She’s more than just the face that’s graced a thousand billboards — Cindy Crawford has used her drive and entrepreneurial spirit to redefine what it means to be a model, proving that women can have style and substance.
The photograph that changed everything
It has long been rumoured that Crawford was scouted while detasseling corn in her hometown of DeKalb, Illinois, though her discovery was much more of a slow-burning, organic affair. After regaining her confidence following a cruel prank from her classmates (who tricked her into believing a department store had asked her to model some of their clothing) she became a brand ambassador for a new local boutique. Then, in her junior year in high school, a local photographer named Roger Legel asked to feature Crawford in the DeKalb Nite Weekly (pictured above). After a couple of test shoots and a trip to Chicago’s Midwest Beauty Show, Marie Anderson of Elite modelling agency in Chicago tracked Crawford down and put her to work. The rest? That’s more than 600 magazine covers worldwide, and history.
A star student
Just a pretty face? Absolutely not. This high school co-valedictorian, PEP club, maths team and student council member won a scholarship to North Western to study chemical engineering, but instead swore into the Supers sisterhood.
A love letter, from Sam McKnight
‘I’ve known and loved Cindy since the mid Eighties when we both lived in NYC starting out in the business. We’ve shot so many iconic images together with Patrick Demarchelier and Irving Penn. Cindy is always great fun to work with — loves to laugh. But don’t let that fool you! We had so much fun, and all the while Cindy was figuring out how to turn those sexy shots and Vogue covers into a multi-million-dollar business. Sharp as a pin, keenly observant, Professional with a capital P and a great role model for generations of young American girls. And I’m delighted to say she has not changed one bit.’
Wondering why she never cuts her hair?
You can blame the late Patrick Demarchelier, who booked baby Crawford for a shoot in Rome despite the fact she said she would not cut her hair for the images. His team chopped it off anyway, against her wishes. Naturally, this left the supermodel ‘traumatised’.
“Take the time to learn people’s names, and be nice to everyone. If you’re not grateful and happy to be there, there’s someone who would be” - advice to her daughter Kaia
The history of the beauty spot
Nicknamed ‘olives’, those in Ancient Greece believed that beauty spots were sent from the gods to ensure a personwas not too beautiful, while Hippocrates determined that you could predict a person’s future from its placement. Meanwhile, in Ancient Rome, formerly enslaved Romans used faux beauty spots to conceal scars from branding ortorture in the hope of living a normal life. Slightly further away in Imperial China, thousands of years ago, face mapping (Mian Xiang) was used to determine a person’s future and character. The scary part? It’s still at play and apparently, the colour of a mole makes a huge difference. Sporting a brown beauty spot? Good luck to you.
Later down the line during the Middle Ages, here on our glorious isle and other parts of Western Europe, moles wereseen as a sign of the devil, resulting in many innocent, unsuspecting women being accused of witchcraft and subsequently murdered. Chilling.
Then in the 18th century, normal people in England and France first used faux beauty spots to conceal smallpox scars before the aristocracy adopted them as the height of fashion, with the placement and shape of each patch said to be a sign of one’s mood.
In the 20th century, despite stars from Clara Bow and Jean Harlow to Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe drawing on their own beauty spots for allure, these days the consensus is foggy as celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker and Madonna had theirs removed.
In the early days, Cindy’s earned her the nickname ‘Moleface’ among her sisters and had varying reactions from thefashion industry. ‘It was always a discussion,’ she said in Apple TV’s Supermodels earlier this year. ‘My first British Vogue cover, they retouched it off. The jury was still out.’ Shortly after, Richard Avedon and US Vogue changed the consensus for good. ‘American Vogue left the mole on and that was it, it was never a discussion again.’
“Cindy was definitely the more serious one, but we knew how to get her to loosen and have fun: tequila” - Naomi Campbell
Ding, dong! Welcome to the house of style
No, not the Crawford-Gerber home, but the supermodel’s MTV show, in which she reported on trends, followed fellow supers and interviewed the hottest musicians and celebrities for the burgeoning TV channel from 1989 to 1996. Got a spare evening? Feel free to lose yourself in the snippets on YouTube. In the meantime, here are some of Cindy’s most iconic moments hosting House of Style.
Carting Dee Dee Ramone off for a makeover by designer Paul Smith, with surprisingly good results.
‘If you wear one of these vests someone’s going to strike up a conversation with you and you’ll definitely get lucky.’ — Dee Dee Ramone
Introducing emerging supermodel Kate Moss to the masses, despite the fact many of their peers felt threatened by theCroydon-born youngster.
‘A lot of people wouldn’t say that I’m a pretty girl.’ — Kate Moss
Introducing Seinfeld characters to the magic of essential oils by massaging a rather hairy George Costanza with his co-stars Elaine Benes and Kramer.
‘I imagine Liberace’s coffin pillow smells something like this.’ — Jerry Seinfeld
The Workout
Directed by Peter Care (who also worked with Tina Turner and REM), Cindy’s artfully produced 1992 workout video, Shape Your Body, sold more than 7 million copies. For a slice of the action, give her signature moves a go.
Warm up: head rolls, shoulder rolls, arm swings, hip swings and toe touches.
Sweat it out: knee-based push-ups and hip raises.
Lunges, lateral squats and sumo squats.
Single leg raises, while holding on to a chair and on all fours.
Regular crunches and side crunches.
Bicep curls, shoulder press, tricep curls, tricep dips and lateral raises using dumbbells.
Click here for the Cindy Crawford workout playlist
The royal treatment
In 1996, Princess Diana invited Crawford to visit Kensington Palace after 13-year-old Prince William confessed he had a crush on her. Speaking on Naomi Campbell’s No Filter YouTube series, Cindy says: ‘I was so intimidated meeting Princess Diana and being [there] and just how completely down-to-earth she was because there’s so much protocol I guess, and not being English, I don’t understand some of it.’
Shoot credits:
Hair by Rob Talty
Make-up by Melanie Inglessis
Manicure by Vanessa Sanchez McCullough, all at Forward Artists.
Producers: Nicole Holcroft-Emmess, Trever Swearingen at 88 Phases
Photographer’s assistants: Embry Lopez and Calvin Mendez.
Digitech: Luis Jaime
Stylist’s assistant: Brittany Levenson
Production assistant: Jack Morris
