The age of the supermodel is over, according to Claudia Schiffer.

The original supermodels: From left to right: Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford,
Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington

The 37-year-old beauty believes models can no longer achieve the kind of global celebrity she, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford enjoyed in the 1990s.

These days, singers and actresses are as likely to grace the covers of glossy magazines, preventing models from reaching star status, Miss Schiffer told an interviewer in her native Germany.

Claudia Schiffer: one of the five original supermodels, says the current generation of models are not major celebrities

"In order to become a supermodel one must be on all the covers all over the world at the same time so that people can recognise the girls.

"That is, for now, not possible, not least because the advertising industry is very much taken nowadays by popstars and actresses. Supermodels like we once were don't exist any more."

There are so many beautiful models around, it is almost impossible for a handful to become real celebrities, Miss Schiffer added in the magazine Fivetonine.

The model, who has a home in Suffolk-added: "I can remember when I needed four bodyguards to get backstage from a Chanel show just to my car. And that wasn't only me. It just isn't like this any more." 

Gisele Bundchen: the only model that Claudia Schiffer currently acknowledges is a superstar

Miss Schiffer believes the Brazilian Gisele Bundchen is one of the few women to have supermodel status today.

"Her face is well known, her name is recognised - but no other girl occurs to me that people in the street would recognise," she said.

Claudia, who lives in the UK, has previously hit out at the trend towards super-thin models.

She told the magazine she was glad that their day in the spotlight seems to be receding towards a trend of "glamour and opulence."

She added. "I think and hope that there is a change in the scene, where glamour returns after heroin-chic and discusions about Anorexia.

"Current photo stories in magazines suggest it is going in this direction. Certainly the things I have done recently have been unusually glamorous and beautiful.

"Perhaps this new development can cause a revival of the supermodel as we embodied the image of beauty in the 90's."

She is happy to be working again with Karl Lagerfeld, the genius of Chanel, on a new ad campaign for champagne.