Kristen McMenamy was a big name in the modeling industry from 1985 to 1998, and she continues to model to this day. While still maintaining a career, she has also had time to build her own family, mothering three children.

McMenamy closed the Chanel Haute couture spring/summer fashion show in 2011, and in the same year starred in a short film titled “The Tale of a Fairy.” 2012 saw her appearing in Givenchy and Gaultier campaigns, and in 2013 she got a divorce as well as walked in the Atelier Versace spring/summer fashion show. She just can’t be stopped!

Born in 1964 to Iranian-English parents, Yasmin Le Bon brought a combination of traditional western beauty and exoticism. Her break came in 1987 when “Guess” hired her to be the face of a new campaign, and it was only the beginning.

Magazine covers and runways helped her become famous, but she has remained grounded – she and her husband, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon, are still married after more than thirty years. Le Bon still does a bit of modeling, and in 2012 she even posed in a dress that weighed more than a hundred pounds – almost as much as she did.

Coco Rocha was in an Irish dance competition in 2002 when she was scouted, launching a decade-plus career with plenty of fashion campaigns, runway walks, and even editorials. People called her the “Queen of Pose,” because she was both regal and intentional in her posing.

In 2016, Rocha purchased the ownership stake of the Nomad Mgmt Modeling Agency, becoming a brand director who helps map the careers of younger models. As a private trainer, she’s worked with both Kendall and Kylie Jenner and has launched the Coco Rocha Camp, a four-day master class for those who want to become models.

Devon Aoki – the name might be familiar – ruled more than just the fashion world. She had a debut season that made her famous almost right away, and then she became a design muse for Karl Lagerfeld. For several seasons, Devon closed out his shows as his Chanel bride.

She also appeared on screen, wowing audiences with her beauty in “2 Fast 2 Furious” and “Sin City.” Now retired from the runway, Aoki lives with her husband James Bailey and their three children. Her brother, musician Steve Aoki, has featured her in several of his music videos.

Before she was even allowed to legally drive, Lara Stone had already been signed to Elite Modeling Agency. Ever since then, she’s been showing off the gap in her teeth and her bright blonde brows on the runway, working for Stella McCartney and Prada.

Lara’s look was so iconic and memorable that it inspired Tyra Banks to have a contestant’s tooth gap widened on season sixteen of “America’s Next Top Model.” Now closer to forty than thirty, Stone is still a model, recognizable all the way across the fashion world.

Kathy Ireland got her start as a famous model, but her real skills lie in the business world. It all began in 1993 when she took out a fifty thousand dollar loan to launch her own brand of socks. Not perfume, or undergarments, or shoes, but socks.

You may be familiar with the Kathy Ireland Worldwide brand, sometimes branded kiWW, which is now a marketing firm. The firm boasts more than one billion dollars in sales annually, so the lesson is clear: If you want to make a fortune, socks are a great place to start.

Perhaps one of the most famous supermodels alive today, Klum’s career took off in 1997 when booked a job as a Victoria’s Secret Angel and graced the cover of the “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit” issue. Klum became one of the biggest models ever, landing deals with brands like McDonald’s, Liz Claiborne, and Volkswagen.

Heidi has won Emmys, designed lingerie, judged “America’s Got Talent,” had four children, and gotten married twice; first to singer Seal and then to Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz. Her newest work, the Amazon Prime show alongside Tim Gunn, “Making the Cut,” came out in March 2020.

When Karlie Kloss first started modeling at the age of fourteen she was bouncing between agencies, but by the time she was sixteen, she walked sixty-four shows during fashion month. Kloss was a muse for John Galliano and a regular part of Dior shows, also becoming the face of Estee Lauder and Swarovski Crystals.

She still struts the runway on occasion but has also been branching out. For instance, in 2015 she launched Kode with Klossy, a scholarship program for young girls interested in STEM fields. Alongside Christian Siriano and Brandon Maxwell, she hosts “Project Runway.”

Stephanie Seymour started at the top. Her first contracts were with Victoria’s Secret and “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit issues. She quickly became famous and has gained even more notoriety, for better or worse, when she posed for an adult magazine in 1993.

For the most part, Seymour is still modeling, but she has also edged a little bit into acting. Stephanie had a small role in the movie “Pollack,” appeared on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” and provided the character in the live-action video game “Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller.” Her published book is full of beauty tips, and she has also done plenty of ads for clothing and cosmetic products.

Pat Cleveland didn’t have an easy time booking modeling jobs until she traveled to Europe in 1970. She vowed not to return to the states until Vogue put a black model on the cover, and she kept the promise, finally getting back to her home country in 1974.

Pat modeled until the eighties and started her own agency in Milan, Italy. Still a part-time model to this day, Pat has branched out quite a bit, even publishing a volume of poetry in 2001.

It only took winning a modeling competition as a teen for Janice Dickinson to head to New York City in the seventies to advance her career. Less than ten years later she was earning two grand a day (worth about seven thousand in today’s money), and she started hitting magazine covers at a startling rate.

Janice proclaimed herself the world’s first supermodel, and she’s maintained a high profile in the fashion industry despite now being in her sixties. TV saw her as a judge for a few seasons of “America’s Next Top Model,”  and she has also appeared on VH1’s “Couples Therapy.”

Things don’t always come easy. Linda Evangelista nearly quit the industry after being asked to pose for an adult magazine. Despite wanting to quit, she followed her mother’s advice and stuck with it. After cutting her hair short she lost a lot of traction, yet after a little bit of time, people started gushing about her new hairdo.

One of her most famous quotes was about how models won’t get out of bed for less than $10,000. Her activism includes supporting research and awareness of different illnesses. VH1 awarded her a Fashion Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, and she got into the Canada Walk of Fame in 2003.

Eva Herzigova rose to fame when she appeared in a 1996 Wonderbra ad. The ad had the beautiful model in a black Wonderbra, accompanied by the caption “Hello boys.” Though it gained international attention and resulted in plenty of imitations, there were also plenty of complaints that the ad wasn’t in good taste.

Herzigova’s modeling career was incredibly successful. When she got tired of the catwalk she went into the film industry. Two movies gave her starring roles, 2013’s “Cha Cha Cha,” and 2014’s “Storyteller.”

Still much-in-demand even now, Turlington has done quite a bit off the runway. That’s not to say she was a failure as a model – quite the opposite. She has now become a big anti-smoking advocate and focuses a lot of her time on maternal health. Her documentary “No Woman, No Cry” explores the different methods of maternal health around the world.

Christy has helped found a non-profit called Every Mother Counts. Thanks to Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, she’s made efforts to gain a Master’s degree. She is also a yogi and still does a bit of modeling work here and there.

Most of the supermodels in the world have come from America or western Europe, but Rachel Hunter is from the opposite end of the world: New Zealand. Even though she wanted to be a dancer when she was a child, she turned to modeling when she was seventeen.

It didn’t take long for the world to notice her, and the magazines started calling her asking for covers. Now she is a full-time mother of two and has a number of TV appearances, including her show “Rachel Hunter’s Tour of Beauty.” Even decades after her first campaign, Rachel still looks great and still does some modeling.

Alessandra Ambrosio made it big fast and was able to leverage the fame she gained as a lingerie model into high-fashion jobs. This included working with Bottega Veneta and Oscar de la Renta. After plenty of time on runways and magazine covers, she announced her retirement.

Only two years later she launched Gal Floripa, a company that offered lifestyle and swimwear options inspired by female power, motherhood, and Brazil, her home country.

Discovered at the age of fifteen, it wasn’t long before Natalia Vodianova signed a seven-figure contract with Calvin Klein. The contract went on for eight seasons, which is resulted in some of the brand’s most scandalous ads to date. More than two hundred runway appearances came next, followed by lots of magazine covers. With all that, who would have expected that now she is, of all things, a tech mogul?

In 2015 she started Elbi, an online platform that strives to make philanthropy available to anyone that has a computer or a phone. Vodianova also founded the Naked Heart Foundation, a charity that provides resources about underprivileged children in Russia.

Polish Daria Werbowy didn’t expect to become a huge modeling star – at first, she just did it on the side in order to fund her art school education. She ended up signing an exclusive contract with Prada in her first week under Elite Model Management.

Even to this day, Daria holds a record in the modeling world: she has opened and closed the most shows in a single season. These include Chanel, Dior, La Perla, and Hermes, just to name a few. Her abrupt departure from the modeling world in 2008 speaks to the idea that it was never her intended career path. She now lives on the Irish coast with her boyfriend.

She was named the most beautiful girl in the world by “Rolling Stone,” and was also the highest-paid model in the world at a certain time. Originally from Brazil, Gisele’s first modeling job was with a fast-food restaurant. After that initial job, she quickly rose to model stardom.

Gisele has used her name for good by launching a water conservation and plant recovery project called Agua Limpa. She also acts as a United Nations Environment Program goodwill ambassador.

After dropping out of college to pursue modeling in 1993, it took Molly Sims some time to make it big despite her obvious natural beauty. In a flash, Molly started to get roles in “House of Style,” “Starsky & Hutch,” as well as showing off her beauty on “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit,” where she gained plenty of fans.

With her acting, her modeling, and her family (she married Scott Stuber and has three children), she’s a busy bee. There is enough time in her schedule, however, to be a global ambassador for Services International’s Five & Alive program.

Even while she was one of the most highly-regarded and sought-after models in the world, Christie Brinkley was looking ahead to bigger and better things. When her modeling offers started to wind down, she turned to film and television and even had a short stint as a talk show host on CNN.

She’s also gotten involved with a number of charities, with the two most notable being UNICEF and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Brinkley is also a great singer and dancer, she has also played the role of Roxie Hart in the show “Chicago.”

It isn’t a wild thing to call Twiggy, real name Lesley Lawson, the world’s first supermodel. Her skeletal figure made for the perfect display in the sixty’s beauty ideal, and she represents the London mod scene even to this day.

Twiggy moved on to other successful ventures such as doing some acting and appearing as a judge on “America’s Next Top Model.” Today, Lawson is well-known for her charity work as an animal rights activist, often encouraging everyone to stop wearing fur. She is also a full-time supporter of medical research groups.

There are few supermodels more all-American than Carol Alt. She has been turning heads since she was born in 1960. In the eighties alone she had over FIVE HUNDRED magazine covers. It wasn’t just high fashion for Alt, either, she appeared in ads for brands like Diet Pepsi and General Motors.

Carol has now branched out to be a reality TV contestant, a TV show presenter, and even an actress, with a number of starring roles in Italian TV. In her love life, she seems to have a thing for hockey players, having married both Ron Greschner and Alexei Yashin. She and Yashin are still going strong.

There wasn’t a single big designer out there who didn’t want Dutch model Karen Mulder to pose for their brand. These include Giorgio Armani, Versace, and Yves Saint Laurent. She had a “Vogue” cover, had a turn with Victoria’s Secret, and yes, posed for the “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit” issue.

Retiring from modeling at the age of thirty in 2000, she revealed she struggled with mental health issues and made shocking allegations against her former bosses, as well as against Prince Albert of Monaco.

In 1988, Paulina Porizkova signed what was at the time the biggest modeling contract in history. Estee Lauder gave her six million dollars to be the new face of the company. However, Porizkova eventually admitted that she hated modeling, and she stepped away to try her hand at something much easier: acting.

Her films include “Portfolio,” “Covergirl,” “Anna,” and “Her Alibi.” 2007 saw her becoming a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars,” and in 2010 she became a guest judge on “America’s Next Top Model.” Writing has also been a constant passion in Porizkokva’s life – she wrote a children’s book in 1992; a novel about a young girl getting into modeling in 2007; and in 2009, she started blogging at the Huffington Post.

For most of the nineties, Carla Bruni was one of the most famous models in the world. Hailing from Italy, this brunette darling appeared with a huge number of the biggest fashion houses. She shocked the fashion world in 1997 when she left the runway in order to dedicate herself to music.

For almost the entire decade in the 2000s, Carla worked on her music and dabbled a little bit in acting. In 2018 she moved back to modeling with Versace in their spring/summer fashion show, and then she married Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France. This led to her becoming a little more immersed in the political world.

Rebecca Romijn was featured in countless magazines, such as “ELLE,” “Marie Claire,” “Cosmopolitan,” and “Sports Illustrated.” Her campaigns include La Perla, Christian Dior, J. Crew, Tommy Hilfiger, and plenty of others. If you’ve seen a modeling campaign while shopping, chances are Romijn was part of it.

Nowadays, her acting work has overtaken her modeling career. She played Mystique in the original X-Men trilogy, and has also had roles in movies like “Rollerball” and “The Punisher.” Television has also been part of Rebecca’s life, with roles on “Ugly Betty” and “Star Trek: Discovery.”

A lot of models have a very specific, western look, but not Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid. Discovered in her native Somalia at the age of eighteen, she quickly became one of the most famous models around. But, Iman didn’t spend too much time in the industry, she quit in 1987, saying that she found no grace in this line of work.

Abdulmajid moved to Los Angeles, met David Bowie, and married him. With the help of the BBC, she created a documentary about her home country called “Somalia Diary.” Her line of cosmetics came out in 1994, giving more options to women of color who, like her, had trouble finding a foundation that matched their skin tone.

Becoming a Guess girl at the age of 15 after being discovered on the beach in her native France, Laetitia Casta flaunted her beauty up and down runways, in Victoria’s Secret catalogs, and in the “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit” issue.

In 1998 Casta became model of the year after appearing on the cover of “Rolling Stone” in nothing but her birthday suit. She still does a little modeling nowadays but has switched her focus to French-language films. She’s also a mom to a daughter she had with director Stephane Sednaoui. She also has a pair of children with actor Stefano Accorsi. She’s now married to actor Louis Garrel, who directed her in the 2019 movie “A Faithful Man.”

After winning Miss Universe for Denmark in 1986, it was a short jump for Helena Christensen to start modeling. She appeared on runways and magazine covers all over the world and she still does so even to this day, though her heyday is long gone.

Christensen became the creative director of “Nylon” magazine and has started several of her own clothing lines. Today, she’s in control of the camera, and her photography has appeared in “Nylon,” “ELLE,” and “Marie Claire,” among others. Helena’s charity work includes a lot of work raising awareness as well as money to help those who suffer from diseases.

Nothing like an exclusive Gucci contract to start your modeling career. That’s what got Liya Kebede on the runway for the first time in 2000. From there it was on to Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, and of course, Victoria’s Secret.

She’s now focused on her activism, with a lot of her time going to maternal health and preserving the culture of Ethiopia – her home country. The Liya Kebede Foundation, which she founded in 2005, aims to help both mothers and children in Ethiopia with education and medical programs. In addition, she contributes articles about maternal health to many of the magazines she once appeared on.

Models can be discovered everywhere. Even, as in the case of Yasmeen Ghauri, while working at McDonald’s. She appeared on the cover of “Vogue” in January 1991, and then quickly rose through the ranks of models to become the face of groups like Chanel.

Yasmeen made history in 1992, becoming the first woman of South Asian descent to be a Victoria’s Secret angel. After walking the runway for more than five years, Ghauri stepped away from modeling. Her career was still on the rise but she wanted to focus on having a family with her husband, lawyer Ralph Bernstein. The two have a daughter together.

With a girl-next-door look and incredible charisma, Niki Taylor was destined to be on the covers of magazines. Her first appearance was in “Seventeen” magazine at the age of fourteen. She then moved on to “CoverGirl,” “Nokia,” and the “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit” issue. Taylor became the youngest model to appear on “Vogue” at the tender age of fifteen.

Niki’s little sister, fellow model Krissy, passed away in 1996. Just a few years later, Niki was involved in an unfortunate accident and took some time out of the spotlight in order to recover. She is doing great now, having been the face of a jewelry campaign, as well as the wife of former NASCAR driver Burney Lamar.

When Amber Valletta was eighteen, she got her first of sixteen “Vogue” covers. It was just the start for this Arizona beauty, who appeared in campaigns for Armani, Prada, and Elizabeth Arden. She’s become an actress, appearing in films including “What Lies Beneath,” “Hitch,” and “The Family Man.”

Valletta has gone on record talking about her substance abuse issues with the hopes of helping others who are struggling. She has outright stated that the help of others is crucial in these types of situations and that she is glad she wasn’t left to her own devices.

Tim Blanks, a fashion journalist said that Shalom Harlow has a body made for couture, and he was right. After a scout spotted her at a “The Cure” concert at the age of seventeen, she quickly became a prominent model.

Harlow posed for luxury brands like Chanel and Dior. “The Cure” might be long gone, but Shalom is still rocking the catwalks as well as social media. She walked in Versace’s spring 2019 show and became one of the central figures of the fashion house’s spring campaign.

She was the first black woman to be on the cover of “Sports Illustrated,” she kick-started “America’s Next Top Model,” and she even wrote a YA novel. Tyra was also one of Victoria’s Secret’s most popular models – more sold bras are attributed to her than to any other model.

Banks is now a mother and is constantly working for a number of charity causes. One of her biggest missions is to help young girls with self-esteem issues, and she has also established a scholarship program that helps young black girls to attend the high school that she herself attended.

When she was only twenty years old, Gemma Ward made twenty-five thousand dollars per runway show. By then she had also fronted a Calvin Klein campaign and was a muse for designer Miuccia Prada. Ward was on her way to becoming the next Kate Moss, but the unfortunate passing of her boyfriend, Heath Ledger, made her take some time off.

After a five-year break, she signed with IMG Models and returned to the runways. Her resume now also includes a bit of acting in movies such as “The Great Gatsby” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

German-born Tatjana Patitz blew up in the nineties, working with brands like Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Cartier, Versace, and Calvin Klein. She worked beside supermodels Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and others in George Michael’s “Freedom ’90” music video.

For the most part, Patitz walked away from the spotlight, choosing to live with her son Johan and their many animals in a Santa Barbara ranch, California. She still models sometimes, but most of the time you’ll find her in jeans and riding boots.

With a six-foot frame and athletic figure, Macpherson earned the nickname “The Body.” Her first cover for “Sports Illustrated” made her famous, and she would eventually be bringing in twenty-five thousand dollars per page.

Like many other models, Elle turned to acting and had a pretty good career on the screen during the nineties. She’s also an ambassador for UNICEF and is a rep for Smile in Australia, which assists families of children who are suffering from a number of rare diseases.

Among all the Victoria’s Secret Angels, Agyness Deyn stood out. Beautiful, yes, enchanting, yes, but she had something a little more. Her distinct tomboy look and short hair helped her stand out in a crowded marketplace, and the punk aesthetic that she was able to cultivate was a joy to watch on the runways.

Deyn worked for Alexander Wang, Chanel, Bottega Veneta, and lots more. She was the official face of Burberry, Doc Martens, and other products you may be familiar with. Retiring from modeling in 2012, she moved on to acting. The movies that Agyness has appeared in include “Clash of the Titans,” “The Titan,” and “Her Smell.”

Beverly Peele began working as a model at the surprising age of just twelve. Her first magazine cover, “Mademoiselle,” came in 1989. From there she moved on to “Vogue,” “ELLE,” and “Cosmopolitan,” and walked for Prada, Comme des Garcon, and John Galliano.

Despite her atmospheric success, Beverly took a step back in 1993 to raise her daughter Cairo. Since then, she has had 3 more children, her sons Trey and DJ, and daughter Storm. In 2017, Beverly and Storm appeared on the Lifetime docu-series “Growing Up Supermodel,” a show that follows the careers of the children of famous models such as Peele.

Claudia Schiffer was the very first model to appear on the cover of “Rolling Stone.” Once the highest-paid model in the world, she was bringing in something like fifty thousand dollars a day, and she was prolific, too: Claudia has appeared on magazine covers more than five hundred times.

Trying her hand at acting, she appeared in “Love Actually” and “Zoolander.” Claudia is a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and was also a part of the Arts and Entertainment Support Committee.

There have been few Victoria’s Secret models more profitable for the company than Adriana Lima. Her first time on the runway was when she was only seventeen, and she went on to become the longest-running Angel of all time. Lima has been in twenty televised shows, and her skills on the runway helped her get gigs with Fendi, Vera Wang, Prada, and Alexander McQueen.

She hung up her lingerie in 2018 and hasn’t been on a runway since. After so many years as the world’s second-highest-paid model, Adriana deserves some rest and relaxation.

Brooke Shields got her first modeling gig when she was only eleven months old, appearing in an ad for Ivory Soap. From her controversial advertisements with Calvin Klein to multiple covers during the eighties, Shields was at the forefront of the industry.

Now in her fifties, Brooke would rather act than model. Her acting credits include appearing on “Friends,” “Suddenly Susan,” “Jane the Virgin,” and more. She is an outspoken advocate for women suffering from postpartum blues and was the executive producer for “When the Bough Breaks,” a documentary about this unspoken problem.

There’s nothing like making history. Beverly Johnson was the very first African-American model to appear on the cover of the American “Vogue” in 1974, paving the way for all the other models of color. Before she arrived, black models were rare, but after her, it was a whole new world.

Now in her sixties, Johnson is still a looker. She’s written a book, “Beverly Johnson’s Guide to a Life of Health and Beauty,” and she was a celebrity judge on “The Face,” where contestants compete for a modeling contract. Beverly also has a successful wig and hair collection.

When this classic beauty got her start appearing on “Vogue” she was encouraged to hide the gap between her two front teeth. While she did listen for some time, she eventually let this “imperfection” become visible, and it became one of Lauren Hutton’s most beloved features.

It didn’t hold her career back at all, and she has graced the cover of “Vogue” a remarkable twenty-six times. Her gap is still there now that Hutton is in her seventies. Recently she has been working on a memoir she’s calling “Smile,” so one day soon we may be able to hear about this legendary model’s life in her own words.

When it comes to Naomi Campbell, there’s good, bad, and ugly. She was the first black woman to take the cover of “French Vogue,” as well as “Time” magazine. However, her temper has gotten into trouble multiple times. Campbell pleaded guilty to mistreating her maids, which didn’t make her look good.

After moving past those issues, Naomi started her own reality series, “The Face,” where she was both a coach and producer. She also had a cameo on the show “Empire,” where she played an older lover to the character Hakeem.

No one can deny she’s beautiful, but Cindy Crawford did a lot for the well-being of models in the fashion industry. When Crawford started to get widespread success, she appeared on talk shows and did interviews where she voiced her opinions about the modeling industry, and what it was like to grow up in it.

Crawford quit being a full-time model in 2000, but still finds the time to show up every once in a while. She’s now deep into promoting environmental safety and environmental awareness.

As the first non-Caucasian person to appear on the cover of any major American fashion magazine, China Machado made 1959 her year. The magazine was “Harper’s Bazaar,” and it’s even more notable since it was – respective to other models, at least – later in her life. After moving to Paris to find work, she became the highest-paid model at the time, earning a thousand dollars per day.

After Machado’s big cover breakout, she became the senior fashion editor at the same magazine that had her on the front cover. She worked her way up to fashion director. This icon and legendary beauty died on December eighteenth, 2016, at the age of eighty-six.

With over three hundred appearances on magazine covers, Kate Moss is one of the most legendary supermodels to ever put on an outfit. She was named as one of “Time” magazine’s most influential people. But, Kate’s life hasn’t been the best, even with all of the success.

In the first few years of the new millennium, Moss had problems with substance abuse, she also became entangled in a scandal in 2005. Afterward, she lost a lot of her old contracts. She has managed to get clean thanks to Buddhist spiritualism. In 2014 the model came out with a fashion line as part of her collaboration with Topshop.