- Linda, tell us about the first time you had sex.
Just kidding. [all laughing]
[upbeat music]
[video beeps] [upbeat music continues]
We each have an envelope with questions
and we're gonna interview one another.
So who wants to start?
- Linda, what was the moment
that you realized you had made it?
- Well, for me, my dream
was to be on the cover of "Vogue," any "Vogue."
My 7th grade or 8th grade yearbook,
my homeroom teacher, she signed it, and she had put on it,
"See you on the cover of "Vogue.""
My first "Vogue" cover was a French "Vogue" with Bill King.
Yeah, I had a really dark eye, I had couture on,
had very long hair and with Bill King, you have to move.
You wind it up, and then you, "Okay, go."
I was just flicking my hair into the fan.
- Yeah . - And there was no music.
- No music, and if you got tired,
he would have someone spray the water spray
in between the wind machine, so it would like wake you up.
[Naomi laughs]
- And unfortunately, it was his last cover.
- You shot that in the middle of the night.
- Why did you have to shoot it in the middle of the night?
- Well, because during the day back then,
the clients were going to all the houses
to see the garments in real life and buy them.
- [Christy] And you'd work it till 2 or 3 in the morning?
- Yeah. - 4 or 5.
- And we'd take naps during the day.
- And there was no fitting.
You got there, and they put it on us.
- And sometimes you had,
like you have this for half an hour,
you have this for 15 minutes.
- And remember, they used to follow it
exactly to the picture.
- Oh, you had to do it to the picture.
- At Yves Saint Lauren,
it was to the picture that was in the show,
how you worked with the gloves, everything.
Compare 1989 Peter Lindbergh's shoot
with today's Raf and Edward shoot.
- Were we all wearing our own jeans?
Were we? - My Levis, yeah.
- [Cindy] I think they were my Levis.
- [Linda] And those tops, do you remember who they were by?
- I do. - Giorgio di Sant'Angelo.
- [Christy] Yeah, and I feel like the shoes even
were shoes we- - I love a flat shoe.
- Yeah, me too. - I think they were our own.
- It was very, it was more like a get together,
to me, 'cause we've been together
throughout London, Milan, Paris, New York,
and the Fashion Week was coming to an end,
or the fashion month, and we all loved working with Peter.
It was relaxed.
- My takeaway from that shoot was that, you know,
first of all Peter loved all of us
just looking like ourselves, and we all loved Peter.
But it just felt so, you know
like the coming out of the 80s
'cause I think that was like the 90s woman.
It was like a statement what Peter saw
as the 90s woman and we were all natural.
Like there weren't the giant shoulder pads,
the hair teased up to here, the makeup.
It was like- - Yeah, he was the opposite.
- We were very pared down
and even though we all look very different
we all looked good together.
- But did anyone here
think that it would have the reaction that it did?
- I didn't think George Michael would be calling us from it.
I didn't think any of that.
I didn't think a video would come from it.
- And do you remember it was all
sweetie, darling at the time.
- Yeah. - That's all we said.
"Ab Fab?" - "Ab Fab."
- That was a good one.
To the group, can you share a piece of wisdom
that you've learned through your career?
- I know everything has its time
and you cannot compete with destiny, is what I say.
What I thought I wanted when I was younger
it wasn't my time to have.
I wanted to work with Calvin Klein.
I did the fashion shows, but I never did the ads.
So it took me 34 years to do an ad.
And I said, " Okay, it's okay, that's my time."
- I would say my biggest lesson is like, listen to your gut.
I had no problem doing nudes,
but for the right people and under the right circumstances.
The only pictures I've ever regretted
are the ones that I kind of got talked into.
And then the times when I stood up for myself,
in the end, I feel like they respected me more
because I wasn't a pushover.
That's the advice that I try to pass on to my daughter.
- Well, don't say, I won't get out of bed
for less than $10,000 a day.
[all laugh]
Don't say that.
You will regret it.
- What I do think is important that I learned
is how important relationships are.
Even though there are definitely times
in our lives where we're not as connected
making the effort to keep things going
and keep the line open I think is important.
Not for us to just to call or text
when we hear terrible things about our loved ones.
- So many people we've lost.
- So many.
- [Linda] And Tatiana.
- [Naomi] Too young. - [Linda] So young, so young.
- This question is for you, Naomi.
What was the defining moment
in your early career that changed everything?
- There's been so many moments.
It's hard to pick one.
I mean, I think, you know, being on the cover
of the "Vogue" of my country was a big deal
because for me I had to prove to my mother,
to my grandmother that I had made the right choice
and that I hadn't, you know, gone left
and against the whole family who were like, no.
So, that was something that meant a lot to me.
- Who were your mentors at the start of your career
and what did they teach you, Turly?
- I mean, I guess the closest thing
to a mentor that I would say,
would probably be the photographers
we worked with early on.
So I learned probably the most
from Arthur Elgort and Steven Meisel
because they're the two photographers
I worked with the most in those first two years.
That was like the actual training.
- For me, it was the first photographer
that I worked with in Chicago,
the first big photographer, Victor Skrebneski.
Because I think he helped me understand
that our job is to make the clothes look good.
It's not just about you looking pretty or whatever.
And so like- - Sell them.
- To really understand like the structure of clothes
or how, oh this dress needs a waist accented
or this dress is about the slit.
And you didn't move kind of once you got in the position,
which then when I got to New York
it was great for like Avedon and Penn
and those photographers who they were like,
"Oh, you don't move and you understand the clothes."
And from looking at pictures of all of you guys.
- There was many mentors.
Azzedine Alaia was a mentor.
Yves Saint Laurent was a mentor.
Each, when you worked with them,
you needed to embody their world
and become what they wanted you to be.
The model that I remember seeing was Iman
because she had a Tia Maria commercial
and she was so elegant, just gliding along.
Of course I knew who Marie Helvin was,
and Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy.
- All the great Brits.
- My really horrific early years of tear sheets
were good mentors to me.
I learned what not.
- You learned from yourself.
- I learned from myself, yeah.
- What not to do. - Don't do that again.
[all laugh]
- This question is for Cindy.
What is an iconic moment in the history
of your career that will always stay with you?
- For me, I have like a series,
that will be like highlights.
My first American "Vogue" cover, August.
[all laugh]
- That's an inside joke. - I will never, ever-
- Wait, wait, wait, Linda, say,
what's wrong with August?
- What's wrong with August, Linda?
Linda famously once told me
that August isn't a very good month, but-
- Linda needs to learn to shut up.
- But around the same time I got offered
to do Playboy with Herb Ritts, which was a big,
like, no one understood why I did that.
I don't know why, It just felt right
and I loved Herb and I trusted Herb and I knew I'd be safe.
Oh, and then I did a Pepsi commercial
with Joe Pytka for the Super Bowl.
And it was, you know, cool car and cool music.
- And the music, yeah. - But the cute boys,
can I say, took the piss out of it.
Do you know what I mean?
It wasn't just like the sexy girl.
It was like cute at the end.
So it was, you know, I think it had something for everybody.
And the combination of all of those things
really led to MTV offering me "House of Style",
because I had a broad audience of men and women
not just a fashion crowd. - Yeah.
- To the group.
What would you say have been some of the most
notable changes within the industry,
that's easy, from the 90s to present day?
- Film to digital.
- When you're shooting digital and like the whole team
sometimes you're on set by yourself
and everyone's hovered around the monitor
and you're kind of like, "You guys, I'm over here."
Sometimes it's great because you're like,
okay, I got it, we can move on.
But other times they shorten the time that you're on set.
So you might miss the accidental thing
that happened that was magic.
There was a freedom in film because it was like,
okay, we got the Polaroid, now just go for it.
I miss that aspect of film,
but we usually finish earlier with digital.
- Inclusivity and diversity.
Seeing more models of color, creed,
race, shape, age, getting work
and not having to feel ashamed, feeling accepted.
- If you could give one piece of advice
to your younger self, what would it be?
- I think that, and all of us in different ways
came from small towns, small beginnings or whatever.
And I think when I finally got in the big city
and then found myself embarrassed, or Milan,
there was that feeling that I didn't really belong.
It was like, I'm an impostor, they're gonna find out,
like it's "The Emperor's New Clothes" syndrome.
I wish I would've had more fun
and just like less insecurities.
I wish I would've taken the advice
from my friends, from my parents, from my mother.
I wish I would've taken advice
and not been so hardheaded and did what I wanted to do,
'cause I do have regrets.
You know.
But with wisdom I was able to correct most of those things.
But please kids, listen to your parents.
I know, I know, I know, I know.
They're so annoying, but you know what,
they're kind of right.
- This is a public service announcement.
[all laugh]
- Yes, this is a big announcement.
- To the group.
If you were to sum up the essence of today's cover shoot,
what would that be?
- I would say for me today has been fun
and I think that comes across in the images.
- Historical.
I mean, I hope I'm going to see you all again,
but it's not- - I hope so too.
- I'm saying in the sense of to do what we're doing now
with Edward and with Anna, today is historical.
- It's amazing how quickly we all just fall into it
even though we all have like you know, kids and you know.
- No, the energy- - Doing other work.
- The energy's been amazing. - Yeah.
- [Naomi] What I feel is the joy.
That's what I feel from today, joy.
- There is something about our early years
that really felt very joyful and very celebratory.
Even though life was certainly not perfect.
The business was not perfect.
The world was not perfect.
But when you look back
there is this sense of joyfulness and playfulness.
- I'm blessed that I came at that time.
I wouldn't have wanted to come at another time.
- Same. - I love our era. [laughs]
- Shall we do a high five?
- I'm doing a low five. Oh, yeah.
- How about that?
- Woo.
[all laugh]
- Thank you, "Vogue".
- Thank you, "Vogue." - Thank you, "Vogue."
- Thank you, Naomi.
- Thank you, Christy, thank you Linda, thank you, Cindy.
Thank you Edward.
[lips smack]
- Thank you, everyone.
[crew clap and cheer]
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