Considered to be the first supermodel, Gia Carangi was on the cover of fashion magazines, including multiple editions of Vogue and Cosmopolitan.

She appeared in advertising campaigns for such fashion houses as Armani, Christian Dior, Versace, and Yves Saint Laurent. After she became addicted to heroin, Carangi’s modeling career rapidly declined.

Carangi was drawn to David Bowie for his fashion preferences and his ambiguous gender play and outspoken bisexuality. A regular at Studio 54 and the Mudd Club, Carangi usually used cocaine in clubs.

After her agent and mentor died of lung cancer a devastated Carangi began abusing drugs and developed an addiction to heroin.

Carangi’s addiction soon began to affect her work; she had violent temper tantrums, walked out of photo shoots to buy drugs, and fell asleep in front of the camera.

What she was doing to herself finally became apparent in her pictures. … I could see the change in her beauty. There was an emptiness in her eyes. By the end she had only a few clients that were willing to hire her.

Carangi spent the final three years of her life with various lovers, friends, and family members.

She got a job in a clothing store, which she eventually quit and found employment as a checkout clerk and in the cafeteria of a nursing home.

Carangi died of AIDS-related complications on November 18, 1986, at the age of 26. No one from the fashion World attended, mainly because no one knew about her death until months after she had died.

That vulnerability, that sensitivity. She was a little girl, she was a little lost child, confused in many ways.

Say something, I’m giving up on you
I’ll be the one if you want me to
Anywhere I would’ve followed you
Say something, I’m giving up on you

And I … am feeling so small
It was over my head
I know nothing at all
And I … will stumble and fall
I’m still learning to love
Just starting to crawl

Say something, I’m giving up on you
I’m sorry that I couldn’t get to you
Anywhere I would’ve followed you
Say something, I’m giving up on you

And I … will swallow my pride
You’re the one that I love
And I’m saying goodbye

Say something, I’m giving up on you
And I’m sorry that I couldn’t get to you
And anywhere I would’ve followed you
Say something, I’m giving up on you

Say something, I’m giving up on you
Say something …