German Supermodel Claudia Schiffer

Claudia Schiffer (born August 25, 1970) is a German supermodel and actress, who reached the height of her popularity during the 1990s. Schiffer is one of the world's most successful supermodels, appearing on over 500 magazine covers and is thought to be one of the wealthiest German women of her time, with Forbes estimating Schiffer to be worth £38 million in 2002.

After she was spotted as a potential model in a disco at the age of just seventeen, she completed her education by her mother's wishes and then began to work as a model. She flew out to Paris for a trial photo shoot and soon after she appeared in the cover of French ELLE after being well received in Paris. After several other magazine appearances she quickly achieved supermodel status when she was selected by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel. Schiffer continued to become a world-famous supermodel, becoming instantly recognizable with her blue eyes, blond hair and tall figure.

In the early 1990s she starred in highly publicised Guess? jeans adverts in North America which created essential publicity for Schiffer. Soon after appearing in the campaigns, her name was launched worldwide, appearing on five magazine covers in the United States and seven covers around Europe. Her modelling career continued to grow and she was contracted to model for Revlon. She also became deeply involved in modelling for several catalogues and modelled on high profile catwalk shows. Schiffer has done catwalk modelling for Versace, Jil Sander, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren and Valentino. Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, the New York Times and People all saw Schiffer as the first model to make their covers. She has also appeared many times on covers of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Time.

Schiffer has also been the face of Mango, a chain of Spanish clothes stores and Accessorize, where she had her ears pierced especially for her Autumn/Winter 2006 Accessorize advertising campaign in 2006. Schiffer still holds a contract with L'Oreal and Ebel watches, and her billboard picture for Kenar has also hung over millions of tourists at Time Square. Since 1990, she has created a swimsuit calendar each year which she stars in and designs herself.

Her career continued to develop when she secured contracts with Pepsi appearing in advertisements promoting the brand, and has also danced with a cartoon version of Mickey Mouse in advertisements promoting Fanta for an estimated $2 million. She appeared nude in a 1998 Citroën advertisement, securing her a reputed £3 million. However from behind the car only her feet and shoulders upward could be seen and she did not know how to drive at the time. Karl Lagerfeld recently filmed her for a Dom Perignon campaign, some ten years after her first appearances in Chanel adverts.

Source: Wikipedia