Text, Vivian Kelly

The Victoria’s Secret Supermodels –  Modern Day Amazons, Putting the Glamour Back In Modeling

Stephanie Seymour in-V-magazine Sports Issue

This post was inspired by a variety of sources.

First, came a conversation with hair color guru, Anthony Palermo. While I sat in his salon chair at ALS, he showed me an image of Supermodel Stephanie Seymour in the current issue of V Magazine. This Forty-something year old Super’s bod is as hot as it was in her glory days when she was hanging with Axl Rose and Guns N Roses. Years later, her face is still beautiful and compelling.  She and powerful glamazons [ Stephanie, Giselle Bundchen,  Adriana Lima and Candice Swanepoel] evoke the same reaction – stunned  admiration.

ALL  of the above, by the way, were or still are Victoria’s Secret Angels.

I’m not the only one who wants to see supermodels who are larger than life. On my way out, Anthony recommended I check out a site he follows called,  The Little Squares, which ran  an op-ed piece called, We Still Love Magazines, which led me to The Business of Fashion. This article, about legendary French Vogue editor Franceline Prat spoke to me. It talks about the magic of fashion, which is created by talented editors, stylists, photographers, hair and makeup and great models. Only the very best of models are candidates for the title “supermodel“.

For those of you who wonder what I mean by “supermodel”, here is some clarification. In the late Eighties and Nineties, the “Supermodel” was born. She was unlike anything fashion had ever seen or experienced. The original Supers were the models who the late Gianni Versace chose for his sexy runway extravaganzas. There was nothing like a Versace show in terms of flash, excitement and high octane sex.

In the mid-nineties,  Tom Ford celebrated the strong woman while he was Gucci’s Creative Director. The difference was that Tom’s Gucci sirens looked cold and domineering, not unlike photographer Helmut Newton’s Amazonian beauties.

By contrast Gianni’s girls on the runway and in his ads looked, happy, full of life and invincible. They were the idealized living walking breathing “ultimate woman”. Women wanted to BE them, and men wanted to date them.

Then came grunge and  minimalism and a toned-down attitude which included a major directional shift to  the skinny/skeletal women-girls who walk today’s runways, despondent, knowing that the real plums [magazine covers, the best beauty and fashion campaigns] of the biz go to celebrities. Who can blame them for being bummed out?

Really though, is this what we really want to see and idealize? So many editors have leaned over and said to me during countless shows, “Where’s the excitement? That girl’s shoulders’ knees, [fill in the body part] stick out too much. It’s distracting me from the clothes.”

The Victoria’s Secret Angels have restored my faith in the “Supermodel”. She IS indeed alive and well. If you’ve any doubts whatsoever, have a look at the slide show below.

Enjoy!

Instrumentals by Carson Martabano and Parker Delio

Product of Carsonaccio records