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Monday, May 25, 2009

CHRISTY TURLINGTON







Christy Nicole Turlington (born January 2, 1969) is an American model best known for representing Calvin Klein from 1987-2007. She is also credited with popularizing the navel piercing in 1993, when she became the first celebrity to wear one. She has worked on dozens of campaigns including Maybelline Cosmetics and Versace. Christy starred in her fashion documentary Catwalk and Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped. Christy was added on as the fourth supermodel investor, after Elle, Naomi Campbell, and Claudia Schiffer of the now defunct Fashion Cafes. Turlington has several accomplishments in the modeling industry, having had numerous million dollar contracts with companies like Maybelline, Chanel, and Calvin Klein. Although she is known as one of the most successful supermodels in history, Turlington has rejected the 'supermodel' label. She is widely respected in the fashion industry as one of the friendliest and most professional models in the business. Photographer Steven Meisel booked Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista frequently and together some called them the "Trinity." During the 1990s, she appeared in Unzipped, a documentary about fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, and the fashion mockumentary film Prêt-à-Porter by famed director Robert Altman. Additionally, she was featured in Catwalk, a documentary about her life on the fashion runways by director Robert Leacock. Turlington also appeared in two music videos. Fellow model Yasmin Le Bon got her husband Simon LeBon of Duran Duran to feature Turlington in their 'Notorious' video in 1986, at the age of 16. In 1990, singer George Michael drew inspiration from Peter Lindbergh's January 1990 British Vogue cover (which features Turlington, Campbell, Evangelista, Crawford and Patitz) for his 'Freedom' video. The video featured all top 5 female models along with their top 5 male counterparts, lip-syncing the song. The video was shown during George Michael's 2008 concert tour while he sang. She has appeared on over 500 magazine covers and has been featured in several professional photobooks, including Peter Lindbergh's '10 Women', the cover of Arthur Elgort's 'Model Manual', Herb Ritts 'Man/Woman' and Karl Lagerfeld's 'Off the Record'. In 1993, she posed nude for PETA's anti-fur campaign. Also in 1993, her face was used on 120 mannequins created by Ralph Rucci for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, causing her to be called the 'Face of the 20th Century'. In the 2000s, she has become a partner in a variety of business ventures: an ayurvedic skincare line (Sundari) and two clothing lines produced by Puma: Nuala, an active women's clothing line; and Mahanuala, a women's yoga-wear line. On August 11, 2006, Women's Wear Daily reported that Turlington had signed a multiyear contract with Maybelline, marking her return to the company that made her famous with its 'Maybe She's Born With It' ad campaign from 1992-1998. In honor of Turlington's fortieth birthday, W magazine put together an online slideshow of iconic images from her career, from runway shots from the late eighties to today. Christy appears several times a year on the Today show discussing her charity work. She also appeared on Martha Stewart's show on February 13, 2007.