Who finds sexy fashion models?

This page examines the sexiness of some top-ranked “sexy” fashion models. For reasons explained shortly, the masculinity-femininity of physical appearance will be the main focus here. Readers not familiar with the subtlety of masculinity-femininity should go through the feminine vs. masculine page before proceeding.

As of October, 2005, Models.com had rank-ordered the top-25 sexy female models, based on prominence and impact factor, as follows: 1) Heidi Klum, 2) Gisele Bundchen, 3) Adriana Lima, 4) Tyra Banks, 5) Karolina Kurkova, 6) Alessandra Ambrosio, 7) Isabeli Fontana, 8) Yamila Diaz-Rahi, 9) Ana Beatriz Barros, 10) Natalia Vodianova, 11) Carolyn Murphy, 12) Naomi Campbell, 13) Noemie Lenoir, 14) Marisa Miller, 15) Fernanda Tavares, 16) Daria Werbowy, 17) Veronica Varekova, 18) Kate Moss, 19) Fernanda Motta, 20) Josie Moran, 21) Angela Lindvall, 22) Bridget Hall, 23) Brenda Costa, 24) Mallory of “MTV Real world” fame and 25) Carla Campbell.
The italicized names are those of women of non-European ancestry and/or women with substantial non-European admixture; these women are excluded from the discussion for three major reasons: 1) there is an overlap between trait variation related to ethnicity and trait variation related to masculinization-feminization, and an ethnicity confound will unnecessarily complicate analysis; 2) facial features across different populations can be markedly different, which prevents the application of exacting standards in comparing attractiveness/sex appeal and 3) the non-European ancestry of the women with italicized names is heterogeneous. Mallory of “MTV Real world” fame is clearly the odd entry since her inclusion is obviously a result of her fame, which is not due to her looks, whereas the other models are famous for their looks. Therefore, Mallory is not addressed on this page, but her looks are addressed elsewhere; see the addendum below.