Hey there, it's Kathy. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to History of the 90s

early and ad-free on Amazon music included with Prime.

When the lights came up on Johnny Versace's 1991 fall fashion show in Milan, there was

electricity and excitement in the air. Instead of sending out the usual single model,

the Italian designer sent out models in packs.

Long-legged women with bouncy hair sauntered down the runway in twos and threes,

while wearing Versace's newest collection.

The showstopper was the finale,

when four beautiful young women linked arm in arm made their way down the catwalk, laughing and smiling, as they lip-sync the words of a pop

song that blasted from the speakers. It was the launch of a 90s phenomenon that is as symbolic

of the decade as tabloid television and the launch of the

internet, but a lot more glamorous. I'm Kathy Kanzora, and this is History of the 90s, a podcast about a decade

that changed the world. On this episode, we look back at the reign of the supermodels.

It's up for debate, but the term supermodel may have first been used by Janice Dickinson in the 1970s,

at least according to Dickinson.

Maybe you know her from being the brutally honest judge on America's top model for four seasons.

But before that, she was an incredibly successful model in the 70s and a renowned wild girl

of the fashion and disco scene at Club 54.

Dickinson claims not only to be the first supermodel, but that she was also of the fashion and disco scene at Club 54.

Dickinson claims not only to be the first supermodel,

but that she was also the first person to use the term in about 1979.

Others have given credit for the term to Clyde Matthew Desner,

...