Peter Lindbergh and the Birth of the Supermodel British Vogue.jpg

Update 8/23/2020: AOC last shared the George MIchael ‘Freedom’ video on December 26, 2016 — learning of Michael’s death the day after Christmas. My mood was dreadful generally. Trump had been elected president and would be inaugurated in a few weeks.

With George Michael’s dying, we lost his spirit, David Bowie and Prince in one year — generally devastating! And then we faced the future of Donald Trump as America’s president. ~ Anne

Last year celebrated the 25th anniversary of George Michael's 1990 music video 'Freedom!', an anthem for women, LGBTQ people, women and men of color, and hundreds of kindred spirits everywhere who were trying to establish their own identities against the patriarchal, monotheistic, global norms confining us in their medicine-bottle vision of appropriate behaviors and self-identiites.

George Michaels threw a sledge hammer into that power structure metaphorically -- if not actually -- with his 'Freedom' video and lyrics. As The Republican War on Women and many more -- based on its Godly, male-centric vision for America -- rolls into Washington, led by their new God Donald Trump -- we revisit 'Freedom' a day after progressive spirits are crushed by the death of George Michaels at 53. In a year when we've lost some of our best -- Bowie, and Prince come to mind, and now Michaels, our loss isn't only about talent but rather critical messaging and philosophy.

Last year, Harper's Bazaar asked the fabulous 5 -- Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz -- who made the 'Freedom' video to reflect back on that day.

Naomi Campbell

"I came to the set on the first day they were shooting. On my god, it was crazy! It was during the fashion collections, so I came straight from Paris, and I'd done 4 or 5 shows the day before and we finished at 2 o'clock in the morning. They didn't have the Eurostar then, so I took the 6 o'clock train to London and then went to the airport. I didn't sleep -- I went from the plane to the shower to the set. I was up all night working to work all night again! But it was great. I love George Michael, and I love all the girls who were in it, and the director, David Fincher, is a great filmmaker."

Tatjana Patitz

"All the models and I knew George Michael -- I think I had done a photo shoot with him at some point before. His manager contacted my agent to see if I could do the video. George wasn't in it -- he wasn't even on the set when I was there. David Fincher directed it, which was so exciting even then because he had already done one of Madonna's.

Linda Evangelista

"25 years later, this video -- and not my magazine covers -- is what people mention the most when they approach me on the street. It's pretty incredible."

Christy Turlington

"It was a whirlwind. I flew in from LA and drove straight to the set, so I was pretty delirious. Each of us filmed for a day on our own, except Linda and I overlapped on the last day because we had a scene together. They were long days. I don't recall any specific direction from David Fincher. He was focused on the lighting I recall. George was there the whole time."

Cindy Crawford

"I remember them sending me a Walkman so I could learn the words before I got to set. The studio was huge and dark and smoky. Someone explained to me that my first shot would be in a bathtub. They oiled me up and put me in an empty tub with a smoke machine to look like steam. I had to sit on an apple crate because you couldn't see me over the edge of the tub. My second shot was sitting on a chair with a towel on my head, and I kept thinking my part wasn't going to be that sexy. I watched the video recently, as I wanted to write about the whole supermodel phenomenon in my new book, 'Becoming', and my kids were like, "Hey, we know that song!" I think it stands the test of time and still looks amazing today. I like how David Fincher saw something different in each of us and tried to bring that out in the video."