"Gia Carangi, the former covergirl heroin addict who died of AIDS in 1986, was blacklisted from modeling because fashion editors discovered track marks on her body. Carangi, who once graced the cover of Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan, was the top model of the late 1970's. She redefined the fashion industry's standard of beauty. Fashion editors decided not to use her anymore because of her turbulent lifestyle. Carangi was soon reduced to turning tricks on the streets of New York and Atlantic City. At twenty six, Carangi became one of the first women in America to die of AIDS. 'Gia's handlers spent hours trying to help her cover up the track marks on her body, ' says Elyssa Stewart, a former lover of Carangi. ' The problem was that her people were more interested in hiding the marks than helping her personally. Gia was by far the most interesting and provocative model of her time. At first fashion editors knew about all the drugs she was doing but they didn't care. In fact, at one shoot for a major magazine one of the editors supplied Gia with a bag of cocaine and some heroin right on the set. It's only when word leaked out that she might be HIV positive that the editors used her drug habit as an excuse to blackball her.'

"According to Stewart, Carangi is the reason why so many models today shoot heroin under their toenails or tongue, where track marks cannot be detected. Some have lost toenails to infection, some have blinded themselves by injecting heroin into their eye. ' A lot of the agents, who care more about making a buck than anything else, warn their models that if they do heroin they should inject it in careful places, ' Stewart says. ' They tell the young models the stories about Gia and how she was blackballed. They warn them to be careful not to become the next Gia.'

"Carangi grew up in Philadelphia. She was a favorite model of top fashion photographers Arthur Elgort, Francesco Scavullo and Helmut Newton. Carangi was renowned for dressing in men's clothes and wearing no makeup. Her rebellious "take no shit" attitude took the fashion industry by storm. 'If Gia would have spent more time in the beginning using makeup to cover up the marks nobody would have put up a fuss, ' Elyssa Stewart says. 'But she hated makeup. She wanted to do things her way. In the end when she allowed her handlers to use makeup to cover up her marks it was too late. She was already considered untouchable."

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