Supermodels might as well be another species, right?
Blessed with killer looks and amazing poise, it’s their world and we’re just living
in it.
But did you know some former runway goddesses now sell Avon and teach yoga?
There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but let’s take a look!
Helena Christensen was named one of the "Magnificent Seven" supermodels by The New York Times in
1996.
In her 50s, Christensen is still modeling, and in 2018, she appeared alongside Carla
Bruni, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, and Cindy Crawford to close out the Versace runway
at the Milan Fashion Week, according to Vogue Paris.
While Christensen continues to grace fashion magazine covers, she has also taken a role
in the fashion industry as a photographer.
In 2019, Helena Christensen told Whitewall:
"I decided to give modeling a go so I could pursue a photography career."
Traveling was a major part of Christensen's passion for the fashion industry, as she told
The Sydney Morning Herald:
"Wanting to explore the world was one of the main reasons I even found modelling interesting
at all from the beginning."
In her travels, Christensen has been able to pursue photography in tandem with her modeling
career.
In 2015, Christensen began working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
using her photography skills to advocate for the rights of refugees, and she was later
appointed as a goodwill ambassador for the UNHCR in 2019.
Since taking more time to focus on her photography career, Christensen has used her talents and
fame to raise awareness for sustainability, AIDS, and breast cancer.
She told Harper's Bazaar Arabia:
"I love the way the fashion business is active in raising awareness about all kinds of issues.
Any time I can be a part of that, I am."
Supermodel Christy Turlington was also one of the "Magnificent Seven" from the '90s,
best known for her consistent work with Calvin Klein.
Turlington began working with Calvin Klein as the face of their Eternity campaign in
the late '80s, and she continues to front the campaign today — nearly four decades
later.
Despite her continued work in the modeling industry, Turlington founded Every Mother
Counts in 2010 after the release of her documentary, No Woman, No Cry.
It's a charity designed to ensure:
"Quality, respectful, and equitable maternity care for all."
In an interview with Marie Claire, Turlington explained that she began her work to establish
the charity after experiencing postpartum complications following the birth of her daughter.
Turlington earned her master's degree in public health from Columbia University before launching
her non-profit.
In 2020, Turlington was asked to join a COVID-19 maternity task force for the state of New
York to address the complications involved for mothers during lockdown, noted Vogue.
Founding and running a non-profit organization is a full-time job.
Turlington told Marie Claire:
"There's a lot of advocacy work that's involved.
We try to work with legislators and policy makers here in the United States to improve
policies, improve coverage, and lengthen the period of time where women are insured postpartum."
The New Zealand supermodel began her career at 17.
When Rachel Hunter moved to New York to begin modeling, she quickly booked shoots with Vogue,
Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and Sports Illustrated.
In an interview with Beautiful Humans, Hunter explained:
"My true love is for animals and the earth.
I never wanted to be a model; I did not think highly of it."
While filming in New Zealand, Hunter met with a producer to discuss working on a show with
spirituality as a major focus.
Hunter explained:
"We got together, and she said, 'Oh, you will get back on TV.
Spirituality is all very well but you are in the world of beauty and modeling so let's
merge the two.'"
From this meeting, Rachel Hunter's Tour of Beauty was born.
The travel show explored beauty practices and spirituality throughout the world by focusing
on food, medicine, and lifestyles.
After her mother passed in 2017, Hunter went to India to study yoga.
There, she surpassed over 500 hours of yoga-teaching experience, earning her Master Training Certification.
"I said to my mom in her last stages when I was lying in bed with her, I said, 'What
do you regret?'
And she goes, 'Not fully stepping into who I am.'"
As a yoga teacher, Hunter told Beautiful Humans:
"I don't teach anything unless I spend a lot of time with different prayers or different
breath work so I can really express what I went through."
Kathy Ireland gained her supermodel status by getting featured in the Sports Illustrated
annual Swimsuit issue for 13 consecutive years.
In 1989, she landed the cover, which ended up being the best-selling issue for the magazine
of all time, according to Success.
In an interview with Fox News, Ireland said:
"Modeling was not part of my plan.
It was offered to me and I thought it would be an opportunity to save money to either
go to college or start a business."
Ireland founded her business, Kathy Ireland Worldwide, in 1993, after a sock company reached
out to her for a modeling job.
"From the beginning when we started with socks, diversity was part of our strategy.
And it continues to be."
She took the opportunity to offer the business a partnership with her brand, thereby launching
her career as an entrepreneur.
Ireland's brand began by focusing on women's clothing.
Her brand sold exclusively through Kmart, and when Kmart filed for bankruptcy in 2002,
Kathy Ireland Worldwide began selling home furnishings and pulled through the setback.
Today, the company sells over 17,000 products, according to Forbes.
The company also runs luxury resorts, a talent agency, and licensing, among other services.
In 2015, the entrepreneur joined Forbes' list of America's top 50 most successful women.
Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen began her career with the 1998 Alexander McQueen
runway, according to Elle.
In her memoir, Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life, Bündchen wrote that she almost ended
her career then, when she realized that she was being asked to walk completely topless.
But, of course, we know Bündchen would go on to have a super successful modeling career.
In 2020, she officially retired from the runway.
She told reporters for a Brazilian newspaper:
"Automatically my body tells me if what I do is worth it, and it asked to stop."
While the supermodel continues to model for editorials and ad campaigns, she is also pursuing
a new line of work — Fantasy Sports.
Following her retirement from runway walking, Bündchen, who married football star Tom Brady
in 2009, became a special adviser to the Board of Directors for environmental, social, and
governance initiatives for the fantasy sports platform DraftKings in 2021.
Jason Robins, the co-founder and CEO of DraftKings, sought Bündchen for her expertise in environmental
advocacy.
Bündchen said on the DraftKings website:
"I look forward to working with the DraftKings board of directors in continuing to find ways
to make the most positive impacts through meaningful social and environmental initiatives."
Adrianne Curry was the first winner of America's Next Top Model, taking home the crown in Cycle
1 of the show.
Curry discussed the lackluster opportunities offered to her after her win in a now-deleted
Instagram post, in which she said:
"We were led to believe daily the winner would be instantly rich and a huge Revlon cover
girl.
This was a lie."
After winning the first season, however, Curry did go on to model for two covers of Playboy
magazine and snagged some other modeling gigs, including runway shows for Ed Hardy and Von
Dutch.
Curry went on to work in reality TV, starring in The Surreal Life and My Fair Brady.
In her blog, Curry describes how she left the Hollywood lifestyle to move to Montana
with her husband, Matthew Rhode, where the supermodel now works a normal job and sells
Avon makeup products.
She wrote on Instagram in 2020:
"I've been happily living a pretty low profile life outside of being an online Avon Lady
and I quite enjoy it."
Stephanie Seymour, another iconic supermodel from the '80s and '90s, was one of five orig
inal Victoria's Secret Angels.
In 1995, Seymour married billionaire Peter Brant, which undoubtedly secured a financially
sound lifestyle for the supermodel.
Despite this, Seymour has continued working into her 50s, and came out of her retirement
in modeling in 2019 to walk the fall Versace show in Milan, noted Vogue.
"Hey, I gotta wacky idea.
What's say we settle this on the runway?"
In 2017, Seymour launched the lingerie line Raven & Sparrow which she co-founded with
designer Casey Paul.
In an interview with Business of Fashion, Seymour explained why she decided to launch
the company, saying:
"I love the fashion industry and it's a business I wanted to stay in, and as you get older
you don't work as much."
Seymour's line was born from a need for more inclusivity in lingerie.
She told The Telegraph:
"I think so much of today's lingerie is made for men."
So, her collection is designed with women's comfort in mind, and as a mother, Seymour
wanted her line to make all women feel beautiful.
Seymour chose the name for the brand very specifically.
She told Business of Fashion that she didn't want the brand to be named after her:
"It's not about me trying to use my name or take all the credit.
I feel like the product will speak for itself."
Claudia Schiffer was another member of the "Magnificent Seven" during her reign in the
'90s.
Her career bloomed when she became the face for Guess Jeans and then Chanel, and she continued
to dominate magazine covers and runways for decades.
While Schiffer hasn't retired from modeling, she has pursued other interests in recent
years.
One such endeavor is glassware and ceramics design; Schiffer created a whimsical line
of ceramics with a popular Brazilian glassware company.
She's also collaborated with clothing designers to create a fashion line with European brand
Réalisation Par, as noted by Vogue.
In 2021, Schiffer is curating an exhibition on 1990s fashion photography in Düsseldorf.
This exhibit is something that Schiffer is especially passionate about.
It is largely based off of the book Captivate! that Schiffer put together, which is set to
be published in November 2021.
Claudia told Vogue in an interview that the exhibit has been curated from her personal
photographs that she has been collecting since the beginning of her career.
Schiffer told W Magazine:
"The 1990s was a watershed moment that upturned ideals of beauty and fashion.
Above all, there was innovation and experimentation.
During the turbulent days of lockdown, I was so grateful to have this project to immerse
myself in."
Supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is best known for her work with Victoria's Secret,
Burberry, and Levi's, noted Us Weekly, but she left Victoria's Secret in 2010 to focus
on building a more stable financial future for herself.
She told Girlboss Radio:
"I've always been so aware that modeling is perhaps going to have a very short shelf life."
Whiteley launched her beauty line, Rose Inc., in 2018, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In an interview with E! News, Whiteley explained:
"After being in the makeup chair for over 20 years, I have definitely seen and experienced
the best, and sometimes the not-so-great, when it comes to beauty products."
Whiteley used her experience in the modeling industry to develop, quote, "100 percent non-comedogenic"
formulas.
In her interview, she described her brand as:
"Transparent.
Effective.
Sustainable."
Whiteley also explained that she had partnered with Amyris, a company that specializes in
sustainable and clean beauty products, to ensure that Rose Inc. products would match
her sustainability and ethical goals.
Kim Stolz entered the modeling industry after she was, quote, "dared by a friend" to audition
for Cycle 5 of America's Next Top Model.
Stolz, who was a government and international politics student at the time of the audition,
is the daughter of model Carol Brandt, who had modeled for Ralph Lauren in the '70s,
according to The New York Times.
Stolz made it to the top five before being eliminated.
Stolz is remembered for being the first contestant to openly identify as a lesbian while on America's
Next Top Model, as noted by Insider.
When she spoke to a reporter from The Advocate, Stolz said that she hoped that she:
"Made the queer community proud."
Since her time on the show, Stolz was a host for MTV and opened and closed a lesbian bar,
among other endeavors.
In 2014, she be--gan working for Bank of America as the director for equity-derivative sales.
By 2018, Stolz was made the head of Bank of America's U.S. prime brokerage sales team.
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