1. Linda Evangelista

We wonder how much the fabulously feisty glamazon who once said, \"We don\'t wake up for less than $10,000 a day,\" (often misquoted as \"we don\'t get out of bed for...\") charged Miuccia Prada to front her latest autumn/winter 08 campaign? Dressed in black lace inspired by the scary Mrs Danvers from the 1940 film noir classic, Rebecca, Linda E announces her modeling comeback.In her heyday she was known along with Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington, as The Trinity. Streamlined body, pin head, perfectly symmetrical face and the ability to re-invent herself quicker than Madonna, the Canadian-born Italian Evangelista looks, at 43, as cool as she did in George Michael\'s Freedom video in 1990... arguably her finest fashion moment.

Left: Linda Evangelista in 1991 in New York. Right: Linda on the red carpet at Cannes 2008

- By Julia Robson

2. Christy Turlington

 In 1994 at the peak of supermodel mania, Christy Turlington earned a mind-boggling £4 million, boosted by Calvin Klein fragrances and endless Steven Meisel photos and covers. By 2000 her salary had shot up to £15 million. In 2008, as the ongoing face of Chanel eyewear, Maybelline cosmetics, Escada and Roberto Coin jewellery to name a few regular clients, she\'s still raking it in. A glance at the Californian-born beauty - those green eyes, that remarkable nose (is it real or man-made, do we care?), the mocha skin (her mother was from El Salvador), partly explains her ongoing success in a business obsessed with youth. Next year, the still breathtaking mother of two, who is married to hunky actor, Ed Burns, turns 40. Could this landmark birthday finally signal the end of her modelling days? She recently ditched model agency, Ford, to join Beverley Hills-based, United Talent Agency and is rumoured to be starting a literary career. Her agent tells us she also wants to dedicate more time to charitable work. \" The name supermodel? I hate it.\" Turlington once said. Pays the bills mind.

Left: Christy at the opening of Warner Bros. Studio Store in New York City in 1993. Right: Christy at the Costume Institute Gala Ball in 2008

3. Claudia Schiffer

 Discovered aged 17 bopping to Abba in a nightclub in Düsseldorf, Claudia Schiffer became the blonde addition to the supermodel mafia. Her striking resemblance to a young Brigitte Bardot - with curves to match - blew away all competition. She has remained at the top of her profession, commercially-speaking, for two decades. As the face of Citroën Xsara Claudia helped make it the best-selling car in Europe virtually overnight. This season she returns to more familiar fashion territory as Chanel\'s pin-up, all adding to a personal fortune estimated to be £50m. Her personal life is well documented. Formerly engaged to magician David Copperfield (who asked her out as he sawed her in half during a live German TV show - how could she refuse?), she later married British film producer and aristo, Matthew Vaughn, bessie mate of Mr Madge, Guy Ritchie.

Left: Claudia Schiffer in 1992. Right: Attending a Yves Saint Laurent party in 2008.

4. Naomi Campbell

The announcement that naughty Naomi Campbell was to take over from her mate Kate (Moss) as this season\'s poster girl for YSL, came just days before the death of the great designer in June. In the new campaign overseen by Stefano Pilati, Naomi Campbell flashes a thigh and cleavage and looks both menacing and masterful. Twas ever thus. We can\'t knock the attitude of our homegrown Streatham lass because it\'s this panther/diva-like quality that makes her a star. No one comes close to Naomi on the catwalk - no one dares. Whether it\'s a fracas or a fashion spread, her current comeback also includes the cover of Vogue Italia\'s all-black July 2008 issue. La Campbell reminds us supermodels won\'t go quietly.

Left: Naomi Campbell in 1994. Right: At London\'s Dover Street Market in 2008.

5. Eva Herzigova

 The bouncing Czech began her modelling career after winning a beauty contest in Prague aged 16. Becoming the Wonderbra girl and posing for Playboy gained her notoriety beyond Planet Fashion, making her a supermodel and household name in one. Although she was second generation from the original line-up (of Linda, Christy, Naomi), Eva went on to dominate both catwalk and designer campaigns for decades. Having clocked up immense model mileage she moved exclusively to luxury products from Givenchy perfumes to Chopard watches when she hit 30. The girl they called ‘the new Marilyn\' is currently enjoying a renaissance wearing white mink cinched with a black bow belt (but no cleavage, sorry boys) for Marc Jacobs\' Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 08 campaign.

Left: Eva Herzigova in 1994. Right: At the Cannes Film Festival 2008. 

6. Carla Bruni

 She might not be oficially ekeing a living per se out of being the poster girl for Christian Dior haute couture but the saucy Italian heiress now Mrs Sarkosy, France\'s First Lady, must take some credit for displaying John Galliano\'s talent to the max. The leggy beauty said to be both the late, Gianni Versace and Saint Laurent\'s fave supermodel, is back on the covers of, well, most newspapers and celebrity glossies internationally. Looking polished and demure when she met The Queen on a recent trip to Britain, Carla, dressed solely in regal purple and subtle grey cashmere (with matching pillbox à la Jackie O) showed what happens when a supermodel grows up and marries Mr Right (no, not your model agent Linda or even a premier football star). Way to go.

Left: Carla Bruni in 1990.  Right: Carla leaving Westminster Abbey as part of a State Visit to London with husband Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008.

7. Shalom Harlow

 Discovered by a model scout at a Cure concert in her native Toronto, Shalom, made her debut on the Paris catwalk when she was just 17. Subsequently she was booked for every show that season which secured her the Versace campaign and cover of British Vogue, shot by Patrick Demarchelier. The rest is history. Years of ballet training paid off. With partner in crime, Amber Valetta by her side, despite little modelling experience the swanlike Canadian, born to hippie missionary parents, (her name in Hebrew means peace), became a supermodel overnight. Then came the movies. \"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,\" in which she co-starred with Kate Hudson, then \"Vanilla Sky\'\', \"The Jury and \"Game 6\", which she acted alongside Michael Keaton and Robert Downy Jr. She was the face of Chanel cosmetics until recently and the Tiffany\'s girl. She is now hugely in demand in China, the Far East and Russia, where her flawless pale white complexion and high cheekbones - and supermodel status - are appreciated (and rewarded).

Left: Shalom modelling for John Galliano in 1996. Right: Shalom at New York Fashion Week in 2008 

8. Nadja Auermann

 This icy blonde German with pole vaulter\'s legs looked like a walking fashion illustration. Inevitably, her greatest asset, all 114cm of them, took her to pole position both on the catwalk and numerous fashion campaigns. For over a decade an international designer show without Nadja and ‘those legs\' was unthinkable. Then, the model who when once asked about her work, replied, \"My job is to be skinny,\" vanished, tired of being a clothes horse. She then made occasional appearances in shoots with premier league fashion photographers memorably, the late Richard Avedon. Recently a series of controversial unseen Avedon images featuring Auermann posing with a skeleton have come to light in a show dedicated to the work of the fashion photographer (www.rencontres-arles.com) sparking a huge Nadja revival.

Left: Nadja  in 1995. Right: Nadja in 2008 at the Berlinale International Film Festival

9. Gisele Bundchen

The ‘boobs from Brazil\' (some call her the bitch from Brazil) is the highest-paid supermodel, ever, raking in around £20m a year. Ever since her debut US Vogue cover (July 1999) the then 18-year-old has remained top of the modeling tree, picking and choosing campaigns at will. Last year she fronted 20. One, the British heritage brand, Aquascutum, recently announced a turnaround in falling profits to a 20 per cent rise, making Gisele\'s six-figure fee worth every penny. Tiny yet curvy, she led the wave of South American girls who stormed the international catwalks and reigned briefly before returning homesick to Ipanema, replaced by those gritty Eastern Europeans whose bodies resemble a piece of string with a knot tied at one end. With her face and body, Bundchen, 28, shows no sign of ever going out of fashion.

Left: Gisele Bundchen in 1999 receiving the VH1/Vogue Fashion Award for Model of the Year. Right: On the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art\'s Costume Institute Gala earlier this year.

10. Kate Moss

You couldn\'t seriously do a feature on supermodels without including Mossy. The girl with more staying power than Dr Who and a personal style that leaves Planet Fashion\'s finest, jaw-locked and dribbling. Drug scandals? Greasy boyfriends? Dresses ripped to shreds? Dubious lifestyle? Bandy legs? Kate throws them all off with apparent ease. It\'s not so much she has fitted in with fashion over the years (heroine chic, waifs, rock chick, glamazon), as fashion has checked in with her before moving on to the Next Big Thing. Whatever you might think of her becoming a ‘designer\', (or where Topshop recreates Kate\'s kooky wardrobe), if you love fashion, if Mossy\'s wearing it, this is as good as it gets. It just is. The end.

Left: Kate Moss on the catwalk for Versace in New York in 1997.  Right: Kate at the White Cube Gallery in London earlier this year.

The girls wearing \' Fashion Aid Clothing \' t-shirts pose at the Versace Fashion Show at the Ritz Hotel on January 1,1994 in Paris, France

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