They're not called Supers for nothing! Kate, Naomi, Stephanie and co reunite for Interview's seven September covers
- The seven beauties also reflect on their careers over the past two and three decades
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Kate Moss, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell may have made their names in the Nineties, but a new set of magazine covers proves they can still blow the current crop of models out of the water.
The trio join fellow Supers Christy Turlington, Amber Valletta, Stephanie Seymour and Daria Werbowy for a series of seven covers for Interview Magazine's fall fashion issue.
The showstopping images were shot by fashion photographer stars Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, and show each woman both clothed and nude in raw black-and-white images.
She's still got it: Stephanie Seymour, now 45 and a mother-of-four, laments the way actors now land many of the major campaigns and covers that once used to be the sole domain of models
The issue - dedicated to the business of modeling - also sees the seven beauties reflect on their careers over the past two and three decades.
Kate Moss, now 39, says that the first time she went to Paris to walk in a John Galliano show, nobody backstage even realized she was a model.
'All the girls were lined up, and I remember [make-up artist] Stéphane Marais said to me, "Are you in the show?" I said, "Yeah." . . . He's like, "Oh my god, get her done quick." [laughs] I was just sitting there all day. I'd been there since, like, 10 in the morning. They just didn't take me for a model.'
The usually interview-shy model also spoke about how protective she is of her daughter, Lila, 11, joking that she is going to lock her up when she turns 14. She doesn't expect Lila to become a model anytime soon though.
'At the moment, she's definitely not into that,' she said. 'She's not into having her picture taken. She gets shy.'
That said, Lila does love Instagram - and while Ms Moss largely rejects social media such as Twitter, she does have an Instagram account too, albeit with only 25 followers because she refuses to make her username public.
Natural beauty: Amber Valletta, now 39 and a self-confessed 'hockey mama', admits she struggled to gain credibility as an actress because she started her career as a model
Mistaken for a nobody? Kate Moss, now 39, says that the first time she went to Paris to walk in a John Galliano show, nobody backstage even realized she was a model
Stephanie Seymour, now 45 and a mother-of-four, tells Interview about her first shoot - a 'Cosmo Tells All' feature, when she was 14.
'They would take a picture of a girl and then write something like "How do you have the best orgasm?" or "How do you get your hair as big as you want it?" I was the picture of a girl with big hair. . . I remember going to the grocery store before school to get it when it came out. I was so excited.'
She also laments the way actors now land many of the major campaigns and covers that once used to be the sole domain of models.
'I would like to see fewer actors modeling - or if they're going to model to the extent that they are modeling, then I think that models should be actors,' she said.
'Nowadays, if you want to be a model, then you should probably become an actor. That's the only way to get the great campaigns'
Stephanie Seymour
'Nowadays, if you want to be a model, then you should probably become an actor. That's the only way to get hired to do the great advertising campaigns that are really interesting or the magazine covers, and it's hard to build a name for yourself as a model without those things.'
Amber Valletta, too, reflects on the crossover between the two careers and admits she struggled to gain credibility as an actress because she started her career as a model.
'I definitely think that being a model makes it more difficult to be taken seriously,' she said. 'And I understand. I don't take it seriously sometimes. You can't.'
Now 39 and a self-confessed 'hockey mama', Ms Valletta admits that her time as a presenter of MTV's House of Style in 1996 'was not a good period for me, personally.'
She said: 'We'll put it this way, I wasn't always present for that, even though my body was there.'
She reveals she burst into tears on the set of her first job - an advertorial for Vogue Italia - because she didn't know what to do.
Ms Valletta says it was a haircut - a waifish pixie cut no less - that propelled her to new heights in the industry, as her previous bob made her look much older than her then 18 years.
Changing times: Naomi Campbell believes young models today are missing that connection with designers, now that they are separated by layers of casting directors and stylists
Eternally youthful: Christy Turlington, who started modeling in her hometown of Miami at 13, is still doing lingerie campaigns for Calvin Klein at the age of 44
'I was on castings for the shows, and I bumped into [hairdresser Yannick d'Is] and Ward Stegerhoek - another big-time hairdresser - and they looked at me and said, "Let's cut your hair off.". . . And then literally overnight everything changed. I worked with Steven Meisel within a month and a half and I booked every show.'
Linda Evangelista, 48, was almost put off entirely after getting caught up in a modeling course 'scam' at the age of 16.
'I was chosen by a Japanese agency to go over to Japan for the summer to work. . .,' she recalled. 'It was a catastrophe. They wanted me to take my clothes off and shoot me naked.
'It was a nightmare and I panicked and basically the Canadian Embassy helped me out. I was there about two days and went home, saying, "I don't want anything to do with this ever again.'
'I was chosen to go to Japan to work... It was a catastrophe. They wanted me to take my clothes off and shoot me naked'
Linda Evangelista
She admits that after getting signed by Elite, she and her fellow models all got bedbugs on a trip to Paris, and so her mother had to pay for her to change hotels.
Despite her efforts, she says she 'wasn't an overnight success' and was told that she would last three years if she was lucky.
'I didn't dream higher than what I was doing,' she said. 'I just felt fulfilled that I was working and doing things and being paid for it. I never imagined Vogue or doing Versace. I didn't think I qualified for that.'
Christy Turlington, whose first job was for the Miami department store, Burdines, at the age of 13, had a more gentle introduction to the industry, and recalls how her mother would take her for frozen yogurt before her bookings.
'I started modeling clothes for my age group but quickly moved into doing cosmetic and jewelry ads, which was funny to me at that age,' she said.
Now, at the age of 44, she is still modeling - posing in her underwear for Calvin Klein's latest campaign.
Scary start: Linda Evangelista, 48, was almost put off entirely after getting caught up in a modeling course 'scam' at the age of 16
Driven by adventure: Daria Werbowy, 29, says she was always quite a reluctant model - so it comes as some surprise to her that she has ended up doing it so long
'I needed to think seriously about the CK underwear campaign, because I knew it would be everywhere, and I wasn't sure I wanted to be photographed in my underwear now that I'm a mother,' she admitted. 'But I knew the images would be tasteful and I liked the idea of continuing a relationship with a brand that I grew up with.'
But her relationship with the brand has not always been straightforward. When she first signed a contract prohibiting her from working with any other label, in 1988, she felt limited by it.
'I didn't feel that I was given the best advice at the time from my agency and I didn't have my own lawyer,' she said. 'I was young and wasn't ready to be locked up. I made the most of the time, but I missed the pace I was just starting to enjoy.'
Naomi Campbell, 43, who also continues to model today, says that she has been in the industry so long, the fashion world is like a family. For the young faces coming into the industry though, it is a different environment altogether.
'When I started out, there weren't casting directors and there weren't stylists, so you just dealt directly with the designer'
Naomi Campbell
'When I started out modeling, there weren't casting directors and there weren't stylists, so you just dealt directly with the designer,' she said. 'We were all much closer back then . . . we all hung out when we weren't working. . .
She believes young models today are missing that connection with designers, now that they are separated by casting directors and stylists.
She says she owes her success to the support of women including her mother and fellow model Iman and the 'amazing men in [her] life', Gianni Versace and her 'Papa' Azzedine Alaïa.
Of the late Versace, she says, 'Every 15th of July, no matter where I am in the world, I always go to church and light a candle.'
Daria Werbowy, who at 29 is the youngest of Interview's 'iconic' group, says she was always quite a reluctant model - so it comes as some surprise to her that she has ended up doing it so long.
These days, she admits, she is still bemused by her success.
'Sometimes I am still surprised that I'm a model and that people think I'm good-looking,' she says. I've gone through a lot of different phases on what I do and why I do it—morally and ethically. . . I just had to learn to look at it as a job, as opposed to identifying myself as a model and thinking of myself as a part of this industry.'
Today, adventure and travel drive her. Ms Werbowy even sailed across the Atlantic with her family in 2008 - something she says she would 'do again in a heartbeat'.
'My dad. . . found a junkyard boat and restored it, and it was his dream to sail across the Atlantic,' she said. 'So we did. It all came true. We had some funny issues along the way - like, not enough fuel at one point. It was one of the best experiences of my life.'
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