine dubbed the era of the supermodel as dead and many of the women who became household names a decade earlier were moving into other areas of the fashion industry, attempting to build an acting career or simply fading into obscurity. Here are 10 supermodels who were at the top of their profession at one time but have little-to-no public profile in 2015.

10 Paulina Porizkova

9 Helena Christensen

8 Milla Jovovich

7 Stephanie Seymour

6 Linda Evangelista

5 Rachel Hunter

4 Naomi Campbell

3 Kathy Ireland

2 Elle MacPherson

1 Claudia Schiffer

Despite being featured on over 1,000 magazine covers, Schiffer will forever be remembered as the face, and body, of Guess? Jeans in the early 1990s. While she boasted a healthy list of acting appearances as her modeling career slowed down, Schiffer was a darling of tabloids through the late 90s because of her relationship with magician David Copperfield. The duo successfully sued a French magazine after it claimed their relationship was little more than a business arrangement prior to the couple’s break-up in 1999. Despite turning 45 years old in 2015, she still models on occasion, but keeps a low profile out of the spotlight when she’s not in front of the camera.

 

Sources: IMDb.com, SI.com, InStyle.com, wikipedia.org

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