Claudia Schiffer Goes Back to the ’90s in a New Book
“The 1990s was an extraordinary time to be modeling,” supermodel Claudia Schiffer says in her new book, Captivate!, a celebration of fashion photography from the 1990s released on January 25. Schiffer, discovered in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1987, was present on the global stage for the entire decade, and, in addition to cementing her place in the supermodel phenomenon, became an enthusiastic appreciator of fashion photography. Captivate!—which was first an exhibition in Dusseldorf curated by Schiffer—takes readers backstage at runway shows, on the sets of editorial campaigns, and leaves us wondering: Will we ever experience an era like the 1990s in fashion again? Below, we caught up with the model to discuss that very question, as well as how the industry has changed and which modern fashion photographers she’s inspired by.
Vogue: The book says the 1990s is “a decade which has recently been experiencing a notable cultural revival.” Why do you think the ’90s compels people so much?
Claudia Schiffer: The 1990s was an exceptional decade which witnessed the rise of style culture, the birth of the supermodel, and fearless creativity. Young designers, photographers, stylists, and art directors emerged and fundamentally changed the way we view fashion and design. Because fashion photography is a democratic art form, circulating on billboards, digital platforms, packaging and in magazines, it has an enormous sphere of influence. The 1990s was a watershed decade that welcomed fashion photography and photographers as a driving force in visual culture.
Fashion moved from the high-glamour perfectionism of the 1980s to the liberated, stripped-back mood of the 1990s. High mixed with low; street with couture. Chanel jackets with old Levi’s, body-con Alaia dresses and sneakers, Marc Jacobs’s grunge or a Helmut Lang suit. Fashion championed self-expression and it was individual, fun and cool. It is also the last decade pre the digital revolution and I think the creative processes of the analogue world—Polaroids! Contact sheets! Darkrooms! Faxes! Land lines! Pre-Google research!—offer up another thread of fascination to Gen Z alongside the trends and personalities of the era.
Why choose to call this beautiful work Captivate?
I really wanted Captivate! to capture the visual experimentation and freedom of expression that characterized the era. Through the different chapters of the book including “Supermodel Phenomenon,” “Campaigns,” “Covers,” and “Backstage,” I aimed to showcase different facets of the story, the shift in aesthetics as well the changing business of fashion.
Great fashion photography, whether it is the epic black-and-white romance of Peter Lindbergh, the sexy freedom of Ellen Von Unwerth or the dirty realist beauty of British-based David Sims and Corinne Day, does just that—it captivates the imagination, transcends the everyday and transports the viewer.
You lived the ’90s in a truly extraordinary way. Describe the magic of this decade in your life. Modeling wasn’t particularly on my radar, and I did not know much about it. When a modeling scout from Metropolitan Model Agency came up to me that night in Germany back in 1987 and asked me if I wanted to be a model, I thought it was a joke and suggested my best friend who I thought was more suited. In a few weeks, I found myself in Paris shooting with Ellen Von Unwerth, which led to the Guess Jeans campaign and meeting Karl Lagerfeld, who signed me as a face for Chanel, having seen my first cover with Herb Ritts for British Vogue.
But the real magic for me was working with photographers and learning from the masters. Modeling opened the world to me and introduced me to so many incredible creative minds. I learned a lot about photography, fashion design, business and of course, myself.
How has the culture of modeling changed from then to now, especially insofar as a model’s sense of privacy?
At the beginning, modeling was terrifying and exhilarating in equal measures, and supermodel fame stretched beyond the catwalk. I appeared on David Letterman, Jay Leno, Oprah, attracted crowds at in-store appearances and on location shoots and travelled the world. It was insane, like being a rock star. At fashion weeks, you couldn’t get to your car unless a path was carved for you. People would cut holes into the fashion tents and try to take pictures of us. Yet, despite the fame there was a sense of privacy—this was the pre-digital era and, outside of the professional sphere, relatively few people carried cameras. Compared to today, the profession had parameters. One could escape and switch off and modeling success was not linked to social media popularity.
Today, there is also a much wider diversity in model types across race, age and shape, and that is a very positive change. There’s a brilliant array of platforms and media, fashion weeks and events where models might find work and also contribute a voice. For models today, managing exposure is a big priority.
To sift through all of your archived photos from the 1990s seems like such an arduous task. How did you choose these photos to be featured?
Since the early years, I have collected fashion images—Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Peter Lindbergh, Herb Ritts and Ellen Von Unwerth included—and my personal collection forms the basis of the exhibition. I drew on my own archive and experience and began piecing together Captivate! like a giant jigsaw puzzle. It was incredible revisiting the magic of the era in the process. During lockdown, I was so grateful to be at home in the countryside and have this totally absorbing project to work on and the time to dive deep into digital archives and into my library of magazines and shoeboxes of memorabilia.
What made it? What didn’t? The selection was totally driven by aesthetics. There were literally thousands of images to choose from, and because I wanted to show the numerous formats of fashion photography in the pre-digital age—from fine art prints to Polaroids, contact sheets, fashion magazines, to campaigns and model cards—the selection was extensive. I wanted to also create strong contrasts between iconic cover shots, runway imagery and candid backstage snaps.
I always asked myself: Is this quintessentially ’90s? And does the image truly represent the individual photographer’s eye? I also wanted to pay tribute to the teams of photographers, models, stylists, hair and makeup artists, and art directors that collaborated to make fashion happen. I really wanted the exhibition to be a celebration of the breadth of creativity that was witnessed in the ’90s, across the span of runway, campaigns and fashion editorial.