Christy Turlington had the honor and luck of being part of the select group of supermodels who in the 90s marked a before and after in the fashion industry. Born on January 2, 1969 in Walnut Creek, California, Christy had no plans to become a top rider, but instead dreamed of being a professional horsewoman, a dream she changed when she was just 14 years old.
It was the photographer Dennie Cody who noticed the potential that a very young Turlington had to succeed in the fashion sector. He was the one in charge of convincing her parents, who let Christy start doing her first steps as a model on the condition that she did not stop studying her.
His first job, paying $100 an hour, was for the Emporium Capwell chain. He continued doing various catalogs and advertisements, always after leaving class, until he caught the attention of the prestigious Ford agency. A great professional leap that was initially marked by his features. "When I started working as a model, there was a time when they systematically banned me from the covers of magazines because they considered me half Hispanic," confessed the top, whose mother was of Salvadoran origin.
After signing with the agency, Turlington moved to New York. In 1987 she became the face of Revlon and, a year later, she began her working relationship with Calvin Klein, a relationship that continues today. Her first job for the well-known American brand was as the image of Eternity, the perfume that has marked a good part of her professional career, becoming her eternal face.
She was also one of Gianni Versace's muses, a person who was key in his rise to supermodel. Along with Claudia Schiffer or Naomi Campbell, Christy was one of the favorite tops of the Italian designer, who counted on her for her most media shows and campaigns.
Her success on the catwalks also led George Michael to include her in the video clip for Freedom (1990) -she had previously appeared in Duran Duran's video Notorius- and two years later she returned to star in a worldwide campaign, this time for Maybelline, with whom he signed a million-dollar contract.
But in 1995, Christy decided to retire from the catwalk to try her luck as an entrepreneur. She joined the Fashion Café restaurant chain project promoted by Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Elle Macpherson. A business that only lasted three years due to the legal problems that the investors, the Buti brothers, had.
Turlington combined this business facet with university studies. In 1999 she graduated in Arts and resumed her modeling career, without going on the catwalks, two years later, with campaigns for Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Escada or Chanel.
It was not until February 2019 when he was encouraged to return to the parade. He did it at the presentation of the autumn-winter 2019/20 collection of his great friend Marc Jacobs. Also in recent years she has walked for Fendi. Currently, the top continues to appear on the covers of the main fashion magazines and continues to star in campaigns.
As a curiosity, during the break she took, the Californian discovered yoga, directed the documentary No woman, no cry about the state of health of mothers worldwide and created the non-profit organization Every Mother Counts to help women from Haiti, Malawi or Indonesia to have a safe pregnancy and delivery.
This 2023, Christy will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of her wedding to Edward Burns, whom she met at a party in the Hamptons in 2000. Before meeting the actor, the model had been a couple of Christian Slater and Jason Patric. The crush on Burns was such that months later they announced their engagement. They said "I do" at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco on June 7, 2003.
In October of that same year, her first daughter Grace was born, who has followed in her mother's footsteps in the fashion industry. In 2006, the couple welcomed their second son, Finn.
