Return of the Supers: See Behind the Scenes at the Making of Vogue’s September Issue

[gentle music]

Hi, Vogue.

I'm Cindy Crawford.

[Christy] I'm Christy Turlington.

[Naomi] I'm Naomi Campbell.

I'm Linda Evangelista, and this is Behind the Shoot.

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My reaction when I was asked

to be part of the September cover shoot was,

Is this really happening?

Just to get us all together

shooting with Edward and Anna,

overjoyed would be the word

To come back together for Vogue on a cover

was super exciting.

One of the things that I love

about the fashion industry

is these friendships from people all over the world.

You know, not only Christy, Linda and Naomi

but the hair, the makeup, Edward,

it really is like your second family.

Oh, you know, we discussed children,

what we're doing, what we're...

It's just always great to catch up.

We get there, we've forgotten that we have to work.

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The inspiration for the shoot was to show the girls

as they were now in their lives.

We weren't recreating images from the nineties.

They're not supposed to be who they were when they were 21,

it's who they are now.

And we wanted to sort of show it through the lens of joy.

The atmosphere on the shoot is electric.

Everybody's having fun,

the music is blasting.

You have a whole generation from the '90s

and all these young assistants on set.

I mean to watch Linda working,

to watch Naomi moving,

to watch Cindy posing, Christie, that eternal glow,

it's a really special day. I think it's one of those shoots

nobody in there will forget for a while.

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Today we're shooting with Rafael Pavarotti

a young photographer, not even 30 years old from Brazil.

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There's a very sort of relaxed vibe.

It's kind of adding to a nuance of the day

and sort of trying to meet Raf where he is

and for him to also sort of embrace what we represent.

So there's just like a nice thing happening

with the energy and vibe on the set.

So far, I've done one picture and I have to say,

I had so much fun

and when he said we had it,

I was like, Oh no, already over?

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Edward, I've known for years.

He's the great combination of sweetheart

but also he loves fashion and he loves making fashion

and he just brings that enthusiasm and that excitement.

I trust Edward Edward and I trust Raf.

That's really it.

I didn't have any questions because I trust.

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When Naomi, Cindy, Linda, and Christy came along

they really fulfilled people's fantasies.

The idea of what a Vogue model is.

You saw them in videos for George Michael,

you saw them on catwalks,

you saw them

with these incredibly famous sort of boyfriends,

but they also represented their generation.

The whole new generation was coming up in the '90s

sort of very different from the '80s.

So you know, yes, they really were the girls

all the girls wanted to be,

and they were all so different.

I've known these ladies for most of my life.

At this point, there is something about our early years

that really felt very joyful and very celebratory.

Even though life was certainly not perfect,

when you look back, there is this sense of fun.

Back in the day, we didn't do like one show a day.

We had them packed in there bumper to bumper.

It can feel lonely up on that runway,

so to pass someone, it's always reassuring.

You just don't feel so alone.

[Naomi] We were allowed to show our personalities.

Our personalities is part of us

that makes us all our individual characters.

I'm blessed that I came at that time.

I wouldn't have wanted to come at another time.

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[Christy] People only saw

this two dimensional picture of us,

and then for me to be able to be silly,

or we were all on house of style,

like people got to know us a little bit.

Vogue asked Peter Lindbergh to do a cover

that defined the '90s woman,

like who is this new '90s woman?

Peter said, It's not just one woman,

it's more about diversity,

and obviously we've come a long way since then,

but even at that time

this idea to have five different looking women,

but we somehow all looked good together, photographed,

and I think we were all wearing pretty much our own jeans.

And then Giorgio, San Angelo, wrapped tops.

We were on the street in Tribeca.

We got ready in a motor home just on the corner.

We were on the middle of the street,

and where were we?

Under the Brooklyn Bridge or something.

We all felt, I think, very much ourselves in that moment.

[Naomi] We all loved working with Peter.

It was relaxed.

The thing about Peter that I really appreciate

probably more now than I did then,

is he just really celebrated women

but also your individuality.

It's sort of, I'd say the beginning

of what this era kind of represents.

[Naomi] I didn't think it would have that reaction.

I didn't think a video would come from it.

I didn't think George Michael would be calling.

I didn't think any of that.

Never knew at the time doing that cover

that it would turn out to be

the phenomenon that it turned out to be,

and what it would lead to

and how it would change our careers.

Tatiana, who's not with us today,

I met her before anyone in the group.

The sad thing is we have lost so many people in our lives

and oftentimes we connect

when we hear of some horrible news.

These are people that we worked with for so long

and so when anyone goes,

it's a moment to kind of reminisce

and think about those experiences.

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Remembering the Peter Lindberg shoot

there's two other Vogues that were special to me.

First was the French Vogue.

I had no idea at the time when I shot that French Vogue,

that I was the first woman of color to ever be on it.

And British Vogue,

that was also a very important moment for me being British

and being the first Black British model on the cover.

But most important changes for me

that I've seen and that I've advocated for

is being diverse and inclusive,

and finally, we're at a place where I can say

things are moving in a great direction.

[gentle music]

The world puts a lot of pressure, obviously

on women as they age.

We still can have fun.

We can still be beautiful.

We can still be visible.

This Vogue cover is a celebration of that.

A celebration of our careers.

We're still here,

we can still model.

It's really the icing on the cake

for this whole journey that we've been on.

I hope this cover speaks to everyone

to all the people that have been supportive to us

from the '90s,

to all the people that have followed us,

to all the women out there,

to show that it age is a number

and it doesn't mean anything.

Today you are who you are as an individual.

We're women.

We were women then, but we were young women then

and we're fully women in our power in our bodies.

Not going anywhere

and maybe we'll be back in 35, 40 years again.

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