'America's Next Top Model' Groomed a Generation

"Models are born, not made, to tweak Simone de Beauvoir's famous saying. Every once in a blue moon, a human being arrives on Earth as a freak accident of genetic alchemy, gifted with bone structure, height, and the uncanny positioning of features that registers to other humans as beauty. When they grow up (some barely), models have to be distinctive enough to be recognizable but bland enough to be chameleonic, a canvas for constant reinvention."

"The idea that a normal person could work to transform themselves into a model is preposterous, like spinning straw into gold. But, for much of the 2000s, reality television insisted that this was possible, never with more fervor, ruthlessness, and capitalist commitment than on America's Next Top Model."

"To Tyra Banks-a bona fide supermodel with a career spanning runway shows, Vogue, and guest stints on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air-the formula seemed obvious. "I wanna marry American Idol and The Real World and set it in the modeling industry" is how she recalls things now, on the new Netflix series Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model."

Modeling traditionally requires rare genetic gifts—specific bone structure, height, and facial feature positioning—that cannot be acquired through effort. Models must balance distinctiveness with versatility, appearing assertive while remaining compliant to serve as canvases for designers and photographers. Reality television in the 2000s challenged this premise, particularly through America's Next Top Model, which launched in 2003. Creator Tyra Banks, herself a supermodel, combined the talent-discovery format of American Idol with the interpersonal drama of The Real World, transplanting the concept into the modeling industry. The show suggested that ordinary people could achieve modeling success through competition and transformation, despite the fundamental contradiction that modeling success depends on innate physical characteristics rather than acquired skills.

Read at The Atlantic