Christy Turlington

Biography

Christy Nicole Turlington Burns (née Turlington; born January 2, 1969) is an American fashion model. She initially attracted fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a supermodel. She represented Calvin Klein's Eternity campaign in 1989 and again in 2014, and also represents Maybelline. Grace Coddington, the long-time creative director of American Vogue magazine, has described Turlington as "the most beautiful woman in the world."

== Early life == Turlington was born in Walnut Creek, California, the middle of three daughters born to Dwain Turlington, a pilot for Pan Am, and María Elizabeth (née Parker Infante), a flight attendant from El Salvador. She was raised in the Catholic faith of her mother along with her sisters and continued to practice the religion into adulthood. She was discovered by local photographer Dennie Cody while she was riding a horse in Miami, Florida, where her father was working as a training captain for Pan Am. Turlington began modeling after school from age 14 to 16 and during summers while she attended Monte Vista High School in Danville, California. After turning 18, she moved to New York City to model full-time, and later graduated from high school. 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. As of 2014, she was a student at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

== Modeling ==

=== 20th century === Turlington has been featured in advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Prada, Valentino, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Bally, Jason Wu, Max Mara, Escada, Michael Kors, and Maybelline. At age 20, she signed a record-breaking million-dollar contract as the new face of Calvin Klein (1989–2007). In 1992, she also became the face of Maybelline. The following year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York named her the "Face of the 20th Century" and created a line of mannequins based on her likeness. She also appeared in two music videos. Fellow model Yasmin Le Bon got her husband Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran to feature Turlington in their "Notorious" video and album cover in 1986, at the age of 17. During the 1990s, she appeared in Unzipped, a documentary about fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, and the fashion mockumentary film Prêt-à-Porter by director Robert Altman. Additionally, she was featured in Catwalk, a documentary about her life on the fashion runways by director Robert Leacock. Christy Turlington is widely regarded as one of the "original supermodels" of the late 1980s and early 1990s, a group of models who achieved global fame and recognition beyond the fashion industry. Alongside Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista, she is often referred to as part of the “Holy Trinity” of supermodels. The three became closely associated through their frequent appearances in major fashion campaigns, magazine covers, and runway shows, helping define the era and elevating the status of models to that of international celebrities. Turlington has appeared on international fashion magazines that include Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Marie Claire, L'Officiel, Tatler, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Allure. In 1990, singer George Michael drew inspiration from Peter Lindbergh's January 1990 British Vogue cover (which features Turlington, Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, and Tatjana Patitz) for his "Freedom!" video. The video featured all top 5 female models along with their top 5 male counterparts, lip-syncing the song. The video was shown during George Michael's 2008 concert tour while he sang. She was added on as the fourth model investor, after Elle Macpherson, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer of the now defunct Fashion Cafes. Turlington has also been credited along with Alicia Silverstone with introducing the navel piercing to mainstream culture after she and Naomi Campbell got their navels piercing together before baring their piercings at a London fashion show in 1993.

=== More recently ===

In honor of Turlington's 40th birthday, W magazine put together a collection of notable images from her career, from runway shots from the late eighties to today. In 2008, casting agent James Scully said regarding Turlington:The greatest model of all time! You could combine every model to this day into one person, and they wouldn't come close (sorry, girls). Probably the biggest crush I've ever had on a girl. It would be a dream to have the opportunity of working with her on a show again before I retire, but that seems about as likely as winning the lottery. Turlington was one of the faces to land in one of the fourteen covers of V magazine September 2008 issue. Each cover boasts a head shot of a famous model, either from the new crop of leading models or the supermodel era, it was lensed by duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. She featured in the Bally spring/summer 2009 campaign alongside Oriol Elcacho. Turlington Burns closed the Autumn Winter 2019 walk for fashion designer Marc Jacobs. Turlington is featured in a four-part Apple TV+ docuseries titled The Super Models. Having premiered on September 20, 2023, the series also features Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Linda Evangelista and is directed by Roger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills. In February 2026, Turlington was named a global ambassador for Lancôme, who appointed her due to her "innate femininity, proactive advocacy, and spirited outlook."

== Other ventures == In the 2000s, she has become a partner in a variety of business ventures: an ayurvedic skincare line, Sundari, and two clothing lines produced by Puma, an active women's clothing line; and a women's yoga-wear line. She has contributed writings to Marie Claire, Yoga Journal, and Teen Vogue along with contributions to the Huffington Post. She has also contributed to NBC's Today Show as a guest correspondent, which included reporting on the status of girl's education in Afghanistan in early 2002 and an interview with H.H. Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamshala, India. She was also an initial product tester for the Apple Watch launch in 2015, participating in the press conference and allowing them to film a segment featuring her use of the Apple Watch to train for a marathon.

== Humanitarian activities ==