She’s spent over 20 years at the top of her game as one of the original supermodels, but Cindy Crawford has just announced her retirement from the world of modelling.
In an interview with United Airlines’ Rhapsody magazine, the 49 year old star indicated that she’ll celebrate her 50th birthday by taking a step back from fashion campaigns. ‘I’m sure I’ll have my picture taken for 10 more years, but not as a model anymore,’ she said. ‘And that’s OK. I’ve done it. I’ve worked with all these incredible photographers. What else do I need to do? I can’t keep reinventing myself. I shouldn’t have to keep proving myself. I don’t want to.’
The announcement comes just a few weeks after the model was revealed as the new face of Balmain, starring alongside fellow supers Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer in a black and white campaign shot by legendary photographer Steven Klein.
Touted as the original ‘all-American beauty,’ Cindy Crawford became a household name in the 1980s, scoring countless magazine covers and global campaigns with super-brands like Gap, Revlon and Pepsi. She starred in George Michael’s model-packed Freedom video, alongside Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatiana Patitz and Christie Turlington, and in 1995 she was named by Forbes magazine as the highest earning model in the world. She’s since diversified her career, launching an interiors line and the skincare brand Meaningful Beauty. Most recently, she’s made a blink-and-you’ll-miss it cameo in Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood video, and launched ‘Becoming by Cindy Crawford, a photo book documenting her life and work.
Discussing her career, Crawford told Rhapsody: ‘There was no road map for the way my career is. There might be some luck – but also willingness to take chances and do things differently.’
While Cindy may be retiring, her genetically blessed offspring are just starting out in the modelling world. Her lookalike daughter Kaia is now signed to IMG Models, while son Presley is featured in the latest issue of Carine Roitfeld’s CR Fashion Book.