photographY georges antoni
STYLING NAOMI SMITH
celeste
CELESTE BARBER Where are you? CINDY CRAWFORD I’m in Canada, at our lake house just outside Toronto. It’s 6pm here. Thanks for doing this. I know it’s early for you. CELESTE It’s OK – you’re worth it. I’m having a coffee and are you having a margarita? CINDY [Laughs] Something like that – in your honour. How was your cover shoot? CELESTE Five looks in one day! And you know this better than anyone – it’s not just changing clothes. In between each look, we needed an hour for hair and makeup. I never should have made fun of you guys: modelling is harder than I thought! I feel bad. CINDY You always made the right amount of fun. CELESTE That’s always the goal, right? Don’t hate the player, hate the game. I poke fun at things that are easy to poke fun at. But it’s the influencer world now. People used to send me photos of celebrities, but now I’m inundated with influencers. And I’m like, “Oh, this is fun.” CINDY That’s the landscape of social media now, everyone’s pushing so hard just to get eyes on them, which is perfect for you – they’re pushing it and your rebuttal goes even further. CELESTE Totally. I’m grateful I started – it’s been 10 years, for goodness sake, that I’ve been taking unflattering, inappropriate photos of myself. If I started now, there’d be no hope of cutting through.
Celeste as Bella Hadid wears Bec + Bridge dress, $380; Jimmy Choo shoes, $2850; Swarovski ring, $330, and ear cuff, $249; Bendon briefs, $19.95. Male talent wear own clothes.
Delta Goodrem wears Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello blazer, shirt and necklace all POA.
CREDITS
talent: celeste barber
editor: georgie mccourt
creative director: rebecca rhodes
fashion director: Naomi Smith
Photography: Georges Antoni/The Artist Group
interview: cindy crawford
Hair: Koh/Vivien’s Creative Makeup: Kristyan Low/DLM
Manicure: Jocelyn Petroni Set and Props Stylist: Jasmine Christie/Hart & Co Hair for models: Diane Gorgievski/Emma Gott Creative Makeup for models: Nicola Johnson/Vivien’s Creative Models: Kiki/Chic Management; Wioletta/Chic Management; Josephen/Chadwick Models; Caitlin Napier; Benji Luis; Riley MacPherson; Api robin
Videographer: Stefanie Maystorovich
Video Editor: Catherine Engstrom Fashion Assistants: Benji Luis & Riley MacPherson
Production: Robyn Fay-Perkins &Jordan Boorman
Celeste as JLo wears custom dress by Velani Couture inspired by the Versace spring/summer 2020 dress worn by Jennifer Lopez; Jimmy Choo shoes, $1395; Swarovski rings, $199 each, bracelets, $380 each, and earrings, $400.
Celeste as Carrie Bradshaw wears Max Mara blazer, $1585; Fine lines bra, $59.95; Jimmy Choo shoes, $1850; Swarovski earrings, $159; stylist’s band and briefs. Caitlin as Heidi Klum wears Rachel Gilbert dress, $1690; Jimmy Choo shoes, $4250; Swarovski earrings, $330.
When Cindy Met
Rachel wears Christian Dior.
Celeste as Cindy Crawford wears Camilla and Marc dress, $550; Swarovski necklace, $199.
From left: Kiki as Linda Evangelista wears Van Der Kooij dress, $799; Swarovski necklace, $159. Josephen as Naomi Campbell wears Mariam Seddiq dress, $1600; Swarovski necklace, $159. Wioletta as Christy Turlington wears Courtney Zheng dress, $750; Swarovski necklace, $159.
To mark marie claire's 30th birthday, we put two icons together for one unforgettable conversation. And then we had Celeste do what she does best: parody five of fashion's most iconic moments from the last three decades
CINDY I first found you during the pandemic. I think you spoofed one of my [posts]?
CELESTE The Pepsi ad! We first spoke after that one. People still share that.
CINDY What I remember about that time, we were all so hungry for connection and entertainment. My mother-in-law was like, “I’ve finished Netflix, the whole thing.” My husband [Rande Gerber] and I getting into bed at night and sharing little things that broke through for us. You were one of those people. The first time we met in person was in LA, when you were doing your podcast.
CELESTE Yes! I still can’t believe you came. We were in the shittiest studio. We made you drink warm tequila, do you remember that?
CINDY I do. And Hot Husband was there ...
CELESTE Yes! That photo of you all over [Api, Celeste’s husband] and me in the corner [both laugh]. He quite likes that photo, too.
CINDY OK, so tell me about what you were doing before the world discovered you – were you doing stand-up, were you writing?
CELESTE I’m a trained actor, so I was trying to get work. I worked a lot straight out of acting school and then had children, so I needed to have a minute. But when Instagram kicked off and my following grew really quickly, I thought, “I want to do something with this,” so I booked a theatre three months out and wrote a one-woman show. It did well, and then the touring kicked off, and I guess people see me as a comedian, which is fantastic, but acting is the love of it all.
CINDY So you approach your one-woman show less as a comedian and more as an actress?
CELESTE Exactly. It’s more storytelling. But it’s very funny, don’t get me wrong.
CINDY What was your first “Holy shit, I made it” moment?
CELESTE What was the first one for you?
CINDY My first American Vogue cover. I was so excited that I went to a newsstand and I bought thre e and wanted the [cashier] to recognise me. She didn’t. She was just like, “That’ll be $9 please.” It was such a big moment for me and also a humbling moment – life doesn’t change; you still deal with, well, life.
CELESTE The moment for me was making out with Tom Ford. That [collaboration] was one of the most creatively fulfilling experiences of my entire life. He said, “I think we should make out,” and I said, “OK.” He said, “Do you want context?” and I said, “I don’t care. Let’s do it.”On set, hearing him say things about me that he didn’t know I could hear, it was the most validating moment of my life. He was talking to Tom Hanks about me – because that’s a sentence – and he said, “She’s a comedy genius. Always just keep a camera on.” My friend, who was with me, he burst into tears and said, “I always knew you had it in you, but I’ve just seen you step into your power.” I remember going back to the hotel and just crying in the shower.
CINDY One thing I wanted to talk to you about: you have a really good body.
CELESTE Cindy Crawford! What are you talking about?
CINDY You do! People don’t know that you do. Usually people hide their flaws, but you [exaggerate] them [for laughs]. What gave you the confidence to do that?
CELESTE I’m going for the joke, not the look. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I do watch things back and think, “Oh no, we’re going to redo that.”
CINDY [Laughs] “We’ve gone too far!”
CELESTE My looks have never been my currency, it’s always been my sense of humour.
CINDY And it works. You’ve help women feel good about their bodies. I’m sure you have women coming up to you all the time and saying thank you.
CELESTE Absolutely, I get that all the time. Sometimes I think, “Aren’t people over it yet, this 43-year-old throwing her body around?” But then I get messages from women saying, “You made me laugh. You made me not hate myself. I saw you flap your arms around – it made me not hate my arms for 30 seconds.” And that means everything to me.
CINDY Let’s talk about your beauty brand, Booie. Was that one of the last things you ever thought you’d do?
CELESTE I’ve always loved makeup. And to be completely honest, I got sick of making everybody else rich. I kept thinking, “Hang on – what’s going on here? There has to be something in this for me.” I started Booie because I saw a real gap in the market for excellent, affordable, uncomplicated makeup. Makeup is a multi-bajillion-dollar industry, but even as someone who genuinely loves it – I mean, I’ve got a face for makeup; I did a makeup course when I was younger – even I was quite intimidated. I wanted to create something for my audience – women 35 and over, 45 and over – who often get left out of beauty conversations. Everything targeted at us was some kind of “anti-ageing” cream or “anti-ageing” serum. It was all about “Stop the ageing! Stop it now! If you want to be loved, you better stop looking your age.” And I just thought, no.
CINDY It’s so hard because anti-ageing isn’t a thing, it’s a pipedream. I always talk about skin maintenance – that’s probably the best we can do: use sunscreen, protect during the day, restore and replenish at night. So many products over-promise and under-deliver, and you have to respect your audience. Do your fans have a name? Like, Little Monsters?
Celeste as Bella Hadid wears Bec + Bridge dress, $380; Jimmy Choo shoes, $2850; Swarovski ring, $330, and ear cuff, $249; Bendon briefs, $19.95. Male talent wear own clothes.
Celeste with “Hot Husband” Api as Tom Ford. She wears Unreal Fur coat, $549; Uniqlo jumper, $129; Zara pants, $209; Tom Ford sunglasses, $710, at The Iconic; Swarovski earrings, $199, and ring, $149; stylist’s wrap and slippers. Api wears Boss blazer, $999, pants, $299, cufflinks, $149, and tie, $159; Giorgio Armani shirt, $770; Tom Ford sunglasses, $755, at The Iconic; his own ring and bracelet.
CINDY So tell me about the shoot you did for marie claire’s 30th anniversary.
CELESTE It was so much fun. We recreated iconic fashion moments: the green Versace J.Lo dress, Bella Hadid’s spray-on dress – although when I did the spray my boob dropped down.
CINDY [Laughs] You don’t want a dress with a boob down there.
CELESTE We did the Tom Ford makeout shot, we recreated it with my husband; we did Carrie Bradshaw on the runway, and of course the Versace moment with you and the girls. What do you remember about that moment?
CINDY Well, the whole build-up was there had been a British Vogue cover with me, Christy, Linda, Naomi and Tatjana [Patitz] that Peter Lindbergh shot. It was kind of a deconstruction: barely any makeup, no real hair styling. That cover made a big impact, and apparently George Michael saw it and said, “I want those women for my [music] video.” And what was revolutionary at the time was that he wasn’t going to be in the video for “Freedom ’90!” at all. So we all did the video, and obviously that was amazing. David Fincher directed it, and it became one of those instantly iconic music videos.
Then Versace – they were so smart; I think they were the first designers to understand the power of the supermodel – had us come out for the finale of the show to that song. The thing that was amazing about that moment is, so often you have big moments in your life, and you don’t realise how big they are until you look back. And you’ve been around enough fashion people to know it can be a very jaded crowd – they’ve seen it all. Even if something’s amazing, they don’t maybe get overly excited about it.
But it was one of those rare moments where everyone knew it was a moment. The song started playing – I think Linda walks out first, then Christy, then maybe Naomi, then me,and then I went to the back, and all four of us walked out together, lip-syncing to the song. It was just one of those moments where you’re like, “Wow.” All these worlds were colliding – fashion, music, culture – it was this big mash-up. And I felt like whoever was sitting in that front row, every single person there realised, “Wait, this is a moment.”
CELESTE The word iconic gets thrown around a lot, but that really was the epitome of it. That was so, so iconic. It was just so clever. When moments like that come together, it’s not luck, it’s smart, intentional, brilliant.
CINDY There was such a joyfulness to it. By the time we all came out together, we were just having fun – like, really authentic fun. You look at fashion shows now and I say to my daughter [Kaia], “Did they tell you to look miserable?” It’s like they don’t want any personality from the models. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case when we were modelling. And that specific finale, it was celebratory of everything: the song, the clothes, the girls.
CELESTE Your personalities came out, the fun of it all really showed.
CINDY In our generation, there was more personality. You could have a walk. There were models who had a specific walk or gait. We had to do the little twirls and stuff. Now, they just walk down and walk back. We had to learn how to take off a jacket while walking and throw it over a shoulder. It’s so different now.
And I understand – designers don’t want models showing up with big personalities because it takes attention away from the clothes. They just want people to look at the clothes. If I were the director of the show, it would be different. I would say, “Bring it.” I would hire you to do my show.
CELESTE Oh my God, are you casting me in your next show? I am available.
CINDY You would be amazing, that whole thing could use a shake up and take the piss out of it.
CELESTE You’re the best, Cindy. I really appreciate this.
CINDY I’m so happy to do it. You make me laugh and I admire your authenticity. I think it’s generous, the way you show up in the world for other women. Keep doing it.
CINDY It’s funny you say you didn’t want to be famous, because you’re obviously famous, and internet famous – which is even more famous than regular famous. And your boys are at an age now where they’re aware of that, right?
CELESTE They don’t have social media, [but] they know what I do.
CINDY I was thinking about it because, when I was doing things like Playboy, my kids weren’t born yet. Now, because of things like Pinterest and Instagram, old things pop up, but I wasn’t doing shaving k.d. lang on the cover of Vanity Fair and navigating teenagers. But if your boys aren’t as immersed in that world, maybe they’re just getting snippets.
CELESTE They have an understanding of it, but they think, “Mum’s either in front of me or in the other room”; they don’t think about me [travelling for work]. I quite like that they’re at an age where they’re like, “We’ve got our own shit going on – you do your thing, we’ll do our thing.”
CELESTE Barbarians, my friend said once, and I was like, “Ah, let’s workshop that.”
CINDY We’ll workshop it! But that’s how I feel about my fans. I respect them too much to sell them something I don’t believe in. And also, I don’t want to be 20. I’m not 30, so why should I look 30? I want to look great for my age, that’s what I want.
CELESTE I’m the same – I want to look fresh and good for my age, but I don’t need to look 16. I look better now. I’m more comfortable in my skin. I feel more beautiful. I know who I am, I know how my face works, and I’m happy to be moving through the world with this face – in spite of what social media and the world tells me I should be doing with it.
CINDY That’s how I approach my skincare line, Meaningful Beauty. Skincare is like a great pair of jeans or a good blow-out – you just have a little more spring in your step. Skincare or makeup in itself don’t matter, it’s just one of the many tools we have for living our best life – another is doing work we love, and another is meaningful relationships.
CINDY You have a lot on your plate: parenting, running a business. How do you define balance?
CELESTE I’m not amazing with balance. It’s something I’m working on. I am getting better at it. I just finished my European tour – we were there for six weeks. That was probably the most balanced I’ve felt in a long time. The boys were there, my husband was there, and my oldest stepdaughter, who’s 25, came too. I never ever wanted it to end. We’d all go to the theatre, I’d tech the show, then we’d go out for dinner and then they’d kind of put me on stage, and [the kids] went back to the hotel.
Touring is tricky, though. The boys don’t exactly want to hang out in Ohio or get excited about the Hilton in Wichita, so that can be hard. I do struggle a bit because I love to work. And I think because I didn’t get success until later in my life, I feel like, well, I’ve got a lot to do. I want to keep running at it.
But having a very, very supportive husband helps. He’s like, “This is so exciting.” And we had that conversation very early on. I told him, “I’ve got big dreams. I want to act. I want to entertain. My purpose in life is to chase that.” And he said, “I want to have a family with you.” And it’s been so lucky that we’ve been able to do that.
“I get messages from women saying, ‘You made me laugh and not hate my arms for 30 seconds.’ That means everything to me”
– Celeste
“Very early on, I told [my husband], ‘I’ve got big dreams. I want to act. I want to entertain. My purpose in life is to chase that’” – Celeste
Celeste as Cindy Crawford wears Camilla and Marc dress, $550; Swarovski necklace, $199.
From left: Kiki as Linda Evangelista wears Van Der Kooij dress, $799; Swarovski necklace, $159. Josephen as Naomi Campbell wears Mariam Seddiq dress, $1600; Swarovski necklace, $159. Wioletta as Christy Turlington wears Courtney Zheng dress, $750; Swarovski necklace, $159.
CELESTE “Oh my God, are you casting me in your next show?” CINDY “You would be amazing. That whole thing could use a shake up”