The Supermodel/Celebrity Debate

By OhTillie! Wednesday August 19, 2009

Hi Everyone,

I thought we would steer away from the make-up talk this time and discuss an issue that has been close to my heart for years. That issue being ”Why are Celebrities on the cover of magazines and not Models”.

I have been an avid reader of magazines since the age of ten and yes, I still have every single magazine I have ever bought, which equates to lots of closet space to cater for the hundreds and hundreds of glossy mags that I have been hoarding.

I remember the days when I used to mull over which magazine I should buy, purely due to the fact that I couldn’t decide which supermodel I preferred on a certain cover. These days, apart from the magazines that I buy religiously such as Grazia; the way I decide on which one to purchase is to try and decipher which celebrity on which cover I dislike the least.

Celebrities such as actors, singers and even sports personalities, already have an occupation, so why do they need to have a second job posing for magazines? What are the models supposed to do to gain exposure? I’m sure runway modeling pays well, but how are we ever going to know the models names like we did in the 80’s and early 90’s? I noticed things started to change around 1995 – that’s when the celebrity ‘Cover War’ began. If we ask any Magazine Editor I’m sure their reply would be that the readers want to see actors and singers on the front of their favourite magazines but I beg to differ. Society only wants to see what they are told to see and what the media makes them focus on, so I say lets bring the focus back onto the Supermodels and Models in general.

Don’t get me wrong, I am the biggest fan of pop culture but everything has its place in the world and I believe that the Models belong on the cover of magazines and the celebrities belong on TV. There should be no cross-over! Models should never try and act either. There should be a definite division between the professions.

For those of you old enough to remember the 80’s and 90’s or for those of you who are just Supermodel obsessed, here are just some of the Supermodels that were super popular way back when:

Paulina Porizkova -

Claudia Schiffer -

Linda Evangelista -

Christy Turlington -

These women represented glamour and style and everything that was the 80’s and 90’s and I would love to find out who the first Magazine Editor was that decided to put a Celebrity on the cover! What was the Supermodel’s demise? Was it the ill fated Fashion Café? Was that it? Was that what made society lose respect for models across the board? Did we not want to think of models as having enough brains to venture into business? If that’s the case what was the deal with Planet Hollywood? You’re telling me that Celebrities can run a restaurant but not Models?

As you can see, I am very passionate about this. I realise that there’s Giselle and Kate Moss is still around but I want the Supermodels to come back in full force! They don’t have to be the those of yesteryear, just any high fashion model that is stylish and glamorous enough to grace the cover of Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Marie Claire and even Cleo and Cosmopolitan. And for all the Australian editors out there, how about putting the stunning Samantha Harris on the covers of your magazines? How do you know that she won’t sell as many copies as Angelina or Scarlett if you don’t give her chance?

Look, I know it’s a different world to what it was 15 years ago and we no longer have to buy a magazine to find out what’s in fashion and we don’t have to rely on the models to give us something to aspire to - the internet has taken care of all of that, but spare a thought for all the tall girls out there who just want to strike a pose and become well known for it. Who’s going to hire them if Magzine Editors don’t?

I value everyone’s opinion and I welcome all feedback regarding this topic, maybe we can start a petition that we can then submit to all magazine publishing companies out there????? Maybe…… and for anyone who doesn’’t know who Samantha Harris is, here are some pics.