Elle Coverstar

UK Elle June 2005

When supermodel Stephanie Seymour emerges from the dressing room at the ELLE cover shoot in New York in a yellow Burberry swimsuit, it's easy to understand how she has captured the attention of a string of rich, powerful men and the fashion industry. She rose to fame in 1991, aged 22, on the back of a photoshoot with Playboy magazine and now, 36 years old and the mother of four - including a daughter born just six months ago - her curves have become lethal. If there is cellulite on this woman, you'd need a magnifying glass to find it. To the naked eye she is flawless.

'Yeah, and a big, fat, freakin' ass!' Seymour says, slapping what is, in fact, a perfectly round, impossibly firm, gravitydefying booty. 'You know this trainer said to me, "What happened to your butt?". And I said, "What?". She implied that I'd had butt implants! She pointed at my butt and said, "We have to get rid of that". And I said, "Get rid of that? I make a lot of money off that!".'

Although she arrives a couple of hours late, she displays none of that diva-like belligerence you might get with a super like Naomi. She has a glass of wine to calm down and, as she relaxes, a woman emerges who is quite insecure about the way she looks and comes across as all the more likeable for it.

Supermodel is a term bandied about much too easily these days. Any girl who has appeared in a fashion magazine, come within 10 feet of a catwalk or had an affair with a rock star is inaccurately referred to as one.

But Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Helena Christensen, Linda Evangelista, Stephanie Seymour... in the 90s, they ruled. Be it in era-defining fashion shoots by the late Herb Ritts, two Playboy spreads, the cover of the esteemed Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, or a 10-year run with Victoria's Secret, Stephanie Seymour was up there with the best. By the millennium, celebrities had become the new supermodels. The public is now on a first-name basis with Gwen, Beyoncé and J.Lo, the multi-tasking beauties who've gobbled up the magazine covers, advertisting campaigns and global fascination. And that bugs Seymour.

'They always diss model who are trying to be actresses but nobody disses the actresses who are trying to be models,' says Seymour. 'The idea that the girls who do all the fashion shows, all that work, can't get a cover is really ridiculous!' Her concern, it should be noted, is for the new generation of posers. 'I never stopped working,' she states firmly. 'Neither did Cindy or any of the other girls who had made names for themselves. I think it was just assumed by a lot of people that you had to be very young, that once you hit 30 you were finished. But they're finding out that just isn't so, and people really respond to all ages of women and it's much more interesting.'

Stephanie was born in San Diego in 1968. Her father is a builder and farmer and she grew up in the middle of nowhere with a driveway that was five miles long. She began modelling for local papers at 14. At 15, she was a runner-up in the Elite Look of the Year contest. 'Cindy was a runner-up, too. I remember her turning up with this blue eyeshadow all the way up to her eyebrows. And Linda was in a regional and she didn't even get to the finals. It didn't matter, but at the time you think it means something.' Stephanie was signed to Elite, and her career began to take off. By 21, she was married to her first husband, musician Tommy Andrews, and they had a son, Dylan, who helped keep patrying to a minimum. 'I was wild but I was a good mum. Most of the time I travelled with my son.' The perception that the models of her era were doing drugs and partying non-stop was a myth, she insists. 'That was the girls after us. Heroin chic. We drank a lot of champagne.'

Stephanie's got nothing but love for the orginal supermodels. 'Always loved Linda. Loved Christy. I love Helena Christensen. Loved, loved, loved Tatjana Patitz... Naomi was my maid of honour. She invited Claudia, Nadja, Kate and Karen Mulder to the hen night, and got everyone to buy me lingerie from the most beautiful lingerie store in Paris. They took me to a club and we had a male stripper and a big, phallic, disgusting cake. Then Jack Nicholson turned up! They made up a photo album and I had to tear out the incriminating pictures so my kids wouldn't see them!'

Now the wild days are well behind her and when she sees the supers these days, they spend their time chatting about their kids. But at the time, her private life was not so settled. After divorcing Andrews, she had a stormy two-year relationship with Guns N'Roses frontman Axl Rose that ended in litigation. Axl sued for the return of $100,000 of jewellery and alleged she'd assaulted him. She returned all the jewellery and counter-sued him for assault 'to teach him a lesson because he really did assault me. I never wanted anyone to know about it. But sometimes in life you fight fire with fire and sometimes you walk away. That time I fought.' They settled out of court.

Taking on Rose was a bold move for a woman who says she was so 'tragically shy' that runway work was excruciating. 'It was a real trauma for me. I would have so much anxiety about the catwalk. For a few years I had bad acne, and I was afraid and embarrassed for people to see it in real life. At every show Naomi had to help me with my make-up and get me champagne to calm me down. I'd wanted to go back to school but, because I was a single mum, I focuses on modelling because I made a living at it, and was good on it.'

It probably didn't help her self-esteem that John Casablancas, the head of her agency, Elite, had once told her no one would ever put her face on the cover of a magazine. 'He used to say, "You're not good for beauty but you're great for fashion". At the time he said it, I was so young and it really affected me.' One can imagine how she felt, since he wasn't just her agent - he was dating her. They became romantically involved when Seymour was 'about 17' and he was more than 20 years her senior.

The relationship with Casablancas, known as a modeliser extraordinaire who, in 1993, at 49, married a 17 year old, sounds as if it was verging on the exploitative, but Seymour offer a breezy explanation that makes it seem like perfect sense. 'John taught me so much about life. He was a very intelligent, very charming, handsome man. Of course I was taken in by him. How could I not be?'

Since 1995, she has been married to Peter Brandt, the millionaire publishing magnate who should be able to keep her in Manolos. They have nine children in total; three together, one from her first marriage and five from his first marriage. They have a home in Palm Beach, a Manhattan loft and what Seymour calls 'a little, little, beach house in Long Island'. White Birch Farm in Connecticut is their primary residence and where Seymour spends most of her time with her family.

'On an average day I'm running about trying to get as much done as I can. I get up with my kids, make phone calls and at night I do homework with my children. I go out a few nights a week to make my husband happy. If it were up to me, I'd stay home every night with my kids.'

Stephanie also loves fashion. In 1992 she started collecting vintage haute couture. 'I was discouraged with the fashion of that time, so I started collecting couture - Dior, Balenciaga, Chanel, Courrèges - all from the 50s and 60s. I got into that and that was all I wore for a long time.'

She used some of her fabulous vintage fashion collection when she posed for a 30-page shoot by Juergen Teller for US magazine W. That is the kind of 'really interesting editorial' she chooses to do these days. There were so many extra photographs that she and Teller decided to do a book together called More. The intimate series of photos of Seymour was shot over two years, in and around her four homes.

At 36 years old, she certainly looks fantastic. She once said that she never exercised, is that still true? She laughs. 'No, not anymore! I have to exercise if I want to stay in shape. With my last child I had a difficult birth with six hours of surgery, so I couldn't do anything for such a long time. After that I started Pilates again, which I've beed doing for 10 years. The secret is to eat anything I want in moderation I want to have dessert every night but I don't.' It's an approach that has kept her looking amazing despite giving birth to four children. And being a mother, says Stephanie, has only added to her appeal as a model. 'I know I've been a bit of a sex symbol but I really wanted, as I got older, to connect with women. That is really important for me now.'

And with that the consummate professinal kneels on the sand, wind machines send her hair flying and she stares into the camera lens. And just for a moment, the heady days of the 90s supermodel are well and truly back.

Stephanie's five favourite shoots

Rolling Stone (Herb Ritts, 1989). 'This is the famous picture with all the girls - Tatjana, Naomi, Cindy, Christy and me. We're all naked and we're all huddled up - you couldn't see anything. We did it at Herb's house and we were all hanging out and being silly.'

Playboy (Herb Ritts, 1991). 'I was frightened before the shoot, thinking, "Oh my God, I don't think I can do Playboy". But it turned out that it was easy to work with Herb - I didn't even remember that I was naked! I was naked for the whole day, except for fish around my neck, seaweed around my waist and sand on my body. We were on this beach in Hawaii alone. I guess Herb made you feel that your were far, far away and the only person there.'

100 Years of Fashion in Egoïste (Richard Avedon, 1992). 'A real project of love. I flew myself to Paris - we all paid our own way. We did 100 years of fashion, starting in 1890 and going all the way to what we considered the future. As I collect clothes and am interested in history, we really studied it and every shot was like becoming another woman. It took two years to finish.'

Versace Campaign with model Marcus Schenkenberg (Richard Avedon, 1993). 'On this Versace shoot we worked with a choreographer who helped us come up with unusual body movements. It was like a dance. Marcus had to catch me if I fell - and he was naked the whole time! He was really embarrassed but so sweet.'

W (Carter Smith, 2000). 'Carter was a young kid, with glasses. We just clicked and that's so important. The shoot was at the Warhol house in Montauk I was renting for the summer. One of my friends, Max Pinnell, was doing my hair which was really long at the time. He gave me this amazing two-hour haircut. It was the best cut I've ever had!'