Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Claudia  Schiffer , Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour and Christie Turlington. Remember the rise of the 80’s and ‘90’s supermodel? These glamorous women graced the covers of fashion magazines and strutted down catwalk runways with poise, panache, personality and individuality. Each was towering and stunning in their own way and demanded nothing less than $10,000 a show. They were just as famous (or infamous) as movie stars and celebrities.

Today’s models are different. They are still stereotypically beautiful (and arguably too thin), just younger, more doll-like, less expensive to hire and with less personality on the runway. Most of this new breed of model is Eastern European or Russian and they all look the same: perfectly symmetrical faces, deeply set wide eyes, strong jaw lines, pointy noses and pouty lips. They are usually between the ages of 16 and 20 and march on and off runways like robots. The “ attitude” is deliberately no longer there.

Designers opted to evolve the fashion model so that nothing would take away from their clothing creations. The exuberant personality of a highly paid supermodel eventually became an unaffordable distraction to their garments. The qualities of fashion models therefore had to change to reflect the new needs of designers. As a result, fashion shows have become more like garment processions as opposed to a source of excitement and entertainment.

With the new breed of model being less entertaining, celebrities now often feature on the covers of fashion magazines as a more desirable source of glamour and personality. And ethereal, waif-like, youthful and nondescript fashion soldiers remain the current choice for catwalk runways. Ironically, as highly successful models like Kate Moss, Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum have proven, personality is still a pre-requisite for models who want to stay in the game for longer than 2-3 years.