Andy Warhol famously said it: everyone has their 15 minutes of fame. His opinion was gleaned from a life spent observing popular culture and those who influence art, music, and fashion. Though some quarter hours seem longer and are more conspicuous than others, in the end, they flicker and flame out to make room for the next big thing.

If art mimics life then fashion mimics art; what’s new is always driving change. Models included. Where will the face that is everywhere today be in 20, 30, or 40 years? If they’re smart, they’ll be lucky. Survival is an art in itself.

Three of our favorites fashion models of the 60s, 70s, and 80s are doing very well in life, love, happiness, and success after 40, 50, and 60.

Jerry Hall. Big Rock Stars and BIG Rocks

For some girls, there’s no bigger prize than landing a HUGE rock star.  When she snagged Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall landed the biggest one of all.
There’s an unconfirmed story that Hall exploited her love of BIG jewels to take the edge off his chronic infidelity. Every time he was unfaithful, she got a jewel that was BIGGER than the one she got the last time. It worked for a number of years until there wasn’t a jewel big enough.

She survived the break up, raised their 4 kids and now says she’s thinking about new love. In this interview, she denounces cosmetic enhancement of any kind. When asked what she believes makes a woman beautiful, she swears that love is the answer.

The BIGGEST Thing Going Was Smaller Than a Size O

Twiggy. In an interview back in the 80s, then super-model, Linda Evangelista, famously said that she wouldn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 dollars a day. She can thank Twiggy for that exalted status. When Twiggy (aka Lesley Hornby) broke out as a 16 year old Size Sub 0 waif-like model, she went on to become one of the most recognized faces in the world, and dominated the fashion scene for 10 years.

Since then, she’s had a successful career in music and film, wrote several books, designed a line of clothing and revived her modeling career as the face of Oil of Olay in 2009.

The ORIGINAL Gap

Lauren Hutton. At the height of her career she refused to repair the gap between her two front teeth. In fact it became her trademark. As an advocate for natural beauty, she taught us that the perfection one can achieve artificially isn’t’ nearly as interesting as one beautiful imperfection.

We were being seated in a NYC restaurant, where I noticed Ms. Hutton eating lunch alone. I mentioned to the young hostess seating us that her customer was a former very famous model and I thought she still looked beautiful. The woman said, “she comes in almost every day and I had no idea she was anyone famous.”  Later, the girl returned to our table to report that she had had a conversation with Hutton who sent her back to us to thank me for my compliment.