The Glossy 50 honors the year’s biggest changemakers across fashion and beauty. More from the series →
The Newsmakers: The work of these creators was at the center of industry buzz.
Filmmaker Roger Ross Williams is renowned for his work on such acclaimed movies as “Life, Animated,” “God Loves Uganda,” “Traveling While Black” and “The Apollo.” He was also the first Black director to win an Academy Award, in 2010. But few people know that he once reported on the fashion industry for CNN. And prior, as a student at NYU, he mingled with models while working at NYC’s Palladium nightclub in the Michael Todd Room.
“There was such a great level of work and artistry that models would devote to their craft [back then],” he said. “But the industry has changed, especially due to social media; with things like Instagram, it seems anyone can call themselves a model.”
With “The Super Models,” the Apple TV docuseries that debuted in September, Williams set out to put the spotlight on the stories of “the original influencers,” he said, referring to Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista.
These four supermodels ruled the fashion campaigns and runways of the ’80s and ’90s, but “we didn’t know who these women truly were,” Williams said. As such, he and “The Super Models” co-director Larissa Bills aimed to “provide a platform for them to be heard, rather than just seen … and to tell and own their own stories,” he said. The directors also wanted to examine the modeling industry today, with a focus on how it’s changed following the emergence of movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.
The results fueled mainstream buzz and important conversations about the state of beauty standards and abuse within modeling. It also inspired a Vogue September Issue cover.
Contrary to the common approach when making a movie about models, “We didn’t set out to make a light puff piece,” Williams said, noting, “We didn’t ogle, we asked questions.”
Williams said “The Super Models” is befitting of his body of work, in that it champions the underdog. “These women weren’t born supermodels. They were born Cindy, a farm girl in Illinois; Christy, the horse girl; Naomi in the projects in South London; and Linda in Canada. They were shy and they had to find their voices. They had to wade through an often unforgiving, exploitative industry as beautiful, young women. They not only navigated and survived the industry, but they conquered it.”
What he’s most proud of, when it comes to the film, is that it “challenges and redefines” the idea of the word “supermodel.”
“This project allows us to see how these women commanded attention above the designers and the photographers, exercised their authority, and changed the conversation and attitudes toward the profession of modeling,” he said.
Click here to see all 2023 Glossy 50 honorees.
