Janice Dickinson: ‘I invented the term Supermodel!’

13 April 2023

Janice Dickinson claims she coined the term ‘supermodel’.

Janice Dickinson claims she coined the term ‘Supermodel’

The 67-year-old, who shot to fame in the 1970s after being discovered by a photographer and went on to become one of the most successful and coveted faces in the modelling industry, says she will defy anyone who claims she didn’t originally came up with the word in 1982 during a conversation with her manager.

She told Queerty: “I stand by it because I coined the word. You know, there are of course other supermodels that were before me, but I said to my agent back in 1982, with the Elite agency. “She said, ‘You are working night and day, day and night, who do you think you are? Superman?’ “And I said, ‘No honey, I’m Supermodel. And you’ll refer to me as Supermodel.’ So we started a supermodel division that only took girls that did catalogue, runway, editorial, advertising, and spokesperson.”

Whilst Janice remains adamant the term originated from her, it’s been proven the word has been around since the 1940s, with writer Judith Cass using it in her Chicago Tribune article ‘Super Models are Signed for Fashion Show’ in 1942.

Janice is today more famous for her TV work, after she appeared on the Tyra Banks-hosted reality series ‘America’s Next Top Model’ as a judge.

The former model added about her infamous feud with Tyra, 49, after she was axed from the show’s panel in 2005 in favour of Twiggy: “You know, she’s done a lot of harm for kids. The criticisms could cut deep, right? Like, she didn’t cut it.

“She didn’t come in and see the nerves after she made the criticising remarks. So the girls are all shattered from the day of like, 'Oh my god, I’m never gonna make it.

“And so if I keep walking the way I’m walking', or you name it, and I heard it in my ear on the microphone. I was asked to be the Simon Cowell on that show and I did it. I was like the negative version of Miss Sweet Susie Cakes, Tyra Banks.

“I was in the modelling world a lot longer than she was and I did a lot more important jobs like working with Horst, Terrell, Avedon, Penn, Scavullo, all these guys way before she did... and you know, I’d sit next to her. You know, when there was an inconvenient moment, I’d say, ‘Shut up, girl. I did Vogue. You did Elle’.”