Are We REALLY Witnessing The Return of The Supermodel?

From the runway to our living rooms, supermodels have made their mark on society, and changed pop culture forever.
It was Gianni Versace who created the supermodel phenomenon when he put Cindy, Christy, Naomi and Linda onto the catwalk together for his autumn/winter 1991 show, but when fashion took a turn toward the minimal around 2000, so did the supermodel.
"Many say this was a product of designers who had come to feel that supermodels were distracting from what they felt should be the real star of the show: the clothes."
But while we were once thrilled to see Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell lip- synching in George Michael videos, these days a model doesn’t stand a chance at a magazine cover, instead she's been bumped by the likes of Beyonce or Halle berry. Although the line between actress and model has unarguably been crossed, it seems the industry is finally ready for a change.
While I see fashion as art, I am not naive enough to believe that there aren’t those who see it simply as a way of clothing their bodies.
Regardless, I believe common ground is easily found in the realization that fashion is entertainment, a form of show business even, and much like a box office hit doesn’t exist without its star, a runway show isn’t as appealing without a supermodel, who are stars in their own right. What this offers is a runway where the face is no longer the story and becomes instead, the message, allowing the clothes to do the talking.
The truth is, fashion needs supermodels and there’s finally a new found hunger for just that. In the 80s that “hunger” was feed through the likes of Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Linda Evangelista. These days there’s a new fabulously “motley crew” in town set out to feed our desire for just that. A younger, fresher, and self proclaimed “less diva-like” group of Vogue cover girls that are taking the fashion world by storm.
But the return of the supermodel? Well that remains to be seen. But I for one am anxiously awaiting a fashion world filled with models, not actress and a focus on clothes not names.