Career

Murphy kicked off her career in 1995 when she signed an exclusive contract with Prada for their advertising campaign. She has since fronted campaigns for Blumarine, DKNY, D&G, Tom Ford, Céline, Versace, Versus, Gucci, Fendi, Karl Lagerfeld, Dolce & Gabbana, Iceburg, Trussardi, Roberto Cavalli, Calvin Klein, CK, and Ralph Lauren. 

She has also been featured in ads for Masimo Dutti, Missoni, Anne Klein, GAP, Jones and Banana Republic. Carolyn was the “first face” of Harry Winston jewelry advertising and has done the Pirelli Calendar three times. 

Carolyn has recently been in ads for Louis Vuitton, Max Mara, Oscar de la Renta, Alberta Ferretti, Miu Miu, Mango, Tiffany’s and Ferragamo. 

Perhaps most notably, Murphy became a spokesmodel for Estée Lauder in 2001, signing one of the most lucrative cosmetics contracts. In her almost 20 year tenure for the brand, she has been featured in ads for their iconic perfumes, Pleasures and Beautiful, Advanced Night Repair and Renutriv. Carolyn holds the longest running cosmetic contract in the industry and is currently the face for Resilience, Perfectionist and Double Wear. 

Murphy has graced seven covers of American Vogue, a dozen French Vogue covers and six Italian Vogue. She has worked with a host of the foremost image-makers, including the late Irving Penn, Helmut Newton and Peter Lindbergh.

As a testament to her meteoric rise in the late 90’s, she was presented on the cover of Vogue in November 1999 as a Modern Muse and was named “The Millennial Supermodel”. Newsweek magazine ranked her number 5 in its “Top Ten Supermodels”, calling her “The Professional”. Murphy received the Model of the Year VH1 Vogue Fashion Award in 1999.

In 1998 the director Barry Levinson chose Carolyn to play the role of “Dubbie” in his film “Liberty Heights” alongside Adrien Brody. She and her co-star, Justin Chambers, were in Calvin Klein’s ‘Contradiction’ perfume ads together. 

She has also covered magazines such as TIME, W Magazine, Italian Vogue, Paris Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Glamour, Allure, Marie Claire, MUSE, LUI, Town And Country, Porter Edit and WSJ Magazine. 

In 2005 Carolyn landed the cover of the coveted Sport’s Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and again in 2006 as a part of the magazines “all-star supermodel” lineup.

Steven Meisel chose Murphy as one of his muses for “The Godfather” article in American Vogue in 2009. Meisel also put her on the cover of Vogue Italia’s “Multifaceted Women” issue in 2012, as well as the “Holiday Issue” in 2014, and again for their December 50th Anniversary September issue 2014.

Carolyn has recently been on the cover of WSJ Magazine, German Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Porter EDIT and French ELLE ; although “retired  from runway” she has recently walked in shows for Michael Kors, Ferragammo and Ralph Lauren.