Taylor, Niki

Niki Taylor, in full Nicole Renée Taylor, (born March 5, 1975, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., U.S.), American fashion model best known as a face of the cosmetics company CoverGirl. She was the sister of model Krissy Taylor (1978–95). Taylor walked the runways for the world’s top fashion houses, including Chanel and Givenchy, and was featured on more than 400 magazine covers.

Taylor was raised with her two sisters in Pembroke Pines, near Fort Lauderdale, where the family relocated in 1987. Her father was a state patrol officer. In 1988 Taylor’s mother sent pictures of then 13-year-old Taylor to local modeling agencies, and Taylor promptly signed for professional representation with Irene Marie Models (1983–2009). Taylor soon began doing catalog work and subsequently won a Fresh Faces modeling competition in New York City, securing a $500,000 modeling contract. At age 14 she appeared on the cover of the pivotal back-to-school issue of the leading teen magazine, Seventeen (August 1989), and she was subsequently featured with then fledgling model Krissy (March 1990). The two were thereafter often booked together for various modeling assignments to positive reviews.

Initially marketed as “Baby Cindy” because of her resemblance to top model Cindy Crawford, Taylor quickly began acquiring high-profile assignments. In 1991 she made her runway debut at Paris Fashion Week—one of the industry’s four major semiannual events—and was named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People.” Taylor subsequently founded her own company, Niki Inc., to manage her career and in 1992 signed for professional representation with IMG Models—one of the world’s top modeling agencies. In the same year, at age 16, Taylor signed a two-year contract as the new face of the cosmetics company L’Oréal, becoming the youngest model to ever secure a multimillion-dollar deal.

Taylor enhanced her international recognition when she appeared on the cover of the 100th-anniversary issue of the leading fashion magazine, Vogue (April 1992), alongside the year’s top models, including Naomi Campbell, Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Yasmeen Ghauri, Elaine Irwin, Karen Mulder, Tatjana Patitz, Claudia Schiffer, and Christy Turlington. In the same year, at age 17, she was chosen as the new face of CoverGirl, becoming not only the youngest spokesmodel in the company’s history but also the youngest model to sign an exclusive contract with the company, thereby propelling her to the status of “supermodel”—a top fashion model who appears simultaneously on the covers of the world’s leading fashion magazines and is globally recognized by first name only.

As the supermodel phenomenon began to rise, Taylor was at the forefront of a small group of models—known in the industry as “the supers”—who became worldwide celebrities, increasingly dominating both the high-fashion runways and the global media. American singer RuPaul captured the phenomenon in the 1993 hit song aptly titled “Supermodel,” which mentioned the year’s top models—including Taylor—by first name only.

Taylor was featured in the fashion documentaries Unzipped (1995) and Catwalk (1996). In May 1996 she appeared on the covers of an unprecedented six leading fashion, beauty, and fitness magazines—Allure, Elle, Marie Claire, Self, Shape, and Vogue—thereafter known as the “Niki Six.”

In 2000, following the end of the supermodel era, Taylor launched a signature clothing line, but the brand was discontinued the following year after Taylor was critically injured in an automobile accident, which rendered her unconscious for several weeks and required her to undergo more than 55 surgeries as well as extensive physical rehabilitation. In 2002 she was featured in the country singer Keith Urban’s “Somebody Like You” music video. The following year Taylor founded her own company, Begin Enterprises, Inc., and she subsequently launched a series of ventures that included a fragrance line, a clothing boutique, and a charitable arm, the Begin Foundation for the Advancement of Women in Business. In 2008 she cohosted—with fellow model Tyson Beckford—the reality television show Make Me a Supermodel (2008–09). Taylor was featured in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition “The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion” (2009), which showcased the models who epitomized fashion during the 20th century.