Top 10 Most Legendary Supermodels

The term supermodel is thrown around a lot, but what exactly sets these legendary figures apart from the rest? A supermodel isn't just someone who has walked the runway or appeared on magazine covers. It's someone whose influence stretches far beyond fashion. They're cultural icons, trendsetters, and often pioneers who broke barriers and redefined beauty standards. A supermodel's face and persona become instantly recognizable, transcending the fashion world to influence pop culture, business, and even activism.

The supermodels on this list didn't just model clothes. They shaped entire eras. Whether they ruled the 80s and 90s catwalks or helped to shift the industry in a new direction, these women left an undeniable impact that still lingers today. It's their charisma, work ethic, and ability to adapt and evolve in an ever-changing industry that sets them apart.

The Top Ten

Cindy Crawford

Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford is an American model. Her 30 years of success in modeling, including nude pictorials in Playboy's July 1988 and October 1998 issues, made her an international celebrity. This prominence led to roles in television and film, as well as work as a spokesperson.

Her trademark is the mole above her lip. She has been on the cover of more than 600 magazines worldwide, including "Vogue", "W", "People", "Harper's Bazaar", "ELLE", and "Allure". She was the first modern supermodel to pose for "Playboy" and ranked number 5 on "Playboy's" list of the 100 Sexiest Stars of the Century.

Cindy used to be so gorgeous, and that body... Wow. Naomi, Gisele, and Kate? No, thanks.

A real beauty! Cindy Crawford is the best! She should also be Miss Universe...
Gia Carangi

I agree she should be at the top of this list. She is a one-of-a-kind, unique beauty. She was the original, the best, and the trendsetter for all models coming after her. She did everything with ease because it all came naturally. It's so sad to have lost her so young. I'm sure she would have been somewhere big in film if she had still been with us, as she wanted to do movies.

Cindy Crawford at the top of the list? Come on... It should be Gia. It was her resemblance to Gia that made her famous. All the photographers and magazines wanted somebody like Gia: someone natural, someone who could open her soul to the camera and make people look inside themselves, someone who could transform into anybody in front of the camera. That was Gia.
Naomi Campbell

Naomi Elaine Campbell is a British supermodel, actress, and singer. Recruited at the age of 15, she rose to prominence in the late 1980s and became one of the most recognizable and in-demand models of her era. She was part of the group of original supermodels and has remained influential in the fashion... read more

Longest career, period.
She's also one of the most unique and proportionate models ever. Crawford has small eyes and many features. Gia is a bit too basic for my liking.
Campbell is a goddess.

Naomi Campbell is very pretty, and I like how she made history by becoming the first black woman to appear on the cover of French Vogue magazine. I also like how she was in Michael Jackson's music video "In the Closet." But I would have liked her a lot more if she hadn't had an attitude problem.

I don't like Naomi Campbell at all, but at least I'm being honest. Hopefully, she gets to appear on more runways often because she is more stunning than the newer models. Plus, I am not a huge fan of the newer models and the Instagram models. Naomi Campbell is beautiful.
Tyra Banks

Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, television personality, talk show host, producer, author, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She is widely recognized for being the first Black woman to appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue alone, which she achieved in 1997. Throughout the... read more

She's the best in the world! Her show "America's Next Top Model" just reached Cycle 18, and "The Tyra Banks Show" is one of the best talk shows in the world. She's also more than a millionaire. Her black beauty is undefeated!

I watch America's Next Top Model all the time. And I just think she is the most beautiful person in the whole universe! I just wish I could be like her. She is the best!

She is a modern-day pioneer for how models should translate their careers to TV, film, etc. I've always heard her described as a model mogul.
Heidi Klum

Heidi Klum is a German model, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, and television producer. She gained fame as a Victoria's Secret Angel and was the first German model to become a Victoria's Secret Angel. Klum has also hosted and produced shows such as Project Runway and Germany's Next Topmodel... read more

Voted as number 9 on the Top 100 Sexiest Women 2004 in FHM. In 2008, she earned $3,800,000 as a model and spokesperson for Victoria's Secret. Forbes reported her income from various interests at $14 million in 2008. She was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2001.

I don't know all the models here, but Heidi's got that twinkle in her eye that just makes her so likable. She's #1 on my list.

Heidi is naturally beautiful. A real-looking woman who needs no artificial anything.
Kate Moss

Katherine Ann Moss is an English model and businesswoman. Born in Croydon, Greater London, she was discovered in 1988 at age 14 by Sarah Doukas, founder of Storm Model Management, at JFK Airport in New York City. Moss rose to international fame in the early 1990s and is widely credited with popularizing... read more

One of the more controversial supermodels, primarily because of her unusually low weight during the early part of her career. Although she is one of the world's top fashion models.

Kate is innovative and changed the standard of beauty to appreciate waifish women. But where is Gia Carangi? Cindy Crawford is number one, and she wouldn't have had a job if it wasn't for Gia. When Cindy started modeling, she was called baby Gia. This makes me mad.

Ask anybody to name a top model, and they would answer Kate Moss. Certainly, one of the most controversial and famous models ever. And that face, she is so magnetic and mysterious!
Claudia Schiffer

Claudia Maria Schiffer is a German model, actress, and fashion designer currently living in England. She rose to international fame in the early 1990s as one of the world's most successful supermodels. Schiffer has appeared on over 1,000 magazine covers and worked with numerous top fashion brands.

What? She isn't #1? By a long shot, she's the most iconic, legendary, and influential supermodel of the 90s!

Hot girl. If you don't know, you better ask somebody. Top five in the 90s for sure.

She should be at the top! 500 magazine covers, come on!
Linda Evangelista

Linda Evangelista is a Canadian model regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential supermodels of all time. She's appeared on over 700 magazine covers.

She was ranked number 2 (after Cindy Crawford) on MTV's "House of Style" (1989) list of the top models of the 1990s. She has changed her hair color a minimum of twelve times. She was ranked number 8 in Channel 5's "World's Greatest Supermodel." Her quote "I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day" was one of the best PR moves in history.

Come on, Linda is the supermodel! She is one of the Trinity with Christy and Naomi. The chameleon model, she could look glamorous, classy, and original. I love all her works. She is not the most beautiful, but she is never boring.
Twiggy

I am old enough to remember that Twiggy was the world's first supermodel. She was the first to become a household name and was only 5'6! Twiggy and Cheryl Tiegs, who was 5 inches taller than Twiggy, were and are the original supermodels. They started it all: the magazine covers, cosmetic contracts, and ads. You know you have become a supermodel when you become a household name.

Indeed. Twiggy will always be the world's first supermodel. The fact that she was short, much shorter than the typical required height, makes her success even more celebrated. Twiggy broke the mold for shorter models like Kate Moss and Devon Aoki. She was the first to become famous and a household name around the world.
She was unique, innovative, and totally original. Kudos to Twiggy!
Gisele Bündchen

Gisele Caroline Bündchen is a Brazilian model, actress, and businesswoman. Since 2001, Bündchen has consistently ranked among the highest-paid models in the world. In 2007, she was the 16th richest woman in the entertainment industry, and in 2012, she topped Forbes' list of top-earning models.

She had always been famous way before she married Tom Brady. Only those who don't know anything about fashion didn't know who she was.

Model of the millennium! Made Victoria's Secret look fashionable. The body! Over a decade as the highest-paid model! Come on! She's it!

She is such a role model, along with being a great supermodel. She is naturally beautiful and simply one of the best supermodels out there.

The Newcomers

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Bettie Page

Bettie Mae Page, born on April 22, 1923, and died on December 11, 2008, was an American model who gained prominence in the 1950s for her pin-up photography. Often referred to as the "Queen of Pinups," she became known for her jet-black hair, blue eyes, and distinctive bangs. Her image has influenced... read more
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Edie Sedgwick

The Contenders

Helena Christensen
Iman

She was always pretty. You guys put a weird picture right here now.
Elle Macpherson

Elle Macpherson is an Australian model, businesswoman, television host, and actress. She is known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, beginning in the 1980s, which led to her nickname "The Body," coined by Time magazine in 1989.... read more

Natural beauty, seemed like the girl next door type. I miss the days she graced the covers of magazines. Also, where is Kathy Ireland? How can anyone forget about her?

One of the world's top fashion models.
Suzy Parker
Paulina Porizkova

She is beautiful. Great eyes. Great features. Perfect symmetry and bone structure. She is striking. Any fool could see that.

Dear Master Porizkova. Your alien eyes have turned me into a square-faced alien like you. You are not from Earth, and you and I will alienate the world.

She has hypnotized me into being her slave. All hail master Porizkova. You have seduced me.
Christie Brinkley

Christie Brinkley is an American model, actress, and entrepreneur. She gained worldwide fame through her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues in the late 1970s, becoming the first model to appear on three consecutive covers beginning in 1979. Brinkley later became a long-time face of... read more

Just stunning, then and now! Just as gorgeous as she was when she was young. Greatest smile ever! Always #1 in my book, no offense to Cindy. She is my #2 pick.

She is the only model who got even better with age. She is 62 years old and looks fantastic! She has not aged and can still rock any cover!

Another absolutely beautiful woman.
Christy Turlington

She rocked when the blondes ruled and brought beauty with an appealing character into vogue. She knows her face and body and uses her fame for intelligent and consistently great causes. One supermodel who remained natural and real, proving beauty comes from within, though of course, she is flawlessly beautiful on the outside too. Good luck and God bless, Marti.

Appeared in the nude for a PETA poster stating, "I'd rather go naked than wear fur."
One of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.
Has been on the cover of nearly 1,000 magazines since 1987, including Vogue, Allure, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, and Elle.
Jean Shrimpton

The best face ever, I never tire of looking at her photos. I have been fascinated by her for 50 years. I gave my daughter her middle name, Jean, in her honor. She will always be the most beautiful model ever to me. I love the photos of her as an "old woman." She certainly aged better than I. I wish her happiness.

Yes, Jean, the most beautiful, whether hippie or ladylike, she always looked amazing.

In my opinion, the number one top model of all time. She has no equal.
Veruschka

Before Cindy, Naomi, Gia, Linda, and any of those other wonderful models were even born, there was Veruschka.
She is one of a kind, even among her contemporaries like Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, etc. Veruschka approached each job like an artist and didn't just model and look beautiful, but became the image of beauty to fit every photo.
She is alive and creating to this day and is an inspiration for all the models of today. That's why she should be number one. Not because she is hot, or looks cute in her panties, or had a lot of P.R. people working hard to give her popularity in the media. But because she set the standard of what a model is, going beyond just being a pretty face. Many of you have never heard of her and do not know the history of the modeling world, so please go to Google Images and write the name Veruschka, and look and see what a true supermodel is all about.
Grace Jones

Grace Beverly Jones is a Jamaican-American supermodel, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she moved to Syracuse, New York, with her siblings at the age of 13 to live with their parents. Jones rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, becoming a cultural... read more
Brooke Shields

Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress, model, and former child star. She began her career as a child model and gained critical acclaim at age 12 for her lead role in Louis Malle's controversial 1978 film Pretty Baby, where she portrayed a child prostitute in early 20th-century New Orleans. Shields... read more

Yet one of the few brunette supermodels of the late 70s/early 80s. An icon and one of Scavullo's favorites. She was the youngest model ever to appear on the cover of Vogue at 14 years old, had a fashion doll named after her, and became a household name.

The most beautiful of them all. Perfect face, tall, natural, athletic body, gorgeous hair and bone structure, and a brain and sense of humour to match.

90s kids are extremely lucky to have role models like her. Nowadays, it's all those fake Kardashians.
Jerry Hall
Lisa Fonssagrives
Alessandra Ambrosio

Alessandra Corine Maria Ambrósio is a Brazilian model and actress. She is best known for her work with Victoria's Secret and was chosen as the first spokesmodel for the company's PINK line. Ambrosio has also appeared on numerous international magazine covers and participated in fashion campaigns for... read more

With her deep tan, puppy eyes, long amber hair, and irresistible legs, she should be on this list, if not at Number 1!
Cara Delevingne

Cara Jocelyn Delevingne is an English model, actress, and singer. She signed with Storm Management after leaving school in 2009.
Delevingne won Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in both 2012 and 2014. She has acted in films such as Anna Karenina, Suicide Squad, and Valerian and the... read more

She shows the human side of models, wherein they aren't all just strict this and proper that. They're just ladies.

She's an extremely attractive person, inside and out. She's just cool.

Her statement with the eyebrows... amazing.