MODELS SUPERMODELS GISELE BÜNDCHEN Fact Bündchen has a fortune of around 150 million and in 2008 she earned around 35 million Bündchen at Sao Paolo Fashion Week Brazil
5 The lives of fashion models seem incredibly glamorous They show off the latest designer clothes and their faces grace the covers of glossy magazines It’s hard work though and extremely competitive FASHION In the world of modeling fashion models are at the very top These celebrity women and men operate in the world of haute couture a French word meaning high fashion SUPERMODELS The most successful high-fashion models are known as supermodels The term was coined in the 1940s the decade when American model Dorian Leigh dominated the covers of the top fashion magazines and the gossip columns too The American model Janice Dickinson had the highest profile of the 1970s and 1980s but the real era of the supermodel was the 1990s The famous supermodel Big Six were Naomi Campbell Cindy Crawford Linda Evangelista Kate Moss Claudia Schiffer and Christy Turlington TODAY’S BIGGEST MODEL The richest and best-known supermodel today is Gisele Bündchen She was discovered age 14 in a shopping mall in her native Brazil Spotted by a scout someone employed by a modeling agency to find new models she went on to take part in the Elite Look of the Year contest CITY MOVER In 1996 Bündchen walked the runways in her first New York Fashion Week By 1999 she was a worldwide phenomenon Her glowing skin earned her a Vogue front cover just when pale models were going out of fashion Since then Bündchen has appeared on the covers of all the top fashion magazines and worked for the biggest designers Date of birth July 20 1980 Origins Horizontina Brazil Height 5 ft 10 in 1 79 m Hair color Brown Eye color Blue Agency IMG Key runway shows Ralph Lauren Versace Valentino Chloé Victoria’s Secret Achievements Appearing on the cover of Vogue four times in one year 1999 CELEB BIO I’m a workaholic I’ve been doing my job a long time
AGENCIES Date of birth November 30 1989 Origins Atlanta Georgia Height 5 ft 9 in 1 75 m Hair color Dark brown Eye color Brown Agency IMG Key runway shows Dolce Gabbana Issey Miyake Hermès Marc Jacobs Achievements Appearing on the cover of American Vogue in May 2007 as one of the new generation of supermodels CELEB BIO
7 CHANEL IMAN Every fashion model is backed by an agency Modeling agencies work behind the scenes putting models in touch with the advertising people and fashion designers who give them assignments GETTING A CONTRACT Would-be models work hard to get a modeling contract with one of the top agencies A small fortunate number of models are discovered by scouts Others have to get themselves noticed They may send in photographs or attend open auditions or agency modeling shows WINNING WORK Chanel Iman signed up with American agency Ford Models at age 12 Her career really took off five years later when she won third place in the agency’s 2006 Supermodel of the World competition That got her noticed Soon after she made her debut at New York Fashion Week AGENCY WORK Ford Models has put forward Iman’s name for runway work with such big-name designers as Louis Vuitton John Galliano Yves Saint Laurent YSL and Christian Lacroix Iman has also appeared in advertising campaigns for big retailers like Gap and Benetton TEEN TRAINING Like Iman most models start their careers in their teens and agencies train them on the job Iman was home schooled because she wanted an education as well as a modeling career She hopes to do some fashion designing herself some day and has already become involved in the music business I’m still a regular girl I go to basketball and football games Fact Chanel’s mom named her after the French fashion designer Coco Chanel Chanel Iman walking the runway for Blumarine at Milan Fashion Week
