Supermodels of the world, take heart: There is, apparently, life after modeling.
No, I’m not talking about acting. No, I’m not talking about snaring a cushy job as hostess of some flashy fashion show on some nameless cable channel.
Fiction writing is the chic new career choice for restless uber mannequins.
Yup. You heard it right.
Naomi Campbell “wrote” “Swan” (hitting U.S. bookstores in October) with a reported ghost writer and a reported $200,000 advance. Her buddy, Christy Turlington, is leaving the runway for fiction writing class.
And fans of Kim Alexis, the darling of the ’80s, will be able to read a condensed version of her novel about-ahem and surprise-a supermodel, “With A Little Luck,” in the October issue of Good Housekeeping (the book will be published by Pocket Books).
Of course, it doesn’t hurt if someone-namely Cynthia Katz, a professional writer from Connecticut-helps write it.
And then again, it might not help, either.
Reading “With A Little Luck,” one thought crops up again and again: Keep Your Day Job.
Do we need another scribe penning such memorable lines as these from the novel? “Slowly, he brought his mouth to hers . . . the softness of her lips pressed against the giving firmness of his . . . “
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Not so super models
And then there are those who have little patience for the likes of highly paid and underfed supermodels.
Even those who make a living applying paint to their countenances.
“Every woman, after four hours with a whole team of photographers, makeup artists and hair dressers, can be a star,” sniffed Olivier Echaudemaison, makeup artist to Jackie Kennedy, the Duchess of Windsor and Shirley MacLaine, and creative director for Givenchy Beaute makeup line. “It’s not an accident. A supermodel is just a tall girl who’s all of a sudden beautiful.”
Kate Moss gets the Parisian’s thumbs down: “Who would want to look like her?” said Echaudemaison, who dropped by Saks in Chicago last week to rub shoulders with the regular folk. Cindy Crawford fares a little better: “She opens her mouth and doesn’t have stupidity.”
Dogon it
On Oct. 7, African-American artists from fashion designers to architects will converge on Chicago for a first-ever happening, “From Dogon To Digital: Design Force 2000.” The Organization of Black Designers is sponsoring this conference, which features Greg Tate, author of “Flyboy in the Buttermilk,” Essence fashion editor Harriette Cole, designer Barbara Bates and filmmaker Arthur Jafa (“Daughters of the Dust”).