The Ultimate Contract

"My face is slightly lopsided," says Model Lauren Hutton, 28. Since 1966, that face has been on the cover of Vogue 17 times, making Hutton one of the hot test models in the fashion world. It has also led to a minicareer in films (Paper Lion, Little Fauss and Big Halsey). Now Hutton has signed a contract with Manhattan's Charles Revson Inc. that will make her one of the highest-paid women in U.S. business. Over the next two years, she will collect just under $200,000 to be in all the magazine ads and television commercials for the high-priced Charles Revson/Ultima II line of eye makeups and skin creams; she will also make promotional appearances and speak at meetings of the company's sales people. The more than $2,000,000 campaign goes into high gear next month.

Unprecedented in terms of the sum paid to the model, the deal prohibits Hutton from appearing in other ads. She is not unhappy about that because it will give her more free time to pursue her hobby of flying to faraway places to observe bats. Chairman Revson, who also heads Revlon Inc., picked Hutton for the job and hired Richard Avedon to photograph the ads. Revson figures that Hutton's slightly imperfect features−she says she has cross-eyes and a banana-shaped nose−will help boost Ultima's sales, because "she's a fantasy in a way, but she's a fantasy in the reach of our customers."