Supermodel Kate Moss is giving Cleopatra a run for her money. A life-size statue of Moss has debuted at the British Museum.
The statue, which cost 1.5 million in British pounds (about $2.7 million) is thought to be the largest statue made of solid gold since the days of ancient Egypt.
The golden Moss, created by British sculptor Marc Quinn, has been christened “Siren,” and it’s part of a display of contemporary art that begins in October. The sculptor explains why he made a Moss of gold:
I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who’s the ideal beauty of the moment … But even Kate Moss doesn’t live up to the image.
What model today does? In the 1990s, Christy Turlington‘s face was considered so perfectly proportioned, it was used as the prototype for all the mannequins wearing Ralph Pucci designs in the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Turlington was dubbed “The Face of the 20th Century,” but we’re in the 21st century now. What model today is the ideal beauty? Who belongs in a museum? Giselle Bundchen? Bar Rafeal? (If only we had Leonardo Dicaprio‘s little black book!)
