‘The Super Models’ reveals Linda Evangelista refused to do shows unless they also booked Naomi Campbell
The new Apple TV+ series explores the impact and legacy of legendary supermodels Evangelista, Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington.
You know their names. Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington get the docuseries treatment with “The Super Models” on Apple TV+, looking back at their era-defining contributions to fashion and modeling. In an exclusive clip, Evangelista reveals unfortunate dynamics in the glory days, leading her to advocate for her fellow model Campbell in certain jobs.
The series takes viewers back in time to the 1980s, when Campbell, Crawford, Evangelista and Turlington came together and became the biggest forces the fashion world has ever seen. The women were able to transcend the limits placed on models before them, becoming, the show notes, as “prominent as the designers who styled them.”
Still, it was not always an easy road for the women, specifically Campbell, who was still working within the limitations placed upon Black women in modeling at the time.
“Remember, in those glory days it wasn’t perfect,” Evangelista tells viewers in the clip. “Because Naomi wasn’t always booked to do the shows.”
Edward Enninful, the former head of British Vogue seen in the clip, recalls popular sayings from the time like, “We only have one Black girl this season,” “Black girls can only do shows in the summer,” and “Black girls can only wear bright colored clothes.” The women, however, remained a united front for Campbell, specifically Evangelista, who reveals she told the powers that be: “If you don’t book her, you don’t get me.”
With exclusive interviews with all four women and other contributors, “The Super Models” tells untold stories from the industry. In one moment making headlines, Crawford reflects on a 1986 appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” where she says she was treated like “chattel or a child.”
The series comes from Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills. In 2009, Williams became the first Black director to win an Oscar, winning for his short “Music by Prudence.”
Per the Apple site, “The Super Models” is “the ultimate story of power and how four women came together to claim it, paving the way for those to follow.”
It is available to stream now on Apple TV+.
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