How Gianni Versace shaped the geatest 1990s supermodels

By Léa Zetlaoui.

Published on 4 September 2020. Updated on 5 June 2026.

In the 1990s, Gianni Versace revolutionized the fashion world by turning models like Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford into real supermodels. Numéro looks back at the legendary 1991 fashion show that changed the history of the industry.

Why this event changed the fashion industry

Bella Hadid, Kaia Gerber, Kendall Jenner… These icons, who boast millions of followers on Instagram, walk for the world’s biggest fashion houses, pose on the most prestigious magazine covers, and secure the industry’s most coveted contracts.

They openly display their glamorous, ultra-luxurious lifestyles. Fans around the globe follow them and imitate, comment, and dissect their every move.

Yet social media, both powerful tools for amplification and acceleration, did not invent the concept of the model-star. To understand the birth of the supermodel phenomenon — those sculptural beauties who continue to captivate the world today — we must go back to the early 1990s.

1990: A turning point with George Michael’s Freedom! ’90

On October 30th, 1990, George Michael released the music video for Freedom! ’90, directed by David Fincher. Inspired by Peter Lindbergh’s iconic British Vogue cover, the singer invited five models to star in the video — Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford.

Already famous for gracing the covers of the world’s leading fashion magazines, these iconic models had become a rare sight on the runway, where designers increasingly showcased slimmer, less recognizable faces.

Versace’s stroke of genius: the 1991 fashion show

“At the time, there were two kinds of models. Those you saw in magazines and those who walked the runway. We had Cindy [Crawford] and Linda [Evangelista] photographed by Richard Avedon. When Gianni saw the pictures, he asked me, ‘Why don’t we put these girls on the runway?’ I replied, ‘Okay, let’s try it!’” Donatella Versace recalled in an interview with Numéro.

In early 1991, during the Versace Fall/Winter show, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista took centre stage at Milan Fashion Week, delivering a spectacular finale to the now-famous soundtrack of George Michael’s song Freedom! ’90.

Beyond the cultural impact of bringing together the worlds of fashion and music, the show also transformed the lives of these models. At that very moment, they became true icons. Their names and faces suddenly appeared everywhere, elevating them to a level of fame previously unknown in the fashion industry.

The birth of supermodels, from Naomi Campbell to Cindy Crawford

Among lucrative contracts — who hasn’t heard Linda Evangelista’s legendary line: “I don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day”? — flamboyant lifestyles fanned out in the press, and remarkably long careers, supermodels dominated the fashion industry for nearly fifteen years. Then, in the mid-2000s, the phenomenon began to fade.

Their major return to the spotlight was, once again, thanks to Donatella Versace. For her Spring/Summer 2018 show, she chose to pay a moving tribute to her brother, who had been murdered twenty years earlier.

For the occasion, she invited Carla Bruni, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen to close her show, dressed in gold lamé gowns, the quintessential Versace style. With Instagram amplifying the moment, it was enough to reignite the phenomenon. More than thirty years later, the collective fascination with the supermodels of the 1990s endures. Today, their story has now found its place on the walls of the Musée Maillol in Paris…

“Gianni Versace Retrospective,” on view from June 5th to September 6th, 2026, at the Musée Maillol, Paris.