Some of them never really went away, even when we wished they would (yes, Naomi, that means you), but others have been out of the limelight for years. Now, the supermodels who graced every magazine cover and ad campaign in the early 90s are making their triumphant return. Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and my favorite, Linda Evangelista, are all featured in fall fashion campaigns.

The veteran supermodels are back: two decades older but mysteriously unwrinkled, they are eclipsing rivals half their age this autumn.

An audit of the adverts in September’s Vogue shows that almost all of the best fashion houses are choosing the legendary models of the Eighties and Nineties to front their autumn/ winter campaigns.

Appearing in the magazine are Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer and Linda Evangelista: the same faces who put modelling on the map more than 20 years ago.

Today, 43-year-old Evangelista fronts the campaign for Italian label Prada. Her predecessor, Russian Sasha Pivovarova, 23, had appeared in six consecutive campaigns.

Chanel has also left young models by the wayside, enlisting Turlington - who also models in fashion house Escada’s autumn/winter campaign - to appear in an eyewear commercial.

Schiffer, 38 - barely recognisable in a dark brown wig - is the face of the mainline Chanel collection. Now a mother of two, she also appears in an advert for Italian shoe label Salvatore Ferragamo…

Recalling the heyday of the supermodel, Mr Pilati said: “They were 12 of the most amazing girls. Today there are beautiful girls more or less but they don’t have that attitude.”

The resurgence of the supermodel shows a change in direction for a fashion industry accustomed to using very thin and young girls to head big campaigns.

“It’s not surprising when you consider where the spending power lies,” says Simon Chambers, managing director of Storm Model Management, which represents Kate Moss.

“When it comes to fashion photography, these girls are the best there are. It’s not surprising clients come back to them.”

[From The Daily Mail]

I remember being obsessed with the George Michael music video, “Freedom,” which featured all of those supermodels- Cindy Crawford, Naomi, Christy, Linda and Tatjana Patitz, who had that Greta Garbo look going on. My friends and I used to strut around and pretend to be each of them. I even had the short blond Linda Evangelista haircut. Sigh. Good times. I’m glad to see these ladies return to Vogue. Most of today’s models are little more than glorified clothes hangers. These ladies had style, attitude, and each one had a unique look.

George Michael - Freedom 90 - Music Video via Noolmusic.com

The day that Cindy Crawford has to come out and defend her body is the day the rest of us should go crawl under rocks. But in the wake of the Jennifer Love Hewitt “scandal” (the scandal being that she’s not a size 0, has a normal body, and had the nerve to be photographed as such) the paparazzi has been on the prowl for more unflattering photos of anyone they could get. And who better than a model? Cindy Crawford was photographed at the beach wearing a bikini. Her stomach is less-than-washboard. And by that I mean there is the world’s teeniest, tiniest bit of loose skin. You know, the kind that happens to most of the rest of us in spades after we pop out a few kids. Every other inch of Cindy appeared to be absolute perfection – but of course everyone honed in on the one “normal” area on her body and made a huge stink about how she’d let herself go. I was about eighteen shades of confused.

“I’m actually happier with my body now that I was back then because the body I have is the body I’ve worked for. When I was 23 other women could look at me and say, ‘Well, she’s never had kids.’ “But now I have and I know what it’s like to have to lose baby weight. It is a huge change for your body. You don’t even want to look in the mirror after you’ve had a baby because your stomach is hanging there like a Shar-Pei.” And the 41-year-old insists that even she is affected by the media’s pressure on women to be beautiful. She adds, “Even I don’t wake up looking like Cindy Crawford. I have fat days, ugly days, blimp days, days that I just feel terrible about myself. I don’t want to have to be beautiful all the time. “I want to be able to look cruddy in my weekend sweats, with a pimple on my face and pimple cream on top of the pimple. The expectation to be beautiful always bothers me.”

[From Contact Music]

Cindy Crawford is the only supermodel I’ve ever really loved. She is crazy smart with a great head on her shoulders – in both senses of the world. Seriously, when she has to defend her body, something is just wrong with the world. I’m not going to post the stomach photos here, you can find them on the Daily Mail’s website. They captioned one of the photos “Motherhood has taken its toll on the supermodel.” 98% of us would be lucky to look like Cindy Crawford on her worst day. Let’s spend a little more time praising and a little less time criticizing.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber at the Ocean’s 13 Los Angeles Premiere on June 5th. Images thanks to PR Photos. Header of the couple in Hawaii for Thanksgiving. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

It’s a “Good Celebrity” bonanza lately! Maybe as it’s fall and people are starting to get in a more holiday-esq mood, we’ll get more reports of famous people doing famous things. Cindy Crawford has always been one of those people that you can tell has her act together. She was valedictorian of her high school class with a 4.0 GPA, and won a scholarship to study chemical engineering at Northwestern. She’s always donated her time and energy to charity, as she lost a brother to leukemia when she was young.

Cindy donated her time and cosmetics from her Meaningful Beauty line to Children’s Hospital’s Mom’s Day of Beauty event, which gave mothers of sick kids a day off to rest and relax at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. How great is that?

“As the mothers arrived at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel’s peaceful penthouse suite, beauty volunteers including Cindy were there to welcome them with relaxing treatments, beauty goodies and camaraderie. ‘I lost a brother to leukemia when we were young so being involved in children’s hospitals has always been important to me. If, God forbid, something ever happened to my children, Childrens Hospital is absolutely where I would take them,’ Cindy tells OK!

“The nonprofit Childrens Hospital Los Angeles admits more than 11,000 sick children from various social and financial backgrounds each year, 50% of whom are under the age of four. It is not only recognized as the preeminent children’s hospital in the country but in the entire world. ‘I want to do anything I can to help this facility,’ Cindy says. In addition to her support for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Cindy generously donated her Meaningful Beauty skincare line to each of the mothers at the event. ‘I’m happy to give what I can give, but no beauty product comes remotely close to the real work people at Childrens Hospital do every day,’ she mentions.

“Though she acknowledges that the diagnoses the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles patients and their families face are devastating, she finds hope in the effort to bring attention to the hospital’s mission. ‘This is what I can do today,’ this beauty adds! ‘We can all do a little something each day just by being aware.’”

[From OK Magazine]

Cindy Crawford is not only gorgeous, but she seems to be a really great person too. A lot of models seems like these empty vessels, but Cindy’s always shown she has smarts. My mom relayed this joke she heard Jason Alexander (George from Seinfeld) tell on the “Tonight Show” once. He said, “On their very best day, all men believe that they could get Cindy Crawford.” Although she seems very nice, something tells me that’s not actually the case. But I do believe most guys believe it.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Cindy Crawford is shown in the header with her two children, Presley, 8, and Kaya, 6, in NY on Madison Ave. Monday. The kid with long hair hanging down is her son, Presley. She is also shown at the 6/5/07 premiere of Oceans 13 with her husband, Rande Gerber. Thanks to Splash News and PR Photos for these pictures.