33 years after she was discovered, Cindy Crawford has announced her retirement from the modelling industry. Speaking to United Airlines’ Rhapsody magazine, the American model, who turns 50 later this month, says, “I’m sure I’ll have my picture taken for 10 more years, but not as a model anymore. And that’s OK. I’ve done it. I’ve worked with all these incredible photographers. What else do I need to do? I can’t keep reinventing myself. I shouldn’t have to keep proving myself. I don’t want to.”
Crawford was discovered at the age of sixteen – she was working on a nearby farm detasseling corn – when a photographer took her picture for a local picture. A year later, she signed to Elite Model Management’s Chicago division and was hailed for her likeness to late 70s/early 80s model Gia Carangi.
Nicknamed ‘Baby Gia’, Crawford went on to become one of the original supermodels, alongside Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell. In fact, she reunited with Schiffer and Campbell when she was photographed by Steven Klein for Balmain’s SS16 campaign (see below), which was unveiled last month.
Alongside her high fashion modelling work, Crawford was famed for her Playboy shoots, her Pepsi ads and her role as host of MTV’s House of Style, a programme which looked at the lives of models and the modelling industry.
Crawford’s announcement comes in the wake of her autobiography Becoming – published by Rizzoli – which was released last September. How does she feel about her upcoming fiftieth? “The fact that I am doing work that I love, have a good relationship with my husband, beautiful kids, all of that makes it not totally painless – because there’s still some yearning for what was – but what would I trade for it? What day or what experience of my life would I give up to be younger? Nothing.”
Though Crawford is retiring, her legacy is set to live on in the form of her 14-year-old daughter – Kaia Gerber – who is following in her mother’s footsteps and forging a modelling career of her own. Represented by IMG Models, Gerber has already by photographed by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia alongside industry veteran Sasha Pivovarova and Miuccia Prada favourite Yasmin Wijnaldum.
Read the full interview here.