German supermodel Claudia Schiffer initially planned to be a lawyer like her father. All that changed in 1987 when the 17-year-old was discovered in a Dusseldorf disco by a modeling agent who invited her to go to Paris for a trial shoot. Shortly after, fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth shot Claudia for the cover of "Elle." Just a few years later, she appeared at the Chanel show in 1990.

Success came rapidly for the newbie model. Von Unwerth photographed Claudia for a Guess jeans campaign and in 1988, top designer Karl Lagerfeld (left) declared her to be his muse, also making her the new face of Chanel. Her bright blue eyes shone out from the covers of all the top fashion magazines, and she walked global runways for designers such as Versace, Valentino and Dolce & Gabbana.

In the 1990s, Claudia (right) was earning around $10 million per year. It was the apex of the supermodel era, a decadent decade filled with alcohol, astronomical fees and first-name global fame. But Claudia's reputation within the industry was one of discipline and standoffishness. "Maybe I should have had a glass of champagne now and then," she told German newspaper "Süddeutsche Zeitung" in 2014.

In 1993, the then 23-year-old met star magician David Copperfield (right) at a gala in Berlin and became engaged in 1994. Claudia even appeared in some of Copperfield's stage acts. However, after a few years the magic faded from their romance; in 1997, they announced their split, citing incompatible work schedules. There were rumors that the romance was not real, but just a business relationship.

Claudia continued a full-steam modeling career into the early 2000s. But her priorities shifted after marrying film director Matthew Vaughn in 2002 and starting a family. She scaled back her work to spend time with her husband and their three children: Caspar (left), Clementine (right) and Cosima (not pictured).

The Rheinberg-born model made her home in London, where she appeared on a series of 2006 tube ads highlighting German investment (above). Her project portfolio diversified in the new millennium: She launched a cashmere collection in 2011, as well as designed a series of glasses frames for the German eyewear company Rodenstock. She also appeared in a minor role in the hit movie "Love Actually."

In August 2017, Prestel Verlag published a commemorative book of photos and text tributes from the photographers and designers who have worked with the supermodel. Here, the cover photograph of the book she is signing shows the mother of three in a nude photo by Mario Testino for "Vogue" in Paris in 2007.

Lagerfeld had an inestimable impact on the career of Claudia Schiffer (far right on this picture). "Karl was my magic dust, he transformed me from a shy German girl" into one of the world's most famous top models in the 1990s, she said. "What Warhol was to art, he was to fashion; he is irreplaceable," she wrote on her Instagram account in tribute to her legendary mentor.

Lagerfeld saw her as the archetype of "the Parisienne." One of his earliest and most iconic muses, French model Ines de la Fressange (right) was the first to sign an exclusive contract with Chanel, in 1983. "He was the opposite of the great couturier who had to suffer to create. He did nothing but work yet he refused to make it look like work," she told press agency AFP after his death.

Lagerfeld felt the androgynous elegance of British model Stella Tennant perfectly reflected the spirit of Coco Chanel, and Tennant became another one of his muses. He described her as "the face and attitude of our times. She does not correspond to the glamour of the '90s. She is truly a beauty for the end of the century."

He initially worked at a helicopter manufacturing company before becoming a model — and Lagerfeld's muse. If Giabiconi (left) is now one of the world's top male models, it's thanks to his "guardian angel," as he described the designer on Instagram after his death. "Today I lost a part of me, a pygmalion, a father, a landmark."

The daughter of French star Vanessa Paradis — another one of Lagerfeld's muses — and actor Johnny Depp became a Chanel ambassador in 2015, just like her mother did in 1991. "Words can't express how much your belief in me has impacted every aspect of my life," she wrote on Instagram. "The world will never know another force like you."

Another one who is following her famous mother's catwalk footsteps, Cindy Crawford's daughter, Kaia Gerber, was only 16 when Lagerfeld first hired her to walk for Chanel. "My dearest Karl, you have taught me things that I am eternally grateful for," she wrote on Twitter. "The world is more beautiful now because of you."

Lagerfeld saw English model Cara Delevingne as the Charlie Chaplin of the fashion world. "She is a kind of genius, like a character out of a silent movie," he said. Her tribute on Instagram also expressed how he changed her life: "He believed in me when so many others didn’t including myself […] He is a visionary, a genius but more than that.... a dear friend."

The Canadian model (at Lagerfeld's left, along with Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer) began working with the Chanel designer in 1985, and became one of the most influential models of all time. Lagerfeld once said of her, "There is not another model in the world as professional as she is." After his death, she posted a picture of them together, and simply wrote: "Great love of my life."