| Christy Turlington |
Turlington at the premiere of 27 Dresses, 7th January 2008. Photo by Luke Ford. |
| Birth name |
Christy Nicole Turlington |
| Date of birth |
January 2, 1969 (1969-01-02) (age 39) |
| Place of birth |
Walnut Creek, California, U.S. |
| Height |
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)1 |
| Hair color |
Brown1 |
| Eye color |
Green1 |
| Measurements |
34-23-361 |
| Dress size |
4 (US); 34 (EU)1 |
| Shoe size |
10 (US); 41 (EU)1 |
| Spouse(s) |
Edward Burns (2003 - ) |
Christy Nicole Turlington (born January 2, 1969) is an American model best known for representing Calvin Klein fragrances since 1987. She has also worked on various campaigns for Maybelline Cosmetics and Giorgio Armani, has appeared in several films about the fashion industry and was a co-founder of the now defunct Fashion Café.
Early life
Turlington was born in Walnut Creek, California, the middle of three daughters born to Dwain Turlington, a pilot for Pan American World Airways and a flight attendant from El Salvador, María Elizabeth (née Parker).23
She was discovered by Dennie Cody while horseback riding1 in Miami, Florida, where her father was working as a training captain for Pan Am.4 Turlington began modeling after school from age 14 to 16 and during summers until she graduated from Monte Vista High School.51 After graduation, she moved to New York City to model full-time.5
Career
Turlington has several accomplishments in the modeling industry, having had numerous million dollar contracts with companies like Maybelline, Chanel, and Calvin Klein. Although she is known as one of the most successful supermodels in history, Turlington has rejected the 'supermodel' label. She is widely respected in the fashion industry as one of the friendliest and most professional models in the business. In 1988, Turlington along with Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer became known as the first supermodels.citation needed Photographer Steven Meisel booked Turlington, Campbell and Evangelista frequently and together they became known as the "Trinity."citation needed
During the 1990s, she appeared in Unzipped, a documentary about fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, and the fashion mockumentary film Prêt-à-Porter by famed director Robert Altman. Additionally, she was featured in Catwalk, a documentary about life on the fashion runways by director Robert Leacock.
Turlington also appeared in two music videos. Fellow model Yasmin Le Bon got her husband Simon LeBon of Duran Duran to feature Turlington in their 'Notorious' video in 1986, as well as the album cover. In 1990, singer George Michael drew inspiration from Peter Lindbergh's January 1990 British Vogue cover (which features Turlington, Campbell, Evangelista, Crawford and Patitz) for his 'Freedom' video. The video featured all top 5 female models along with their top 5 male counterparts, lip-syncing the song.
Christy Turlington I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur campaign poster
She has appeared on over 500 magazine covers and has been featured in several professional photobooks, including Peter Lindbergh's '10 Women', Arthur Elgort's 'Model Manual', Herb Ritts 'Man/Woman' and Karl Lagerfeld's 'Off the Record'. In 1993, she posed nude for PETA's anti-fur campaign. Also in 1993, her face was used on 120 mannequins created by Ralph Pucci for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, causing her to be called the 'Face of the 20th Century'.citation needed
More recently, she has become a partner in three successful business ventures: an ayurvedic skincare line (Sundari) and two clothing lines produced by Puma: Nuala, an active women's clothing line; and Mahanuala, a women's yoga-wear line.
On August 11, 2006, Women's Wear Daily reported that Turlington had signed a multiyear contract with Maybelline, marking her return to the company that made her famous with its 'Maybe She's Born With It' ad campaign.
On the issue regarding the statement of Claudia Schiffer that the supermodel was dead, Turlington agreed saying, "It's over, it's over, it's over,". "It was fun, but now I just wish it would go away. The name supermodel? I hate it."6
Personal life
Turlington is the author of Living Yoga: Creating A Life Practice (ISBN 0-7868-6806-6). Owing to this interest in Eastern religions she went back to school in 1994 and graduated cum laude in 1999 from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study of New York University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Comparative Religion and Eastern Philosophy. Despite this interest, she has remained a practicing Roman Catholic since childhood.78 Previously a vegetarian, she has gone back to being a meat-eater.9 An ex-smoker whose father died of lung cancer, Turlington is also an anti-smoking activist as well as being a sufferer of emphysema.1011
Turlington has dated actors, photographers, royalty, and doctors, Roger Wilson, Christian Slater and Jason Patric. On June 7, 2003, she married actor/filmmaker Edward Burns. Turlington was given away by good friend Bono on the 5th anniversary of her father's death from lung cancer.citation needed Burns and Turlington have two children: a daughter Grace born October 25, 2003, and a son Finn born February 11, 2006. The family resides in New York City, near Ed Burns old loft that was formerly owned by JFK Jr.
Allusions in art and media
- I am Christy Turlington I am the Word is a short story by Tom Junod published in Esquire magazine in November 1997 (Volume 128, Issue 5).
- Name mentioned during a schoolyard argument between two girls in the film American Beauty. "You were in Seventeen once, and you looked fat so quit acting like you're goddamn Christy Turlington."
- In the movie Rounders (1998) Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) tells Joey Knish (John Turturro) "I need fifteen thousand dollars." Knish replies "I need a blow job from Christy Turlington."
- In the second episode of the television show "Sex and the City", entitled "Models and Mortals," Charlotte (Kristin Davis) reveals her feeling of inferiority to models by remarking, "I just know no matter how good I feel about myself, if I see Christy Turlington, I just want to give up!"
- Name mentioned during the pilot episode of Nip/Tuck.
- In "America's Next Top Model", Turlington has received several references from Tyra Banks who has commented on her ability to raise her eyebrow without changing the rest of her face. In Cycle 9, when the remaining 5 girls went on go-sees one of the designers stated that contestant Jenah Doucette looked like Christy Turlington in one of her photos.
- In "Friends", during season 10 episode 11, "The One Where the Stripper Cries", Joey appears as a contestant on the gameshow "Pyramid", in which he is asked to decide what the named women have in common. They are all supermodels and amongst them Turlington is mentioned.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Christy Turlington in the Fashion Model Directory
- ^ Benson, Richard. Yogi bared. Telegraph, March 12, 2003. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ Belleza no significa no tener arrugas ("Beauty doesn't mean you don't have wrinkles"). Para Ti Online, April 3, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ Whitworth, Melissa. Christy Turlington: the outsider. The Daily Telegraph, September 23, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ a b Seeber, Michael. Christy Turlington: Beauty and Balance. Psychology Today, July/August 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ New York Fashion Week: In the front row source: www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved September 17, 2007
- ^ Turlington, Christy. (2003). Living Yoga: Creating A Life Practice (pp. 110-112). ISBN 0-7868-6806-6.
- ^ Simpkinson, Anne. The Model Yogini: Beliefnet catches up with Christy Turlington. Beliefnet. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ Turlington, Christy. (2003). Living Yoga: Creating A Life Practice (pp. 235-236). ISBN 0-7868-6806-6.
- ^ Turlington, Christy. (2003). Living Yoga: Creating A Life Practice (pp. 85-90). ISBN 0-7868-6806-6.
- ^ http://www.smokingisugly.com/main.html Retrieved 2008-02-15.
External links
