The Prediction

Photographed By Ellinor Forje

In 1991, Naomi Campbell appeared on the cover of "Time Magazine" in an issue that also featured Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford. The accompanying story, "Supermodels: The Beauty and the Buck," sought to catalogue the essence of these women, and, to some extent, their decline as well.

Evangelista was described by fashion forecasters as someone who knew the "clock was ticking." At just 28, she was already considered to be on her way out, a reflection of an era when models were seen as having an "expiration date." But Evangelista defied and ultimately redefined the rules of her profession. She continues to model to this day.

The same is true, in different ways, of all the women featured in that moment. Campbell, then 22, was portrayed as someone who should "watch her back," already facing three rivals. One was Tyra Banks, another Beverly Peele, and the third, now largely forgotten.

Banks went on to carve out her own place in history. Peele appeared intermittently. Campbell became an icon.

The prognosticators’ predictions were as accurate as the tutor who once told Albert Einstein’s father that his son would amount to nothing.

And yet, perhaps the seers were not entirely wrong. On September 10, 2010, outside the Dolce & Gabbana store in New York, she did not fade from view, she transformed movement into statement.