The shy memories of a bombshell
Believe it or not, the world famous super model Claudia Schiffer started out as a tooth-pick shy girl from a small German town. Using clothes only to hide her skinny tall awkwardness (“I was incredibly shy and just wanted to disappear”), young Claudia needed to move to Paris to discover her alluring self. Lonely and homesick, the blonde beauty needed fairy godmother Karl (Lagerfeld) to wave a certain Chanel magic wand over her head and allow her Cinderella dream out of the pumpkin.
That strong early connection in the 80’s has been nurtured since then. Remarking her admiration for Lagerfeld, Claudia said: “I would say Karl Lagerfeld was my mentor, especially as we worked together so much. I had a lot of Chanel clothes, so was able to play around with a lot of Chanel looks. At one event, I wore a Chanel biker jacket over a very short mini dress, a gold belt with charms hanging off it, fishnet tights and loads of make-up – it was all really over the top and fun. I went to a lot of events in Paris and it encouraged me to experiment”. The Kaiser opened the doors to the fashion world and she went in, growing her confidence step by step.
At the finish line she was to be crowned one of the beginners of an epic era. It was the time of the Supermodels, the mighty athletic goddesses of the runways. Some of the other tall breathtaking supermodels were Claudia’s closest friends. As she told: “Among the supermodels from my era, I would say I was closest to Nadja Auermann, who’s also German, and also Eva Herzigova, who’s Eastern European, and Helena Christensen, who comes from Denmark. We all came from backgrounds with similar traditions so we could relate to each other. Otherwise I was a bit of a loner, as I was still quite shy”.
Still shy or not, there’s no doubt the Super Claudia has learnt how to work her charms and keeps going Chanel for red carpet!
Source: Vogue.co.uk.
