This Year's Models

Thirty-Something Supermodels Survive To Walk Another Day

By CHRIS SCHMIDT

Don't pity the supermodel. Life is getting a little easier for this most unlikely of oppressed groups. Last Tuesday, a Manhattan federal judge granted class-action status to a number of models seeking damages from top modeling agencies such as Ford and Elite that had long set their commissions at 20%. (New York state law caps the commission rate for employment agencies at 10%; modeling agencies had evaded the law by designating themselves as "model management companies.") Reuters reports that the 20% commission is standard only for the fledgling model; once a model becomes a supermodel, she is able to renegotiate her contract.

Yet supermodels have their own occupational hazards.Little has been accomplished in curbing the dangerous appeals of dating rock stars,or in combatting the colonization of fashion magazine covers by Hollywood actresses. But models have recently shown some progress against the most merciless of their foes: age.

Conventional wisdom was that a model's career faded in her late 20s, before which time, if she was lucky, she'd have parlayed her good looks into an acting career (like Andie MacDowell or Cameron Diaz) or a trophy marriage, like '70s covergirl Patti Hansen, who wed Keith Richards.

But times are changing, and fashion models are beginning to extend their careers into their 30s and beyond. Ivan Bart, vice president of the modeling agency IMG, which represents models such as Lauren Hutton, 59, and Marisa Berenson, 57, ascribed the trend to changing mores."Models in another time and place didn't take as good care of themselves," Mr. Bart said.

With annual salaries of the successful model now running into the millions, models are recognizing the commodity value of their mugs."A model like Carolyn Murphy [the 27-yearold face of Estee Lauder] gets up early, does yoga, eats right, takes care of her children," Mr. Bart said. It seems that the hard-partying days of models chugging champagne until they hit rehab or self-destruct are over. "These women get better and better as time goes on," Mr. Bart said.

Models and their handlers aren't the only ones claiming the ascendancy of the older model. Designers, advertisers, and magazine editors are recognizing her appeal, too. Iman, 47, is the face of the DeBeers diamond campaign, and recently appeared in ads for Tanqueray gin celebrating her "distinctive since 1975" status. Ms. Berenson, 57, has recently been appearing in editorials by Steven Meisel in Italian Vogue, traditionally fashion's laboratory of upcoming ideas and trends. And of course there is Lauren Hutton, 59, who perhaps pioneered the trend of celebrity models making comebacks.

But really crystallizing the model longevity trend is the thirty-something supermodel generation, which, after a brief eclipse, has returned to prominence and refused to go away. Cindy Crawford, after being released several years ago from her Revlon contract, is back in the cosmetics limelight as the Nice 'n Easy hair-color spokeswoman. Ms. Crawford has also continued to star in advertisements for Ellen Tracy.

Christy Turlington, meanwhile, has continued to appear in campaigns for some of fashion's chicest brands, such as Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent; she has also been promoting her line of active wear clothing, Nuala, by appearing on the covers of Time and Vogue magazines in yoga poses. And Kate Moss, 29, whom Mr. Bart also puts in the older model category, is back from maternity leave with Burberry and Missoni campaigns.

Candace Bushnell, in her recent novel "Trading Up," capitalizes on the phenomenon of the aging model. Her heroine, Janey Wilcox, is an all but washed-up model-turned-actress who experiences not just a career boost, but a rise in social esteem when she lands a Victoria's Secret contract at the age of 32 (which, even in these changed times, is closer to fiction than fact). Ms. Bushnell writes, "A rich girl could sleep with a hundred men and people would call her bohemian, while a poor girl who did the same thing was labeled a gold digger or a whore. But all that had changed the day Janey became a Victoria Secret's model. It was, as if, after all those long years in New York, she'd suddenly emerged in full color. People suddenly got her."

A real-life inspiration for Ms. Bushnell's character may be Linda Evangelista, 38, who after a three-year self-imposed exile in St.Tropez made a return in 2001 on the cover of the September Vogue. The return to the limelight seemed, as in the case of Ms. Bushnell's character, to have more to do with self esteem than economic necessity: "One of the reasons I wanted to come back," Ms. Evangelista told Vogue, "is I got tired of seeing really ugly pictures of myself in the tabloids."

Ms. Evangelista has since appeared in advertisements for Versace, Blackglama, and Fendi. The supermodel even returned to the catwalk -- still mainly the province of models in their teens and early 20s. Her appearance on Dolce & Gabbana's Fall 2003 runway show landed her on the cover of the National Post in Toronto, Ms. Evangelista's hometown, with the headline, "The Cat's Back." Just this month, she walked in the fall couture runway shows for Jean Paul Gaultier and Chanel, where she appeared as a bride. Stella Tennant, 32, Naomi Campbell, 33, and Helena Christensen, 34, also walked in the recent couture shows in Paris.

Another factor likely adding longevity to the supermodels' careers is that, since the ascendancy of Hollywood celebrities as designer clothes hangers, it's become harder for younger models to achieve magazine cover recognizability that a model such as Ms. Turlington possesses, Mr. Bart said.There's Gisele Bundchen, the Brazilian bombshell who has managed in her short career to span markets high and low, appearing on the cover of Harper's Bazaar and Rolling Stone. But Karolina Kurkova and Carmen Kass, two of fashion's current top models, are hardly household names.

A recent documentary, "Models: The Real Skinny," on A&E, suggested that the rules governing the arc of a model's career have changed in the last five years.Agents used to recommend that models trying to build a "big career" should decline certain demode clients. (Karl Lagerfeld once sneered that he dropped Claudia Schiffer as the face of Chanel because her ads for a soda company tarnished her image). But in the documentary, handlers of the 19-year-old Ms. Kurkova advised her to strike while the iron was hot, accepting campaigns for Chanel and Valentino, as well as the down-market Express Jeans and Victoria's Secret. Which, less than invalidating the longevity thesis, simply suggests that all bets are off when it comes to the expectations of a model's career these days.

Certainly that has been the experience of Susan Krandell, editor in chief of More, a women's lifestyle magazine devoted to the 40-plus market that only uses older models. So committed is Ms. Krandell to promoting representations of older women that she and the Wilhelmina modeling agency have created an annual model search for women over 40 who've never modeled before. The winners are awarded contracts with Wilhelmina for up to $15,000, and all ten finalists appear in a fashion spread in More in November. "Wilhelmina finds this a very valuable market, and reader feedback has been terrific as well," Ms. Krandell said. Also terrific for the models: The contest's first winner, Liz Cullumberg, 55, has been so successful in her new career, shooting advertisements for Tropicana and Toshiba, that she quit her job as a speech pathologist.

"Women over 40 have been traditionally respected for their wisdom and experience, but we want to show that they can be recognized for their beauty, too," Ms. Krandell said.