Models bring fashion to life

The best models not only are admired for their physical gifts, they also inspire an exploration of art, an examination of culture and a mad rush to buy clothes that might look utterly ridiculous to the untrained eye.

What these women have that other pretty girls don't, say fashion insiders, is the ability to convey personality as well as represent their moment in time.

They also have their own new exhibit at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art called "The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion," which had a star-studded opening this week with a gala dinner hosted by Vogue's Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Kate Moss and Justin Timberlake.

Photograph after photograph of the faces you know -- Twiggy, Jerry Hall, Beverly Johnson, Iman, Moss -- hang on the hallowed walls of the museum's Tisch Galleries.

Also displayed are some of the clothes they introduced to the mainstream: The black gown with a white sash (among Yves St. Laurent's first designs for the house of Christian Dior) worn by model Dovima, standing between elephants, in a Richard Avedon photo; the topless bathing suit Rudi Gernreich made in 1964 that drew a sharp line between the elegant look of 1950s models and the youthquake of the '60s, and Brooke Shields' second-skin Calvin Klein jeans from 1980.

"We wanted to represent the women who pulled themselves away from the pack," explains curator-in-charge Harold Koda.

Celebrities including Madonna, Rihanna and Victoria Beckham walked the red carpet, but the models were the night's stars. Gisele Bundchen arrived with husband Tom Brady in a custom-made Versace minidress covered in blue pailettes, while Cindy Crawford wore a long blue Versace with a plunging neckline and thigh-high slit.

Tyra Banks came in a black fishtail gown by Badgley Mischka, and Heidi Klum wore a J. Mendel gown made of layers of tulle and organza in varying shades of blue.

Twiggy returned to the red carpet-turned-catwalk in a cigarette trouser tuxedo, and Lauren Hutton came in a red-and-navy strapless Michael Kors.