Cindy Crawford, the woman and the mole, celebrates her 55th birthday

Sorry, who is this? Cindy Crawford – the supermodel, one of the opening five of all time, the cover queen of fashion magazines, and the most famous mole in the world (even more than the one who disappeared from Ehud Barak’s face) – is celebrating her 55th birthday.

Back then, between the 80s and 90s, she was the face of the modeling industry. Together with her crown friends – Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer, she has dominated the fashion world. It happened at that moment in history when the Super Models took the lead from the designers and turned themselves from piano into composer.

Although Linda Evangelista is the one who took ownership of the famous lawsuit that she did not get out of bed in the morning for less than ten thousand dollars, it was Cindy Crawford who counted the money. In the glamorous quintet, she is the one who settled on the “Neighbor’s Daughter” slot. She had what used to be called “simple beauty” at the time, but as in the movies, the neighbor’s daughter is the one who wins the whole box office (in the guy, in the money and in the audience’s love) against the background of the ending titles. Indeed, in 1995 she was crowned as the most profitable model in the world.

Why an icon? Crawford holds a biography of the most predictable and farcical kind: the beautiful little girl from the small town who is discovered – by chance, of course – by a local photographer, moves to the big city, fights temptations, conquers and is conquered, and becomes a character everyone knows. At least it spared her the Hollywood sequel to The Great Fall, Drug Addiction, and Premature Death. On the contrary – she was able to leverage her success, made a lot of money, knew when to retire and created a successful next generation at least-as-a-mother.

She has worked with the best fashion photographers, appeared on every possible cover of a reputed fashion magazine, posed for “Playboy” (twice), starred in George Michael’s iconic music video for the song Freedom 90 and shied away from scandals. To this day, when one says “beauty of every American” one usually imagines it with a mole over the mouth. Cindy Crawford saw herself as a brand of American beauty, and on the way there she made no mistake (well, well, other than starring in two particularly failed films).

And there is also an Israeli angle, of course – in 1992 Crawford was photographed in Israel for a Vogue production, hugged in the arms of a knotted Israeli model-officer who turned out to be Arik Ben Zino, who later became the owner of the July agency.

Crawford was a diligent model, who worked hard and hard, and crowned herself on the American consciousness as representing beauty that was easy to like. She achieved this status in an age where you could not trust an Instagram page to do the work for you. Presumably this is indicative of the materials from which he winks, which are probably different from those that make up Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid today.

Adolescence does not skip super models either, only that they make this process a little better, a little less wrinkled, and a lot thinner. So Crawford underwent surgery here and there, and Botox was no stranger to her either, but she learned not to turn her face into a plastic mask, as many of her peers in the profession and age did.

Crawford herself confessed this month in an interview with Red Magazine that in her youth she was upset to find out that Kate Moss was eating a hamburger and fries while she was forced to starve in favor of the figurine. In general, the life of the supermodel, it turns out, was not a pleasure trip for her in the Seychelles, and also included considerable pressure to be photographed in a way she saw as “inappropriate”. However, in the nude photos for “Playboy”, she was careful to note, she actually felt comfortable and in control.

“When we grow up,” she says in an interview, “you understand who we are, and on the other hand – the things you are used to seeing in your body are no longer where you remembered. The insecurity and flaws are what make us human.” This is the insight into dessert with which she comforts us mortals, who at no age have we looked, even a drop, like Cindy Crawford.

Why not? After a rather brief and rather puzzling episode of marriage to Richard Gere, Crawford married Randy Gerber, also a former model, and together they are raising their children Kaya and Presley, also models. This wonderful genetics incubator is really a little too much of what we, the representatives of pale and simple-looking humanity, are supposed to bear.

Yet: Crawford’s unpainted image from a lingerie campaign leaked to Twitter about five years ago is proof that age is not missed by anyone, and also that cellulite and a loose stomach can look wonderful (at least if they belong to Cindy Crawford).

The world of glamor usually receives critical and suspicious treatment from me (and I also sometimes see myself as the disgruntled adult), but I must admit that it has sides that excite me over and over again. The “One Icon a Week” initiative combines three of my great loves – illustration, fashion and curiosity, or even obsession, with the lives of celebrities.

Each week I will choose one character who for me deserves a title that requires a “fashion icon”, local or international, which I will air and share here. Feel free to make your own suggestions for illustration icons, or argue with my choices.