As Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington appear together on the cover of Vogue’s September 2023 issue, here’s your cheat sheet to the legendary quartet’s hotly anticipated new documentary series.
In a nutshell:
A new docuseries will track the incredible rise of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington in ’80s and ’90s New York.
What will The Super Models be about?
The upcoming four-part Apple TV+ extravaganza will focus on the iconic quartet’s formidable careers and their collective disruption of the fashion world, as they transformed the industry’s views on what a model ought to be. Instead of perfectly-formed blank canvases, they became bonafide celebrities. “The Super Models travels back to the 1980s, when four women from different corners of the world united in New York,” the streaming platform explained in a statement. “Already forces in their own right, the gravitas they achieved by coming together transcended the industry itself. Their prestige was so extraordinary that it enabled the four to supersede the brands they showcased, making the names Naomi, Cindy, Linda, and Christy as prominent as the designers who styled them. Today, the four supermodels remain on the frontlines of culture through activism, philanthropy and business prowess. As the fashion industry continues to redefine itself—and women’s roles within it—this is the ultimate story of power and how four women came together to claim it, paving the way for those to follow.”
In her March 2022 British Vogue cover interview, Campbell opened up about the series and that pivotal period of her life. “It’s about our life and times together: our friendship, careers, our womanhood, our motherhood,” she said of the documentary. “It was an incredible time, but we worked hard. And no matter how many outfit changes, how many shows, we never said we were tired. We all loved it and we kept each other’s energy up. We did eight shows a day and then we would go and celebrate with the designers in the evening. I wonder sometimes if models now could have kept up with us.” Asked if it was more fun to walk down a runway back then compared to now, she replied, “Of course! Because you’re with your girls. It’s great to be with these young ’uns at my age, but I have to say, at one of the shows I was like, ‘Come on, girls! Pick up your feet! Why are you walking so slow?’ I definitely feel like my time was more joyful. We smiled. We got to show off our personalities.”
Who will be featured in The Super Models?
The best thing about the series is that it’s set to feature exclusive new interviews with Campbell, Crawford, Evangelista, and Turlington, as they reflect on their ’90s reign. There’s no word yet on who else has weighed in on their seismic impact on the industry, but we expect that countless designers—from established names who collaborated with them during those formative decades to rising stars who were strongly influenced by their unapologetic glamour and joie de vivre—will make appearances.
Who is behind the camera for The Super Models?
Larissa Bills and the Academy Award-winning documentarian behind Music by Prudence and Life, Animated, Roger Ross Williams, are taking the helm for the project. Among the executive producers is another double Oscar winner—the inimitable Ron Howard—but also Campbell, Crawford, Evangelista, and Turlington, who will get a say in how their story is told. “As models, we don’t have any rights to our image, so it feels good to be partners on our legacy—and in our own words,” Campbell shared with British Vogue.