Christy Nicole Turlington (born January 2, 1969 in
Walnut Creek, California) is an American
supermodel best known for representing Calvin Klein
fragrances since 1987. She grew up in Danville, California, with a British commercial pilot father and Salvadoran flight attendant mother of British descent, whose name
is Maria Elena Parker. She has also worked on various campaigns for Maybelline Cosmetic and
Giorgio Armani, has appeared in several films about the
fashion industry and was a co-founder of the now defunct Fashion
Café.
Career
Christy Turlington I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur campaign poster
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, Christy 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. In 1988, Christy along with Linda Evangelista,
Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Elle MacPherson, Claudia Schiffer, Stephanie Seymour and Tatjana Patitz became known as the first
supermodels. Photographer Steven Meisel booked Christy, Naomi and Linda frequently and
together they became known as 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 covering life on
the fashion runways, by director Robert Leacock. The documentary was filmed in 1993 and premiered
in 1996. The film followed Christy and her fellow models Naomi Campbell, Yasmin Le Bon, Kate Moss and Carla
Bruni as they jetted around London, Milan,
Paris and New York during Spring Fashion Week. It included rare footage of what goes on behind the scenes at big shows including fittings,
parties, shopping and catfights. The film was shot in black and white and color, and featured many top designers at work like a
young John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld and
Gianni Versace 4 years before his death.
Turlington also appeared in two music videos. Best friend and fellow model Yasmin Le Bon got her husband Simon LeBon of Duran Duran to feature Christy in their 'Notorious'
video in 1986, as well as the album cover. In 1990, singer George Michael drew
inspiration from Peter Lindbergh's January 1990 British Vogue cover (which features
Christy, Naomi, Linda, Cindy and Tatjana) for his 'Freedom' video. The video featured all top 5 female models along with their
top 5 male counterparts, lip-syncing the song.
More recently, she has become a partner in three successful 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 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.
On the issue regarding the statement of Claudia Schiffer that the supermodel was
dead, Turlington agreed saying, "It's over, it's over, it's over,". "It was fun, but now I just wish it would go away. The name
supermodel? I hate it."[2]
Personal life
Turlington has been practicing Yoga since the early 1990s and is the author of Living Yoga:
Creating A Life Practice (ISBN 0-7868-6806-6). Owing to this interest in Eastern
religions she went back to school in 1994 and graduated cum
laude in 1999 from the Gallatin
School of Individualized Study of New York University where she earned a
Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Comparative Religion and Eastern Philosophy. Despite
this interest, she has remained a practicing Roman Catholic since childhood.
Previously a vegetarian, she has gone back to being a meat eater. An ex-smoker whose
father died of lung cancer, Turlington is also an anti-smoking activist.
On June 7 2003 she married actor/filmmaker Edward Burns in a
ceremony with U2 frontman Bono acting father
of the bride. Burns and Turlington have two children: a daughter Grace born October 25
2003 and a son Finn born February 2006. They have a dog
named 'MicSpic' after Turlington's Hispanic and Burns' Irish heritage.
Allusions in art and media
- I am Christy Turlington I am the Word is a short story by Tom Junod published in
Esquire magazine in November 1997 (Volume 128, Issue 5).
- Her face is used on the mannequins created by Ralph Pucci
for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, causing her to
be called the 'Face of the 20th Century'.
- Her naked form was used in a PETA campaign, under the
slogan 'I'd rather go naked than wear fur'. (see PETA
campaigns)
- Name mentioned during a schoolyard argument between two girls in the film American
Beauty.
- She has appeared on over 500 magazine covers and has been featured in several professional photobooks, including
Peter Lindbergh's '10 Women', Arthur Elgort's
'Model Manual', Herb Ritts 'Man/Woman' and Karl
Lagerfeld's 'Off the Record'.
Other achievements
References
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
