Heidi Klum Still Dazzles and Wows on Her 45th Birthday

On the occasion of her 45th birthday, Heidi Klum took a trip down memory lane on her Instagram, posting some early photos of her career as well as other random shots through the years.

The German fashion designer, model and reality TV personality—who returned to the airwaves this week for the premiere of America’s Got Talent—started her career at age 18 by beating out 25,000 contestants in the “Model 92” beauty contest to win a lucrative contract with Metropolitan Models in New York City.

Here’s how that went down:

(1 of 4) This is how it all began for me in 1992. In one week, let’s see how it will begin for one lucky girl. Watch the new season of #GNTM next Thursday, February 8th @prosieben ? cut by @sugarcamp_films

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“I won $300,000. I was 18 years old. I had no idea how much $300,000 was to be quite honest with you,” Klum said of her win. “Everyone else got a car. I was kind of looking at them. I’m like, ‘I wish I would have gotten the car.’”

The look Klum went with on the show is quite different from the one she went with during a photo shoot that must have happened around the same time.

Wow! Check out this picture from 1992. One of my very first photo shoots. This is my original hair color! http://t.co/ezDoaI5b

— Heidi Klum (@heidiklum) April 19, 2012

Looking at that picture it’s obvious that Klum, in addition to accomplishing a lot since ‘92 including releasing her own lingerie line, beating Jimmy Kimmel in a dance-off and making a Maxim cover for the first time, has also made substantial changes to her style since walking her first runway.

For example, here’s how she looked in 1998 …

Heidi Klum during 1998 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Press Conference at Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)

WireImage

And 2001 …

Laureus co-host and model Heidi Klum at the Laureus Night of Sport and Film in Monaco on May 21, 2001. (Clive Mason/ALLSPORT)

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and 2003 …

Heidi Klum in Hamburg, Germany, November 27, 2003. (Photo by Nadine Rupp/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Bongarts/Getty Images

And 2005 …

German top model Heidi Klum is seen on stage during the final draw of the Fifa World Cup 2006 in Leipzig, Germany, December 2005. (FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

We know when those photos were snapped, but are a little less clear about when these shots, which Klum labeled Blast From the Past on her Instagram, were taken. But, then again, does it matter?

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Looking at those pictures, it’s hard to imagine Klum had trouble breaking into modeling. “I wasn’t really tall enough, skinny enough, and my face wasn’t unusual enough,” she once said of her early career. “I was a little bit too girl next door.”

Even if that was once the case, which we doubt, it certainly no longer is. To see for yourself, here some pictures of Heidi in 2017 and ’18 that prove it.

Heidi Klum arrives for the 59th Grammy Awards on February 12, 2017, in Los Angeles, California. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

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Heidi Klum attends a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers at Staples Center on November 15, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)

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