On
the surface, the fashion industry appears to be one
of the queerest businesses around, with openly gay numerous
designers, stylists and hairdressers. But models who work in
the fashion industry are less likely to be openly gay or lesbian
because their faces are used to sell products to the mainstream.
Though
fashion magazine editorials may flirt with androgyny or same-sex
attraction, most fashion advertising is still designed to appeal
to a broad base, and thus advertisers rarely wish to be associated
with anything that is not mainstream.
Models who don’t fit traditional standards
of beauty are rarely hired, except by those brands that are
specifically marketed to an “edgy” audience.
Only
a few openly lesbian models have achieved success in the modeling
industry, though many industry insiders report that the business
itself is full of straight women who on occasion fool around
with other women. Much of this bicurious behavior, however,
is linked with drugs and alcohol, fueling more of a Girls
Gone Wild environment than one in which lesbianism is actually
accepted.
In
1998, openly lesbian Calvin Klein model Stine Garis told The
Advocate, “While I don't hang out at the models’ bars where
all of these things supposedly happen, I hear that a lot of
models who are straight and have boyfriends will go out and
get drunk, fool around, and kiss each other. You’re around a
lot of beautiful women, so it’s not hard to imagine something
going on. When it happens, I’m always like, Where
was I?”
One
of the earliest openly lesbian supermodels was Gia
Carangi, who had a notorious addiction to heroin and died at
only 26 years old in 1986 due to an AIDS-related illness. Best
known as the basis for the HBO television movie Gia,
in which openly bisexual actress Angelina
Jolie played the drug-addicted model, Carangi made a huge
splash in the fashion industry in the late 1970s for her “ethnic”
look, which was particularly unusual at a time when the top
models were all-American blondes such as Cheryl Tiegs and Christie
Brinkley.
Born
to a working-class family in Philadelphia—her father owned a
hoagie restaurant—Carangi’s parents divorced when she was a
child. She moved to New York when she was 18 to pursue modeling
and found instant success, soon appearing on the covers of Vogue
and Cosmopolitan, and in ads for the top designers of
the time, including Diane von Furstenberg, Armani and Dior.
Known
for her street smarts and favoring jeans and cowboy boots over
the designer clothes that other models wore, Carangi was also
known to often carry a knife with her. She once reportedly announced
herself at the Wilhelmina modeling agency by carving her name
into the receptionist’s desk with her switchblade.
Her
first major fashion shoot took place in October 1978 with photographer
Chris von Wangenheim. After wrapping the day’s shoot, he asked
her to pose nude behind a chain link fence with makeup assistant
Sandy Linter, and the shot has since become a legendary one
that was later reproduced in the HBO film.
During
the shoot Carangi was immediately drawn to Linter, and she soon
began to pursue her.
Page
1 / 2 / 3
- Next
