Claudia Schiffer. A woman so famous for her astonishing good looks that her name has become a byword for beauty. She’s like the Uber of modelling. The Google of sex appeal. And yet, the first thing that strikes me about the founding member of the OG supermodel club and star of more than 1,000 magazine covers is that – in a devastating blow to mere mortals everywhere – she’s a good laugh, too. ‘I’ve adopted the dry English sense of humour, which has got me into trouble with my German friends who sometimes don’t understand my attempts at British sarcasm!’ says the Teutonic bombshell, who lives between London, Suffolk and Oxfordshire.
The ‘English countryside, Marmite and a great curry’ all feature on her list of very British things she’s fallen in love with, along with, of course, her film-maker husband Matthew Vaughn – a born-and-bred Londoner of Kingsman, Rocketman and Layer Cake fame – with whom she lives along with their three children, Caspar, 20, Clementine, 19, and Cosima, 13, and a menagerie of four dogs, two cats and three tortoises. In fact, one of her brood is now a future star in the making, courtesy of a lead role in Argylle, the latest movie from MARV film studio (which the power couple co-founded together, with Schiffer as executive producer on Argylle with Apple Original Films). But this isn’t the standard nepo-tale you might expect because it concerns not one of her offspring, but her cat, Chip.
In a plot twist no one saw coming, her three-year-old feline has made his silver screen debut in the role of Alfie, the lovable sidekick of Elly Conway (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) in the spy comedy. ‘There was another cat originally on the film set, but he turned out to be a terrible actor,’ says the model-turned-momager. ‘Since being in the film, Chip has become buddies with his co-stars Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa and his ego has become insufferable. I hardly see him these days, between his Paw-lates sessions getting ready for his appearance at the world premiere, he has no time for me.’ There’s that wicked sense of humour again. But seriously, this is far from your average moggy – Chip has accompanied Schiffer on numerous photo shoots, boasts over 10k followers on Instagram (@chipthecat) and recently appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show. ‘Now I will be accompanying him on his travels,’ Schiffer jokes. He’s even penned his memoirs – Blue Chip: Confessions Of Claudia Schiffer’s Cat – which features charming illustrations by Angelica Hicks and details an encounter with fellow ‘It’ feline Choupette, owned by the late Karl Lagerfeld, whom Schiffer counted as a close friend and mentor since the pair met after she was scouted in a nightclub at just 17.
Naturally, a wealth of Chanel takes pride of place in Claudia’s enviable closet, including a hand-painted 2.55 handbag – a gift from the designer – and a playful pair of tortoise earrings (‘I collect tortoise figurines so those are dear to me’). Other highlights include her bespoke Valentino wedding dress, masterminded by the house’s founder Valentino Garavani, and the black lace bustier from her first Guess campaign in 1989. ‘I also still have the metallic miniskirt, knee-high boots and baby blue cropped sweater from the Versace A/W ’94 billboard campaign.’
But any TikTok girlies clamouring to get their hands on such a goldmine of OG ’90s fashion memorabilia had better get in line behind Schiffer’s eldest daughter, who can often be found rifling through her mum’s cast-offs. ‘Clementine is obsessed with the ’90s,’ says Schiffer. ‘She always says that rummaging through my wardrobe is like going thrifting in the most fabulous vintage shop!’ Among the most-borrowed items is a pair of Chanel dungarees and her iconic Fashion Café T-shirts – a throwback to the sceney New York hangout opened by Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Elle Macpherson in 1995.
When asked for her best memories of that iconic era, she chooses ‘the comradery, the creativity and the friendships’. ‘Suddenly we were propelled into stardom in a really short period of time – bigger than actors, singers and the like. It had never been seen before in the modelling industry.’ Are those friendships still as strong as they were back in the day, I wonder, pondering the existence of a Supers WhatsApp Group? ‘I’m of course closer to some than others and when we see each other, even if it’s not regularly, it is like the familiarity of meeting up with someone you went to high school with! You feel very close because you experienced such important moments together, and it feels like no time has passed.’
The current zeitgeist for all things ’90s nostalgia has also led to a new generation being introduced to the golden era of the supermodels. ‘As Supers, we were seen as individuals who traversed boundaries and, as pop music, fashion and style converged, we became household names. We represented self-made success, which was a gateway to today’s generations who’ve taken it to another level. I think there’s also curiosity about how it all happened before the age of social media!’
While her fame may pre-date the dawn of Instagram, Schiffer has proven she’s more than capable of breaking the internet. In September, her image went viral when she made a surprise appearance on Versace’s catwalk show in Milan. Clementine was there, too, cheering on from the sidelines. ‘She not only watched from the front row but also walked the runway during rehearsals, so she is now more obsessed than ever with fashion.’ The moment marked Schiffer’s first return to the brand’s catwalk since 2017, when she appeared alongside fellow Supers Carla Bruni, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen, having all but retired from the runway 16 years prior, following Yves Saint Laurent’s farewell show in 2002.
But ‘retired’ is undoubtedly the wrong turn of phrase, not least because Schiffer’s been busy – the latest project a Claudia Schiffer Barbie doll which Mattel sold out in minutes – but also because, thanks to Schiffer and the other Supers, the idea of being ‘too old’ to have a modelling career has become an outdated concept. ‘Prior to the ’90s, a model’s career would rarely last past her thirties and there was a constant turnover of faces and types of beauty,’ she says. ‘With the supermodels, careers started to last longer as we became powerful brands in our own right. Now models are working well into their fifties and beyond. Diversity in age, sexuality, shape, and race is an incredibly positive change and allows for a much broader, healthier scope of identification and representation. Fashion can be a provocateur. But it can also be a real changemaker.’
‘Argylle’ is in cinemas from 2 Feb. ‘Blue Chip: Confessions Of Claudia Schiffer’s Cat’, £29.95, is out now instore and online, including at Amazon and gestalten.com
[TOP IMAGE: Sebastian Kim / AUGUST]