The supermodel Claudia Schiffer is to organise her first exhibition; a photography show at Dusseldorf’s Kunstpalast described as a “personal journey through the fashion world of the 1990s.”
Photographers whose work will be displayed include Juergen Teller, Corinne Day, Karl Lagerfeld, Herb Ritts and Ellen von Unwerth. Alongside images from magazines and advertisements of the period, Schiffer plans to show souvenirs from her personal archive to “give visitors glimpses behind the scenes of the legendary fashion shows and parties,” a statement from the museum says. The show is scheduled to open on 4 March and run until 13 June 2021.
“I fell in love with fashion in the 1980s, but it was in the 1990s that it became clear to me what fashion really means,” Schiffer says. “It was a very intense and wonderful time, unlike anything that had gone before. Photoshoots could last days and fashion ruled the headlines for weeks. I and the other supermodels breathed this atmosphere in, we lived for it, and we recognised for the first time that we had the power to change things.”
Schiffer was born in Germany's industrial Ruhr region in 1970. She was first spotted by an agent in 1987 in the Dusseldorf nightclub Checker’s. After deciding to postpone her law studies, she went on to appear on more than 1,000 magazine covers, setting a world record in a career spanning more than 30 years. She now lives in the UK and still models: earlier this year, she appeared in Chanel ads for the J12 watch.