Gia Carangi

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Gia Marie Carangi (January 29, 1960 – November 18, 1986) was a supermodel of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Carangi, who was of Italian, Welsh and Irish ancestry, was a prototype of the Cindy Crawford "Supermodel" era, who also appeared on the covers of several fashion publications of her time.

Fashion magazines featuring covers of Carangi included Vogue, April 1 1979; Vogue Paris, April 1979; American Vogue, August 1980; Vogue Paris, August 1980; Italian Vogue, January 1981; and several issues of Cosmopolitan between 1979 and 1982.

After becoming addicted to drugs, Carangi's modeling career rapidly declined. She became infected with HIV and was among the first widely publicised cases of death from AIDS-related complications.

Rise

"Gia", as she was known in modeling circles, moved from Philadelphia to New York City at the age of 18, and quickly rose to prominence. Carangi was the favorite model of many eminent fashion photographers, including Francesco Scavullo, Arthur Elgort, Richard Avedon, and Chris von Wangenheim, and she posed for photos in many countries.^{[citation needed]} Her sexual orientation has been disputed: while some think she was completely lesbian, others point to the fact she had many relationships with men and call her bisexual.

Carangi was swept right into the fashion world. Considered a "rare gem", she never experienced the frequent rejection that most models face. Partly due to supermodel Janice Dickinson's success, her exotic looks were in vogue. Visually striking, she was a hit with prominent photographers. “There’s only been maybe 3 girls in my whole career that have walked into my studio and I went ‘wow’. Gia was the last who came in here and I said ‘wow.’” said top photographer Francesco Scavullo.^[1] By the end of 1978, at age eighteen, Carangi had already rocked the fashion world. However, she was extremely lonely and still looking for stability in her life.

Carangi was a regular at Studio 54 and the Mudd Club. "We loved it," Janice Dickinson would later recall. "It was a place for us. A place where we could be with the beautiful, do drugs, be out of our minds and it all seemed normal." Carangi began to develop a cocaine addiction. Kelly LeBrock, a top model at the time, remembered the time she spent with her: “Gia, when I was working with her, was still sort of in the beginning, still very fresh and lovely, I think drowning a little bit in her own success, but not anymore screwed up than anybody else was in the set.”^[2]

In October 1978, Carangi did her first major shoot with top fashion photographer Chris von Wangenheim. Wangenheim had her pose nude behind a chain-link fence, with makeup assistant Sandy Linter. She immediately fell in love. "She sent flowers to me, and she really sort of courted me, which I thought was adorable. Eventually I did go out with her. She’s the type of person at that time, and anyone who knew her at the time can tell you, if she showed up on your doorsteps and you opened the door and she got in your apartment she was there, that’s it.”

On March 1 1980, Carangi's agent, Wilhelmina Cooper, died of lung cancer. Devastated, Carangi quickly turned to drugs to escape the harsh reality. Scavullo recalled a fashion shoot in the Caribbean when "She was crying, she couldn't find her drugs. I literally had to lay her down on her bed until she fell asleep."

By 1980, Carangi began having violent temper tantrums, walking out of photo shoots, and even falling asleep in front of the camera. In the November 1980 issue of Vogue, Carangi's track marks from heroin can be easily seen. For three weeks, she was signed with Eileen Ford, who soon dropped her because she had little tolerance for the young model's behavior.

Fall

In 1981, Carangi enrolled in a 21-day detox program, and started dating a college student, Elyssa Golden. The Carangi family and Gia's mother had suspected that Golden had a drug problem. With Golden by her side, Carangi's recovery failed. In 1981, she moved out of her mother's house and in with some friends, once again entering a detox program.

Her attempt to quit drugs was shattered when news that good friend and fashion photographer Chris von Wangenheim had died in a car accident. It is said that Carangi locked herself in a bathroom for hours, shooting heroin. In the fall of 1981, she looked far different from the top model she once had been. However, she was still determined to make a comeback in the fashion industry. She contacted Monique Pillard (who was largely responsible for Janice Dickinson's career), who was hesitant to sign her. “She was sitting in my chair and I said, ‘Gia, I want to represent you so badly and everything, but I hear a lot of negative stories about you.’ And I remember I asked her ‘well, why are you wearing such a long shirt? Can I see your arms?’ And she said ‘No!’ And she held on to her shirt and she said to me, ‘Do you want to represent me or not?’”^{[citation needed]}

For her second time, Carangi received the harsh treatment she skipped last time. Nobody would book her. Desperate, she turned to good friend Scavullo. She landed a Cosmopolitan cover, a gift from Scavullo. At that time, however, he also knew that the remaining days of her modeling career was numbered. “It made me very sad, I had a tough time that day because I really wanted it to be her best cover and it wasn’t; it just couldn’t be. No matter how hard I tried it just couldn’t happen. That wonderful spirit she had was gone,” says Scavullo. Many believe that Carangi's arms were placed behind her back because of all the track marks, but Scavullo has denied the rumors. Shot in the winter of 1982, it would be her last cover.

In West Germany, a budding fashion industry was being created. Although seen as tacky by the designers from New York, Paris and Milan, the Germans were willing to pay 10,000 marks a week to shoot Carangi abroad. However, no one in the States would book her. In the spring of 1983, she was caught with drugs in a shoot in Africa. Her career was over.

After pressure from her family she entered a drug-rehabilitation program again at Eagleville Hospital. After six months, she was released from the program and moved back to Philadelphia, where she seemed to be getting her life back on track. She started taking classes in photography and cinematography. But, three months later, she had vanished once again, and had returned to Atlantic City, and started shooting heroin again. She sexually prostituted herself and was raped on several occasions. She soon became sick with pneumonia, and her mother came and checked her into a hospital.

Death

She was diagnosed with AIDS, then only a newly recognized disease. As her condition worsened, she was transferred to Philadelphia's Hahnemann University Hospital. Her mother stayed with her day and night, allowing virtually no visitors. By this time, AIDS had taken a toll on her once beautiful face. "She wanted to get the hell out of there, but I kept having to tell her, that even if we made it as far as the elevator, she would be dead," her mother recalled. "And that's when I knew. I knew she'd never be able to come home."

On November 18, 1986 at 10 a.m., 26-year-old Gia Carangi died.

Her funeral was held on November 23 at a small funeral home in Philadelphia. Some of her old friends from Philadelphia chose not to attend, most because of their anger at her mother for not allowing anyone to see her. Nobody from the fashion world attended. However, weeks later, Francesco Scavullo sent a Mass card when he heard the news. "We were hysterically crying in the studio when we heard," he recalled. "I loved her. I could cry now, just talking about her."

Aftermath

A 1993 biography by Stephen Fried and a biographical film, Gia, which debuted on HBO in 1998, brought her back to the public's attention. Angelina Jolie played Carangi in the movie.

In 1996, actress-screenwriter Zoë Tamerlis (also known as Zoë Lund, Bad Lieutenant), herself a heroin addict who would die of drug-related causes in 1999, was commissioned to write a screenplay based upon Carangi's life. This version of Gia was not produced, but after Tamerlis' death, footage of her discussing Carangi's life was incorporated into a documentary entitled The Self-Destruction of Gia.

Magazine Listings

American Vogue

10/78 Vogue debut.

11/78 Calvin Klein slip-dress with sunglasses.

1/79 Infamous fence shot by Chris von Wangenheim.

2/79 Desert shots by Von Wangenheim.

5/79 Mexico shots with Janice Dickinson and Patti Hansen, shot by Mike Reinhardt.

9/79 Studio 54 shots by Patrick Demarchelier.

10/79 Paris Collection shots.

11/79 Special Diane von Fürstenberg ads by Chris von Wangenheim.

2/80 Shot of Gia watering a plant by Denis Piel.

3/80 Editorial precursors to Versace ads by Richard Avedon.

5/80 Francesco Scuvallo shots with Kim Alexis from St. Barts.

7/80 Scavullo's favorite shot of Gia.

8/80 Cover and editorial by Richard Avedon.

11/80 Infamous track-mark editorial by Francesco Scavullo.

9/82 Last Vogue Shot.

Glamour

6/79

8/79

British Vogue

4/79 Cover and editorial photographed by Alex Chatelain.

French Vogue

3/79 Famous cross-dressing editorial by Helmut Newton.

4/79 Cover by Helmut Newton.

9/79 Christian Dior Boutique ads by Denis Piel.

8/80 Cover by Albert Watson.

Italian Vogue

3/79 Editorial by Francois Lamy.

1, 2, 3/80 Armani ads by Fallai on the back covers.

4/80 Gia in a group Armani ad by Fallai.

5/80 Versace ads by Richard Avedon.

2/81 Cover.

German Vogue

10/79 Piel collection shots, outakes from American Vogue.

4/80 Florida Shots by John Stember.

12/83, Leder+Pelz supplement Gia's last appearance in a fashion magazine. 2 pages by Albert Watson.

American Harper's Bazaar

8/79

9/79

10/79

11/79

American Cosmopolitan

4/79 Cover by Francesco Scavullo.

7/79 Cover by Francesco Scavullo.

1/80 Cover by Francesco Scavullo.

7/80 Cover by Francesco Scavullo.

4/82 Cover, the gift from Francesco Scuvallo.

Italian Harpers Bazaar.

7-8/78 (double issue) Citicorp building editorial by Chris von Wangenheim.

9/78 Rome and Paris collections with Kim Alexis and Juli Foster. Photographs by Patrick Demarchelier and Chris von Wangenheim.

Designers and cosmetic firms she represented

External links

[1] Gia Carangi: A Biography

[2] Gia Carangi: A Biography

[1]

[2]