Page 68 - PORTOCERVO 2020

Who knows if David Fincher, today one of the most famous directors in the world, already knew
then that his music video shot for his friend and pop star George Michael would become an un-
mistakable symbol, a f ag, of beauty and freedom, for all generations as well as one of the most
downloaded videos of all time. It was 1990 and “Freedom” was indeed the title of the song by the
English singer, still one of the most successful British music artists with about 110 million records
sold. For this video clip, George Michael wanted the 5 most famous top models of the moment,
the Canadian Linda Evangelista, the chameleon as she was def ned for her extraordinary ability
to transform herself on the catwalk, the American ones Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford, the
German from Hamburg, Tatjana Patitz and a Naomi Campbell, at the time just twenty years old. A
group of super models who turned the fashion shows into a rock stage, idolized as movie stars,
chased on the streets and admired on the catwalks of Milan, Paris, New York.
It was Peter Lindbergh, unforgettable German fashion photographer who passed away in Paris
on September last year, who gathered them all together for a 1990 British Vogue cover that would
make history in the world of fashion. Together with Yasmeen Ghauri, Helena Christensen, Carla
Bruni and Claudia Schiffer, they were called the girls of Gianni Versace, because it was him,
the Calabrian designer who had conquered the world, who launched them on the catwalk in the
triumphant times of golden fashion and who recognized in this group of breathtaking beauties
a disruptive and disarming force, a cross between femininity, playful, superb mischievous and
unstoppable charm.

“UN MIX POTENTISSIMO E INVINCIBILE
CAPACE DI SPINGERE LA MODA VERSO

UN PICCO MAI PIÙ SFIORATO”.

A very powerful and invincible mix that brought the image of fashion to a onetime peak. A recent
proof? The tribute catwalk that in September 2017 in Milan, Donatella Versace dedicated to her
brother, 20 years after his death, recalling his girls on the stage, those models transformed into
top models by Gianni Versace. And Milan for one more night shone with fashion again as it hap-
pened in the 90s, thanks to those golden and unmistakable metal mesh mermaid dresses worn
with a still explosive force by such special women, unique protagonists of a golden age of which
we still recall the glory. Take Naomi, for example. On May 22, the black model included by People
magazine among the 50 most beautiful women in the world of all time, with an estimated wealth
of around 60 million dollars, also famous for her unquite gentle character, for her whims but also
for her great acts of generosity, celebrated her 50 years. And despite the more sober celebration
due to the Coronavirus, the news and good wishes have found planetary diffusion.
In spite of her age, a turning point that terrif es every woman, and perhaps in her most intimate
secret, even the black Venus still today, occasionally and for friendly designers, appears on the
catwalk with her mythical stride, which has become perhaps less sexy but more regal over the
years. And in Paris we still remember the traff c going crazy for Carla Bruni, who later became Pri-
me Minister of France or for Claudia Schiffer. The German top model called the blonde legend of
the fashion system had become the favourite of Karl Lagerfeld despite the physicality so different
from what he used to love. And just on the occasion of the Parisian fashion week in September
2017, Schiffer presented by Colette, the forerunner and mythical concept store of the city closed
today, the book celebrating its f rst 30 years of career literally sending the traff c of central Paris
into a frenzy . On next August 25 will be her turn, today mother of three children but without for-
getting the fashion system, to celebrate her f rst 50 years. And we can be sure that, after the black
Venus, the Blonde Legende, the blonde fashion legend, is also going to come back.

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