Amber: Hello, I'm Amber, and you’re listening to bbclearningenglish.com.

In Entertainment today, we listen to an interview with a woman who - in the

1980s and 90s - put the word ‘supermodel’ in the dictionary! She’s Elle

Macpherson.

Elle began her brilliant modelling career at the age of 17 in Australia, where

she was born. Time magazine later called her ‘the body’ - a nick name Elle has

turned into a global brand. She’s now a powerful business woman, and has an

extremely successful underwear company.

Elle talks to us about how one of her early business ventures, or enterprises,

used fashion as entertainment. But first she talks about the origins of the word

supermodel, or as she puts it, how the ‘term’ ‘came about’. She explains that

after a period in the early 80s when women in the movie industry did not want

to be seen as ‘sex symbols’ – as sexually attractive and nothing else – there

was a hunger for glamour. Try to catch the word Elle uses to describe the

desire or hunger for glamour and beauty.

Elle Macpherson

‘I think that the term supermodel was a very 80s kind of phrase, and it came about because

there was a movement where movie industry women in the early 80s they didn’t want to be

perceived as sex symbols, and there was a huge craving for sort of glamour and sex in the 80s,

with all that influx of money and the fashion industry kind of supported it through great

designers like Versace. So we had this kind of craving for people to have beauty and glamour

in their lives and that’s where models of that time kind of grew.’ 

Elle Macpherson © BBC Learning English

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bbclearningenglish.com

Amber: Did you catch it? Elle says there was a ‘craving’ for glamour and beauty in the

early 80s when there was an ‘influx of money’ – the 80s were a period of

affluence for many people.

Listen again to Elle Macpherson describing the circumstances which she thinks

led to the rise of the supermodel!

Elle Macpherson

‘I think that the term supermodel was a very 80s kind of phrase, and it came about because

there was a movement where movie industry women in the early 80s they didn’t want to be

perceived as sex symbols, and there was a huge craving for sort of glamour and sex in the 80s,

with all that influx of money and the fashion industry kind of supported it through great

designers like Versace. So we had this kind of craving for people to have beauty and glamour

in their lives and that’s where models of that time kind of grew.’

Amber: Six foot Elle was an extremely successful model in the 80s – she was

frequently on the cover of magazines all over the world. People began to put

Elle’s name and body together and this gave her a lot of power in terms of

creating a business ‘brand’ – a name for products she could sell.

Elle now talks about the Fashion Café which was not a particularly successful

venture, but she does not see it as a failure. Why not? Oh, and notice that Elle

uses the noun ‘icon’ as a verb – to iconize, meaning to celebrate.

Elle Macpherson

‘It was a fantastic stepping stone for me and it was actually before its time. The idea of using

the fashion industry as entertainment was way before its time. Now, today, we have fashion

TV, we have all those television programmes that kind of iconize the fashion industry, like the

film industry and like the music industry. When we did Fashion Café, it was taking from the

business model of the music industry and the film industry and we put it into fashion - it was

just before its time.’ 

Elle Macpherson © BBC Learning English

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bbclearningenglish.com

Amber: Elle describes the Fashion Café as a ‘fantastic stepping stone’. A stepping

stone is an experience that helps you achieve something else. Elle says the

Fashion Café was ‘before its time’, ‘way before its time’ – meaning it was a

clever idea that has only recently become appreciated. Listen again.

Elle Macpherson

‘It was a fantastic stepping stone for me and it was actually before its time. The idea of using

the fashion industry as entertainment was way before its time. Now, today, we have fashion

TV, we have all those television programmes that kind of iconize the fashion industry, like the

film industry and like the music industry. When we did Fashion Café, it was taking from the

business model of the music industry and the film industry and we put it into fashion - it was

just before its time.’

Amber: Now here’s a list of the language we focussed on in the programme today.

supermodel

business ventures

sex symbols

craving

stepping stone

before its time

iconize

business model