Carolyn Murphy proved she is as gorgeous as ever as she stepped out for a rare appearance at the Chanel cruise show in Los Angeles on Tuesday. With beauties such as Sofia Richie and Margot Robbie lining the red carpet, the 48-year-old supermodel showed the newcomers how its done, as she slayed in her simple, yet iconic, Chanel cardigan and vintage blue jeans. The face of Estee Lauder topped off the look with a bedazzled handbag and a set of monochromatic heels.
While her name is not as synonymous with the word “supermodel” as some of her 90s peers like Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington, Carolyn has a legendary career to prove worthy of the title. Her contract with Estée Lauder has now lasted over 20 years, the longest-ever for the brand, and after landing covers of Vogue in her 20s, she has now walked for Off-White, Fendi, Burberry, The Row and Isabel Marant in recent seasons.
Carolyn recently opened up about the fame that came along with those modeling contracts. “I was uncomfortable, to be honest with you, with the notoriety when my career started taking off,” she told Fashionista in 2021. “But I really enjoyed the success on a personal level, because I was raised to work hard, so that was a benchmark for me. The notoriety felt uncomfortable, but the success was the benchmark that I was doing my job and I was working hard.”
She also happened to end up in the same breath as her idols like Cindy, Christy, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and more. “Somewhere in ’97 or ’98, Newsweek did an article on the top ten supermodels, and I was shocked because I was like, number four,” she recalled to the outlet. “It was such an honor to be grouped with those women, but I was just scratching my head, going, ‘Really? I’m such a dork.’ I’m not like Christy and Cindy — they’re so glamorous — And Kate, who was always so cool. In that article, I was referred to as the Professional. Which I was like, ‘God, I’m just so boring.'”
With all the big label work and recognition, Carolyn remained humble, however. “I think there’s a level of self-deprecation and humility, knowing where you came from; I don’t wanna get too big for my britches,” she explained to Fashionista. “In fact, my agent, he still gets onto me to this day — he would always say, ‘I wish you had an ounce of the Madonna Syndrome. Just be fabulous.”
Perhaps her natural humility makes her just as bookable a model now as she was two decades ago. “Beauty really is all-encompassing – it’s about what you’re feeling,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in February 2022. “I think in your 20s you’re still figuring it out, but in your 40s you really kind of settle in with this wisdom. I think that’s so attractive.”