Important Facts:
Release Date : 20 September, 2023
Genre : Documentary, TV Series, TV Miniseries, Fashion, Biography
Language:Â English
OTT Platform: Apple TV+
No. of seasons : 1
No. of episodes: 4
The Super Models Ratings & Review:
- latestmoviesreview Rating : (3.5/5)
- IMDb Rating : (8.4/10)
Director : Roger Ross Williams, Larissa Bills
Producers : Larissa Bills, Tom Grant, Lizz Morhaim, Julia Pontecorvo
Star Cast : Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington.
Critics Reviews :
-
“The series is less about who these women are beyond the surface, and more a meditation on a certain kind of fame that predates social media and the concept of influencers. It’s fascinating”Â-Nina Metz: Chicago TribuneÂ
-
“A gripping, gorgeous tale of ’90s beauty, especially when talking about the personal toll of their fame.”Â-Coleman Spilde: The Daily BeastÂ
-
“[It] profiles 4 icons of style with substance (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)”Â-Richard Roeper: Chicago Sun-TimesÂ
Synopsis :
The Supermodels will revisit the quartet’s modelling careers and how they disrupted the 90s’ fashion scene, including access to and interviews with Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington.
Episodes List & Info:
Episode 1:  “The Look”Â
In 1983, four teenagers — Christy, Cindy, Linda, and Naomi — each step in front of a camera for the first time, igniting a seismic chain of events.
Episode 2: “The Fame”
Christy, Cindy, Linda, and Naomi work with fashion titans and walk the most high-profile runways, leading to a music video that changes everything.
Episode 3: “The Power”Â
Taking the world by storm, the women become the faces of ’90s culture until shifting perceptions and a controversial remark shake things up.
Episode 4: “The Legacy”
As the women face life changes and find new roles as entrepreneurs, humanitarians, and mothers, they find the power in growing older.
What Is ‘The Super Models’ About?
The time period covered by “The Super Models” is the 1980s, when four ladies met in New York who were from various parts of the world. They were already powerful individuals in their own right, but their combined gravitas went beyond the confines of the business world. Because of their incredible fame, the four were able to surpass the brands they were showcasing, giving Naomi, Cindy, Linda, and Christy’s names the same prominence as the stylists who styled them. The four supermodels are still at the forefront of culture today thanks to their philanthropic work, activism, and financial acumen. This is the ultimate story of power and how four women banded together to seize it, paving the road for those to follow, as the fashion industry continues to redefine itself—and women’s positions within it.
THE SUPER MODELS:Â STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot:Â We see Naomi Campbell on the phone, and then picking some jewelry for a photo shoot.
The Gist: The episodes are organized according to themes: The four major stars of “The Look” discuss their upbringings, how they got their start in modeling, and how their careers and public personas rose to prominence as the ’90s got underway. In “The Fame,” it is discussed how all four of their careers took off as a result of their appearances in George Michael’s “Freedom ’90” music video. Their cultural impact in the 1990s is examined in “The Power”. The quartet is brought into the present by “The Legacy,” when they are all in their 50s, have kids, and have all started their own businesses.
Campbell in England, Crawford in suburban Illinois, Evangelista in Canada, and Turlington in Northern California were all discovered in their early to mid-teens. Scouts contacted each one after noticing a “it” quality in them all, a “look” that went beyond simply being physically attractive.
However, when they first began their careers, they all took decisions that helped progress their careers and appeared to accept the idea that, despite their youth, the businesses that hired them and the magazines that featured them on their covers were trying to sell via their attraction to sex and glamour. The founder of Elite Model Management, John Casablancas, and Crawford were guests on an early episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. In one scene, Crawford recalls that Oprah, of all people, told the then-20-year-old Crawford to stand up so that everyone could view her body. Crawford admits that in hindsight, “that was so not OK, especially from Oprah.”
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Super Models reminds us of Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby, but not quite as explosive.
Our Take: Shields’ willingness to be vulnerable while telling the truth was one of the reasons Pretty Baby was so highly appreciated. That kind of openness wasn’t nearly present in The Super Models. Because of this, your experience with the series may differ from mine. The series will interest you if you are genuinely into the fashion scene and have been following the careers of this quartet for more than thirty years. You’ll probably get bored if you’re looking for information on the industry in the 1980s and 1990s.
It was rather fascinating to hear the four superstars discuss their lives and upbringing, especially when Crawford talked about losing her younger brother when he was just 3 and how she attended Northwestern to study chemical engineering. It’s intriguing to hear Campbell discuss her mother’s single-parent upbringing. However, a lot of that material can also be found in internet bios and previous interviews.
They discuss connecting with one of the two major modeling agencies of the time in the latter portion of the first episode, describing the distinctions between Elite and the Ford Agency. They discuss other photographers who were successful in locating the “thing” that launched their careers. Before her first significant shoot, Crawford talks of having her hair cut off without her consent. Everything about it is a fairly huge nap.
Except for Crawford’s Oprah incident, there wasn’t much discussion of the notion that their youthful sexual appeal was being exploited to promote magazines or clothing. There are no personal accounts of harassment or exploitation. And those might have been their personal encounters. But that seems implausible. Photographer merely shrugs and adds, “It was a different time,” when Campbell was disguised as an enslaved woman who worked on the house staff for a 1990s picture session on a Louisiana plantation.
When they discuss more about the 1990s, when they all rose to fame, perhaps we’ll learn more. Other revelations will certainly occur, but we doubt that they will receive the attention they merit in favor of continued adulation for photographers, agents, and others.
Sex and Skin: Apart from the quartet’s numerous scanty clothes over the years, there is nothing.
Parting Shot: In a clip from the past, Evangelista is heard saying, “One day will come when it’s over,” in reference to the extreme prominence the group was enjoying in the 1990s.
Sleeper Star: The cultural critics who were interviewed, such Michael Musto and Robin Givhan, provided some context for the show’s stars’ apparent fluff.
Most Pilot-y Line: Although we laughed when Musto said, “In the 1980s, kids, there was no internet; there was something called “magazines,” the cliché in which documentarians need to have people remind the young viewers that they are talking about a time before cell phones, social media, etc., etc., has gotten really, really old.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Fans of the quartet at the core of The Super Models will find this glimpse into their personal life to be fascinating. Most likely, you won’t find any shocking insights if you’re seeking for them.