Claudia Schiffer

Claudia Schiffer

Schiffer in 2009
Born (1970-08-25) 25 August 1970
Rheinberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Occupation
  • Creative director
  • model
Years active 1989–present
Spouse(s) Matthew Vaughn (m. 2002)
Children 3
Website www.claudiaschiffer.com

Modeling information

Height 181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Hair color Blonde
Eye color Blue
Manager Carla James

Claudia Schiffer (German pronunciation: [ˈklaʊ̯dɪa ˈʃɪfɐ]; born 25 August 1970) is a German model and creative director of her own clothing label.[1] Schiffer rose to popularity and became a household name during the early 1990s as one of the world's most successful models. In her early career, she was said to resemble Brigitte Bardot.[2] She has appeared on more than 1000 magazine covers[3] and holds the record for the supermodel with the most magazine covers listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.[4][5][6] In 2002, Forbes estimated her net worth at about US$55 million (£38 million). She continues to front global campaigns for luxury fashion and fragrance houses.

Early life

Schiffer was born in Rheinberg, Germany, a small town 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) northwest of Duisburg. She is the daughter of Gudrun and Heinz Schiffer, a lawyer.[7] She has two brothers, Stefan and Andreas, and one sister, Ann Carolin.[1]

Schiffer said she was popular in high school, but she has revealed that, because she was so tall, she became very shy and did not want to be noticed. She was also subjected to jealousy by others as she came from a wealthy family that was well-known locally.[1] Schiffer is fluent in three languages – German, English and French.

She originally wanted to become a lawyer and used to work in her father's law firm.[8] She later dropped these aspirations when, in October 1987 at 17, she was spotted in a nightclub in Düsseldorf by Michel Levaton, the boss of Metropolitan Model Agency who signed her up to become a model.[9] Her big break came shortly after this at a beach resort, where a chance meeting with Patrick Lafontaine with connections in the industry, saw her connected with the Elite Model Agency, where her success started.

Modeling

At the 2007 Cannes Film Festival

Schiffer completed her high school education and then began to work as a model. She flew out to Paris for a trial photo shoot and soon after she appeared on the cover of French Elle after being well received in Paris. In the early 1990s, she starred in the highly publicised Guess? Jeans campaigns.[10] Paul Marciano said in E! Forbes Top 15 Supermodel Beauties Who Made Bank, "Guess name became really much more known around the world because [of] Claudia". After several other magazine appearances including the cover of British Vogue shot by Herb Ritts,[11] Schiffer quickly achieved supermodel status and was selected by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel.[12] She went on to become world famous, instantly recognisable with her blue eyes, blonde hair and tall figure, standing at 1.81 m (approx. 5 ft 11 in.). In May 1997, Schiffer was featured on the cover and in the pictorial of Playboy.[13]

Schiffer appeared on the November 1999 millennium cover of Vogue as one of the "Modern Muses".[14] Named as one of the most beautiful women in the world, her ability to appeal to a global audience has assured an internationally successful career spanning more than 25 years. Schiffer was the first model to make the covers of Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New York Times and People and has appeared numerous times on covers of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Time. Schiffer has appeared on the catwalk for numerous fashion houses, including Versace, Dior, Chloe, Yves Saint Laurent, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel and Valentino.

As well as endorsing luxury brands, Schiffer has appeared as the face of high street retailers including Mango and Accessorize, and had her ears pierced for the first time specially for the 2006 Autumn/Winter Accessorize campaign.[15][16][17][18] She has also featured in commercials for Pepsi and Fanta. From her appearances in a 1998 Citroën advertisement she allegedly earned £3 million. Schiffer still holds a contract with L'Oréal and is one of their longest standing ambassadors.

Karl Lagerfeld photographed Schiffer for a Dom Pérignon campaign, around 17 years after her first appearance for Chanel.[19] Schiffer has appeared in recent campaigns for Chanel, YSL, Salvatore Ferragamo and Dolce & Gabbana. Most recently she appeared as the face of the Chanel A/W11 Eyewear Campaign[20] She is signed to a few agencies solely for her modelling interests including d'management group in Milan, 1/One Management in New York City and Marilyns in Paris. Her mother agency is Model Management in Hamburg.[17] Schiffer was a judge on Fashion Fringe in 2011.[21] In 2012, she posed again for Guess black and white ads marking the brand's 30th anniversary.[22]

Claudia Schiffer Cashmere

Schiffer launched her eponymous cashmere collection during Paris Fashion Week in March 2011.[9] The Autumn–Winter 2011 season saw her fashion design debut and has been followed by a Spring–Summer 2012 collection.[23] The collection is sold globally in department stores and high-end boutiques. Schiffer is the creative director of the brand.[1][24]

Media appearances

At the César Awards in Paris, 1993

Schiffer has appeared in a number of films and music videos. Her first appearance in film was in the children's movie Richie Rich in 1994 and then starred opposite Dennis Hopper and Matthew Modine in The Blackout. She then went on to appear in Friends & Lovers, Black and White in 1999, In Pursuit and Life Without Dick in 2001, and then Love Actually in a semi-cameo role. Schiffer has made other cameo appearances in films including Ben Stiller's Zoolander (2001).[8]

Schiffer has appeared on several talk shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Jonathan Ross Show, and sitcoms Dharma & Greg and Arrested Development. She also appeared for Comic Relief in boyband Westlife's music video for Uptown Girl and in 2000, she made a cameo appearance in Bon Jovi's video for "Say It Isn't So".

Schiffer has released four exercise videos, entitled Claudia Schiffer's Perfectly Fit, which were successful and reached the best seller list. Schiffer has hosted the French Fashion Awards and the World Music Awards in Monaco.

With fellow models Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Elle Macpherson, Schiffer was joint owner of a chain of restaurants called the Fashion Café in 1995.[8] Schiffer remains a prominent figure in German society and helped present and carry the trophy with Pelé during the opening ceremonies at the 2006 World Cup. She also presented Prince William with a polo trophy in 2002.[7]

When talking about the model profession at present, she said: "Supermodels, like we once were, don't exist any more."[25]

Charity

Claudia began her involvement with UNICEF by becoming a member of the Arts & Entertainment Support Committee and is currently a UK Goodwill Ambassador for the organisation. Claudia was also a spokesman for Make Poverty History where she appeared in the powerful Click advertisement. In July 2005, she appeared as a presenter at both the Berlin and Edinburgh Live 8 concerts.

Personal life

In 1993 at a Berlin celebrity gala Schiffer met magician David Copperfield when he brought her on stage to participate in a mind reading act and in his flying illusion, and in January 1994 they became engaged. During this engagement, Schiffer sometimes appeared on stage with Copperfield to act as his special guest assistant in illusions including being levitated, guillotined and sawn in half. [26][27][28] She also appeared alongside Copperfield in David Copperfield: 15 Years of Magic (1994), a documentary in which she played the role of a reporter interviewing him, and at the end of which they reprised their performance of the "Flying" illusion. After a nearly six-year engagement, in September 1999 they announced their separation citing work schedules. [29] In 1997 Copperfield and Schiffer both sued Paris Match after the magazine claimed their relationship was a sham, that Schiffer was paid for pretending to be Copperfield's girlfriend and that she didn't even like him. [30][31][32][33] In 1999 Schiffer won an undisclosed sum and a retraction from Paris Match when a French court ruled that the magazine's story was false. [34][35] Copperfield's publicist confirmed that while Schiffer had a contract to appear in the audience at Copperfield's show in Berlin where they met, she was not under contract to be his "consort." [36]

Schiffer in 2008

Following her break-up with Copperfield, she had a short relationship with art dealer and Green Shield Stamp heir Tim Jefferies until 2000. [37][38]

On 25 May 2002, she married the film director Matthew Vaughn in Suffolk. [9] Schiffer and Vaughn have three children: son Caspar Matthew (born 30 January 2003, Westminster, London) and daughters Clementine Poppy (born 11 November 2004, Westminster) and Cosima Violet (born 14 May 2010). [39]

Schiffer had two significant problems with harassment in the past. In 2002 an Italian kitchen porter was arrested after making 9 visits to Schiffer's £5 million Coldham Hall [40] mansion near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, attempting to see her. Charges against him were dropped however, as he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. [41] He believed that the Pope had told him to marry Schiffer. [42] In 2004 a Canadian man was accused of harassing Schiffer, also at her mansion in Suffolk. He called at her mansion in the hope of seeing her. He also repeatedly left letters at her home. [43]

In 2006, Schiffer and her husband were twice spoken to by policemen from the local Suffolk force after a number of incidents involving their two dogs, an Irish wolfhound and a German shepherd, and local people using the public footpath across the grounds of their Coldham Hall home. These included severely mauling a Jack Russell being walked on the footpath, chasing deer on the estate, intimidating people using the footpath, and biting one of the local postmen.[44][45]

In May 2014, fire ripped through Schiffer's Elizabethan mansion, severely damaging swathes of her sprawling property. The blaze gutted several outbuildings and former stables. Around 50 firefighters spent more than two hours battling the fire at the 16th century hall.[46]

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1994 Richie Rich Herself as an aerobics instructor
1994 Prêt-à-Porter Herself American title Ready to Wear
1996 Perfectly Fit none Fitness program by Claudia Schiffer
1997 The Blackout Susan
1999 Desperate But Not Serious Gigi USA DVD release titled Reckless + Wild
1999 Friends & Lovers Carla
1999 Black and White Greta
2000 Meeting Genevieve Genevieve
2000 Chain Of Fools Herself
2001 In Pursuit Catherine Wells USA DVD release titled Rules of the Game
2001 Zoolander Herself
2002 666 – Traue keinem, mit dem Du schläfst! Herself English title 666: In Bed with the Devil
2002 Life Without Dick Mary
2003 Love Actually Carol

Appearances in documentaries

Year Documentary
1993 Noche de tu vida, La
1994 David Copperfield: 15 Years of Magic
1995 Die schönsten Frauen der Welt – Claudia Schiffer
1995 Around Claudia Schiffer
1996 Catwalk
1996 68th Annual Academy Awards
1997 Catwalk
1997Happy Birthday Elizabeth: A Celebration of Life
1997 An Audience with Elton John
1997 1997 VH1 Fashion Awards
1998 Beautopia
2000 The Sound of Claudia Schiffer

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "". Stylist. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  2. ↑ "BEAUTY; Tropical Tresses". The New York Times. 5 January 1992. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  3. ↑ "10 Minutes with Claudia Schiffer". Glamour. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Profit Models - Forbes". Forbes. 20 March 2000. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "Claudia Schiffer [Fashion Wiki]". Fashion Encyclopedia. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "Claudia Schiffer - Guinness record". YouTube. 18 March 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Biography". Ask Men. Retrieved 19 June 2007.
  8. 1 2 3 "Claudia Schiffer: Biography". MSN. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  9. 1 2 3 "". Vogue. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  10. ↑ Mau, Dhani (28 March 2012). "Over 20 Years Later, Claudia Schiffer Is a Guess Girl Again - Fashionista". Fashionista. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "". Vogue cover. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  12. ↑ Claudia Schiffer - Chanel - YouTube
  13. ↑ "Playboy Magazine, May 1997 w/ Claudia Schiffer on the Cover". Amazon.com. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  14. ↑ Lee, Helen (11 April 2007). "Vogue’s ‘World’s Next Top Models’ cover". SassyBella.com. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  15. ↑ Style File: Claudia Schiffer (image #18). Vogue. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  16. ↑ Claudia Schiffer Vogue. Retrieved 31 March 2012. Archived 5 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  17. 1 2 Claudia Schiffer Profile in the FMD database. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  18. ↑ Designed to delight India Today, 26 November 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  19. ↑ "". Fab Sugar. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  20. ↑ "". Telegraph. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  21. ↑ "". Telegraph. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  22. ↑ Krupnick, Ellie (28 March 2012). "PHOTOS: Claudia Schiffer Returns To Guess For 30th Anniversary". Huffington Post.
  23. ↑ "". Vogue. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  24. ↑ Claudia Schiffer official site
  25. ↑ "The supermodel is dead, says Claudia Schiffer". Evening Standard. 4 September 2007. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011.
  26. ↑ Style File: Claudia Schiffer (image #7). Vogue. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  27. ↑ Sophie Dahl and Jamie Cullum's secret wedding: 10. Claudia Schiffer and David Copperfield The Independent. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  28. ↑ David Copperfield Biography Ask Men. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  29. ↑ "CANOE – JAM! – Schiffer's big shift". jam.canoe.ca. Retrieved May 20, 2009. It was our work schedules that ended the relationship.
  30. ↑ "Fairytale romance that began with a cunning illusion – The Independent". The Independent (London). 11 July 1997. Retrieved 8 June 2009. The French magazine Paris Match claims that the meeting was a carefully calculated stunt, to boost Ms Schiffer's profile in the US and Copperfield's career in Europe. "It was just a plot to dupe their loyal fans, and we've got the contracts to prove it," said the magazine.
  31. ↑ Luscombe, Belinda (4 August 1997). "Copperfield V. Paris Match". Time Magazine. Retrieved 8 June 2009. The suit states that Paris Match added that the supermodel now gets paid for pretending to be Copperfield's fiancée and doesn't even like him.
  32. ↑ "Shedding Light: Copperfield talks candidly about his profession". Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved 8 June 2009. Last year Copperfield slapped a $30 million lawsuit on Paris-Match magazine that alleged in a story that the Copperfield-Schiffer relationship was mere illusion; little more than a business deal to enhance both their careers.
  33. ↑ Schiffer Boots British Fiance ABC News. 8 November 2000. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  34. ↑ Rush, George; Molloy, Joanna; Malkin, Marc S (29 August 1999). "Copperfield's Claudia Clone". Daily News (New York). Archived from the original on 22 June 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2009. They won an undisclosed sum and a retraction from Paris Match in January when they sued the magazine for $30 million for claiming their relationship was a sham.
  35. ↑ "A Lift Out of Life". People. 9 April 1999. Retrieved 9 April 2012. Schiffer responded by filing a $30 million lawsuit in France. In 1999 a French court declared the story false and defamatory and ordered Paris Match to pay undisclosed damages.
  36. ↑ "Love, Honor and Portray". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 16 July 1997. Retrieved 12 June 2009. Copperfield's publicist said he and Schiffer had contracts to do the 1993 show, but "there is no contract that states Claudia is there as some sort of consort".
  37. ↑ Claudia Schiffer Hello. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  38. ↑ Serial celebrity model-daters: Tim Jefferies Telegraph. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  39. ↑ "Claudia Schiffer names new baby daughter", 25 May 2010, Hello Magazine
  40. ↑ "Celebrity couple's love for Suffolk". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  41. ↑ "Supermodel stalker to be deported". BBC News. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  42. ↑ "Case dropped against Sardinian accused of stalking Schiffer". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
  43. ↑ "Claudia Schiffer is plagued by second stalker". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
  44. ↑ Schiffer's huge dogs 'are terrifying our village'. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  45. ↑ Police warn Schiffer over dog attacks. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  46. ↑ Sam Webb (27 May 2014). "Model Schiffer's home hit by fire". Daily Mail. Retrieved 20 January 2016.

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