'Too skinny and sad': Hervé Léger on why today's models will never compare with the original Nineties supers

By Miss FB Lyimo*

With supermodels including Cindy Crawford, Carla Bruni and Linda Evangelista, Hervé Léger's Nineties catwalk shows were highly-anticipated events.
But in an interview today, the designer, who no longer has control of the label that bears his name, said that he doesn't do runway presentations any more because he finds today's models uninspiring.
He said: 'If I had to go back to catwalk presentations I would be in a panic... Already the models I find are too skinny, too sad.

Always lively and smiling: Original supermodels Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen walking the catwalk for Herve Leger in 1993, when the couturier was still at the helm

'I knew the age of the super top models, Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford, who were always lively and smiling'
'Today you go between several défilés and you will see the exact same type of girl - it just doesn't inspire me.'

  

He told the Daily that instead of catwalk shows, he holds intimate showroom presentations for the Hervé L. Leroux label that he currently owns.
'Of course I do presentations, I do three presentations a year: spring, fall and cruise, that I show at my showroom and what I like is to have the buyers come to me.

Skinny and sad: Models in recent Hervé Léger designs by Max Azria, who acquired the fashion house in 1999

'They buy, things sell well, and that really gives me the feeling of existing for something because I know that somewhere out there in the world I have clients that adore what I'm doing and that's really reward enough.'
The couturier founded Hervé Léger in 1985, but it was acquired by the BCBG Max Azria group in 1999.
Mr Léger now trades under Hervé L Leroux - a name that was chosen by his longtime friend Karl Lagerfeld.

Golden age: Herve Leger after a catwalk show in 1995 with Karen Mulder and Cindy Crawford

He said of the Chanel designer: 'He is a genius. He is someone very wonderful... There is nobody like him.
'I had the chance to work very closely with him at Fendi and Chanel, and he gives everything. You just have to look at him work...
'He is good at everything, it's a spirit and a vision of things, and he is very, very modern. He is always in the future - when the collection is finished, we start over the next day - and he refuses all doubt and just goes forward.
'He's everything that I'm not! That's why I am so fascinated by Karl.'