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Claudia Schiffer (born 25 August 1970 ) is a German model and Creative Director of her clothing label 'Claudia Schiffer Cashmere'. Schiffer rose to popularity and became a household name during the early '90s as one of the the world's most successful models. She has appeared on over 1000 magazine covers and continues to front global campaigns for luxury fashion and fragrance houses. In 2002, Forbes estimated her net worth at about $55 million (£38 million).

Background
Schiffer was born in Rheinberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany, a small town 15 km northwest of Duisburg. She is the daughter of Gudrun and Heinz Schiffer. She has two brothers, Stefan and Andreas, and one sister, Ann Carolin.

Schiffer originally wanted to become a lawyer following in her fathers footsteps. However, she later dropped these aspirations when, in October 1987 at seventeen, she was spotted in a nightclub in Düsseldorf by Michel Levaton, the boss of Metropolitan Model Agency.

Modelling
She completed her education and then began to work as a model. She flew out to Paris for a trial photo shoot and soon after appeared on the cover of French Elle. In the early 1990s, she starred in highly publicised Guess? jeans campaigns. Paul Marciano said in E! Forbes Top 15 Supermodel Beauties Who Made Bank, "Guess name became really much more known around the world because [of] Claudia". After several other magazine appearances including the cover of British Vogue shot by Herb Ritts, she quickly achieved "supermodel" status and was selected by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel. Schiffer went on to become world-famous, instantly recognisable with her blue eyes, blonde hair and tall figure, standing at 1.80m (approx. 5 ft 11 in.).

Schiffer appeared on the November 1999 Millennium cover of American Vogue as one of the "Modern Muses". . Named as one of the most beautiful women in the world, her ability to appeal to a global audience has ensured an internationally successful career spanning over 24 years. Schiffer was the first model to make the covers of Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New York Times and People and has appeared numerous times on the covers of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle Cosmopolitan and Time. Schiffer has appeared on the catwalk for fashion houses including YSL, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino and Versace.

As well as endorsing luxury brands Schiffer has appeared as the face of high street retailers including Mango and Accessorise and has featured in commercials for Pepsi and Fanta. From her appearances in a 1998 Citroën advertisement she allegedly earned £3 million. Schiffer still holds a contract with L'Oréal and is one of their longest standing ambassadors.

Karl Lagerfeld photographed Schiffer for a Dom Pérignon campaign, around 17 years after her first appearance for Chanel. . Schiffer has appeared in recent campaigns for Chanel, YSL, Salvatore Ferragamo and Dolce & Gabbana. Most recently she appeared as the face of the Chanel A/W11 Eyewear Campaign and has collaborated once again with Guess? for their 30th Anniversary Campaign photographed by Ellen von Unwerth.

Schiffer is signed to a handful of agencies solely for her modelling interests, including d'management group in Milan and One Management in New York City and her mother agency 'Model Management' in Hamburg.

Schiffer was a judge on Fashion Fringe 2011.

Claudia Schiffer Cashmere - Creative Director
Recognised as a global fashion icon with her style appreciated by women around the world Schiffer launched her eponymous cashmere collection 'Claudia Schiffer Cashmere' during Paris Fashion Week in March 2011. The Autumn/Winter 2011 season saw her fashion design debut and has been followed by a successful Spring/Summer 12 collection. The collection is sold globally in key department stores and high end boutiques. Claudia is the Creative Director of the brand and the driving force behind it's design. Claudia Schiffer Official Site

Film & video
Schiffer has appeared in a number of films and music videos. Her first appearance in film was for Richie Rich in 1994 and she starred opposite Dennis Hopper and Matthew Modine in The Blackout. She went on to appear in Friends & Lovers and Black and White in 1999, In Pursuit and then Love Actually in a semi-cameo role. Schiffer has made several other cameo appearances in films, including Ben Stiller's Zoolander in 2001. . Schiffer has appeared in boyband Westlife's music video for "Uptown Girl", and in 2000, she made a cameo appearance in Bon Jovi's video for "Say It Isn't So". She has released four exercise videos, entitled Claudia Schiffer's Perfectly Fit, which were successful and reached the bestsellers list.

Charity
Claudia began her involvement with UNICEF by becoming a member of the Arts & Entertainment Support Committee and is currently a UK Good Will Ambassador for the organisation. Claudia was also a spokesperson for Make Poverty History where she appeared in the powerful ’Click’ advertisement.

Personal life
On May 25th 2002, Schiffer married the film director Matthew Vaughn in Suffolk. Schiffer and Vaughn have three children: son Caspar (born 30 January 2003, Westminster, London), daughter Clementine (born 11 November 2004, Westminster), and a second daughter, Cosima (born 14 May 2010).

Schiffer had two significant problems with harassment in the past. In 2002, an Italian kitchen porter was arrested after making nine visits to Schiffer's £5 million Coldham Hall mansion near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, attempting to see her. Charges against him were dropped however, as he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He believed that the Pope had told him to marry Schiffer. In 2004, a Canadian man was accused of harassing Schiffer, also at her mansion in Suffolk. He called at her mansion in the hope of seeing her. He also repeatedly left letters at her home.