Kristen McMenamy is one of the great legends of the catwalk. The history of the industry cannot be understood without her contribution to this circuit, being the androgynous model par excellence of the nineties and paving the way for a new generation of models that questions fashion stereotypes and expands it to beauties. different.
The story of this supermodel begins in Pennsylvania, within a large family and with a nurse mother and a chemical engineer father. Deciding to dedicate herself to fashion, in the early eighties McMenamy moved to New York. Unluckily, there are no known relevant works from that time, the model decides to try her luck in Europe, where she manages to star in Jill Sander's campaign in 1985.
With a slender figure and a marked androgynous face, McMenamy returned to New York at the exact moment in which the hotbed of topmodels now converted into icons was beginning to grow. Her face is beginning to be seen on catwalks and international fashion campaigns but above all, and in this somewhat vital universe, she is part of the stellar cast of nineties models: Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Kate Moss and Linda Evangelista.
But she was always special, different. And so she made it noticeable with her appearance. Completely shaving her eyebrows earned her the title of reference as an androgynous model and diverse beauty. A trait that began to attract the attention of great designers and that over the years has earned her dozens of fashion campaigns, as special and spectacular as Tim Walker's for ID Magazine, where he turned her into a gothic mermaid.
In 1993 she was the image of brands such as Calvin Klein and muse of the famous Karl Lagerfeld. Located at the top of the industry and a regular on the catwalks, the model decided to try her luck in other areas of art, such as theater and cinema. Her motherhood kept her away from the catwalks for a few years and in 2004 she reappeared in the Chanel spring-summer show. After the birth of her second child - she has three - she definitively returns to the catwalk at the Givenchy spring summer 2007 show.
At 59 years old, Mcmenamy continues to transform the fashion industry, starring on international catwalks and demonstrating that a super model is a lifelong model, at any age. Not even if she wanted her viral fall during the Valentino show at last Paris Fashion Week to damage her image as a fashion icon. Applauded more than ever, after taking off her high-heeled shoes, the model with an impeccable career finished with a firm step and her head held high as she paraded.
