--- title: Zoolander's Predecessors—Fashion Models on the Cover of TIME description: These fashion faces made real news as early as 1949 canonical: https://time.com/4206459/zoolander-time-cover-real-models/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-11T17:00:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:15.739Z article:section: History og:title: Zoolander's Predecessors—Fashion Models on the Cover of TIME og:description: No, Derek Zoolander doesn't count og:url: https://time.com/4206459/zoolander-time-cover-real-models/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Zoolander's Predecessors—Fashion Models on the Cover of TIME twitter:description: No, Derek Zoolander doesn't count twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # See Every Fashion Model to Be on the Cover of TIME  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 11, 2016 5:00 PM CUT  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 11, 2016 5:00 PM CUT Derek Zoolander’s [life-changing TIME cover story](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbxz8sCnAL4 "undefined") is as fictional as he is, but that doesn’t mean plenty of other real models have appeared inside the red border. Cover stories about fashion designers have been a staple since the magazine’s first years—[here’s Elsa Schiaparelli in 1934](http://time.com/vault/issue/1934-08-13/page/1/ "undefined"). But it wasn’t until the late 1940s that Lisa Fonssagrives, who TIME identified as “the highest-paid, highest-praised high-fashion model in the business, considered by many of her colleagues the greatest fashion model of all time,” made cover-worthy news for wearing clothes rather than creating them. And, unlike in _Zoolander,_ the models who made the cover were not being mocked but rather acknowledged as driving forces behind big businesses, global trends and even popular interest in science. As _Zoolander 2_ heads to theaters on Friday, here’s a look back at some of the TIME U.S. covers on which that fictional plot line might have been, well, modeled.  Christy Turlington on the Apr. 23, 2001, cover of TIME Cover Credit: RUVEN AFANADOR  Amber Valetta on the Nov. 25, 1996, cover of TIME Cover Credit: HERB RITTS  Claudia Schiffer on the Apr. 17, 1995, cover of TIME Cover Credit: PATRICK DEMARCHELIER  Cheryl Tiegs on the Aug. 20, 1984, cover of TIME Cover Credit: GORDON MUNRO  Brooke Shields on the Feb. 9, 1981, cover of TIME Cover Credit: FRANCESCO SCAVULLO  Cheryl Tiegs on the Mar. 6, 1978, cover of TIME Cover Credit: HIRO  Unidentified model, in Halston, on the Mar. 22, 1976, cover of TIME. Cover Credit: EDDIE ADAMS  Two unnamed models, with designer Rudi Gernreich, on the Dec. 1, 1967, cover of TIME Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN  Jean Thom on the June 16, 1958, cover of TIME TIME  Lisa Fonssagrives on the Sep. 19, 1949, cover of TIME Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4206459/zoolander-time-cover-real-models/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4206459/zoolander-time-cover-real-models/"},"headline":"See Every Fashion Model to Be on the Cover of TIME","datePublished":"2016-02-11T17:00:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:15.739Z","description":"No, Derek Zoolander doesn't count","url":"https://time.com/4206459/zoolander-time-cover-real-models/","keywords":["Style","Living","movies","fashion","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/style/","name":"Style"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4206459/zoolander-time-cover-real-models/","name":"See Every Fashion Model to Be on the Cover of TIME"}}]}] ```