Linda Evangelista regrets $10,000 quip that defined the supermodels era
The former supermodel says she continues to regret the notorious 90s quote in which she said she wouldn’t ‘get out of bed for less than $10,000’ - ‘I don’t want to be known for that’.
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Linda Evangelista has said she continues to regret the notorious Nineties quote in which she said she wouldn’t “get out of bed for less than $10,000”.
The 59-year-old former supermodel said she remains frustrated that the phrase, uttered during an interview for the fashion magazine Vogue in 1990 to demonstrate the power models had come to wield, still haunts her. The comment went on to draw widespread criticism for its out-of-touch attitude.
“I had no idea that so much attention would be brought to it,” said Evangelista. “I don’t want to be known for that. I’ve done so much more than just that quote but it’s really sticking.”
The Canadian admitted to her irritation in the Disney+ documentary series In Vogue: The 90s, which launches on Friday.
Last year, Evangelista said in an interview for Apple TV’s The Super Models that the quote “makes her crazy”. “I’m not the same person I was 30 years ago,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
The Disney+ series reveals that the Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour wanted to spike the line from the article when it was originally submitted because she feared that it would reflect negatively on Evangelista.
“I was embarrassed for her,” said Wintour. “[I worried] that it would not reflect well on Linda, who was so much part of our being, our world, our family.”
But Jonathan Van Meter, the journalist who conducted the joint interview with Evangelista and Christy Turlington, stood up to the formidable magazine editor.
“I remember getting a call saying, ‘Anna doesn’t like the ending, she thinks it makes them sound mean’,” he said. “But I put up a fight. I was like, you cannot cut this line. I just knew instinctively that it would be the quote heard around the world.”
He recalled “leaning in” to check his tape recorder was still running when she uttered the famous words.
“Linda was about an hour late and she was wearing a pale green miniskirt that was as short as it could possibly be. We drank vodka, she smoked Marlboro reds the whole time, she ordered two pieces of chocolate cake, didn’t eat any dinner,” he said.
“I remember thinking ‘Of course, this is perfect, you’re a supermodel, this is how they are’.”
Despite its reputation-burnishing effect, it may not have been entirely accurate according to Grace Coddington, a former Vogue creative director, who recalled: “Linda certainly got out of bed for less than dollars 10,000 for Vogue.”
Elsewhere in the six-part series, Kate Moss said how “vulnerable” she felt about being expected to model topless while she was a teenager for an advertising campaign for Calvin Klein in 1992.
The model said that she did not enjoy the photo shoot with the 21-year-old Mark Wahlberg, who had fashioned a career as a successful musician. “It was quite overwhelming. I was 18, he was a big superstar rapper and I still felt like just a girl from Croydon,” she said. “They asked me to be topless and there was just a lot of people on set – a lot of men. I did feel vulnerable.”
In Vogue was commissioned by Carolyn Payne, who said it was “unashamedly designed” to fill a gap in premium factual television aimed specifically for women over the age of 35.
“The series is the story of the culture in the Nineties, told through the lens of fashion,” she said. “This cultural history transcends sex and gender identity.”
The Times
