The enigma surrounding one of the most iconic album covers of the 1980s has finally been solved. For over four decades, fans have speculated about the identity of the woman who inspired Patrick Nagel’s artwork for Duran Duran’s “Rio.” The mystery muse has now been identified as model Marcie Hunt.
The revelation came through an Instagram post by Monica Moynihan, a historian and art broker specializing in Patrick Nagel’s work. Moynihan credited the fan account @nagel_angel for the discovery, noting that the reference photo for the album cover was sourced from a 1981 issue of Vogue Paris.
“Patrick Nagel fans, today we publicly reveal Duran Duran’s Rio May 1982 album cover image source from Vogue Paris, February 1981,” Moynihan wrote. Duran Duran themselves joined in the celebration by reposting the announcement.
Marcie Hunt, who had retired from modeling to lead a more private life, was as surprised as anyone. She commented on Duran Duran’s repost, expressing her excitement and disbelief. “This is so cool! I absolutely did not know until now that this photo of me was used for the Rio cover,” she wrote. “Very exciting! Love Duran Duran, and danced to their music often in the 80s…and later at my wedding.”
In her own Instagram post, Hunt extended her gratitude to Patrick Nagel, who passed away in 1984, and his technical assistant Barry Hahn, who confirmed that the cover and smile were inspired by her photo.
This year, Duran Duran has been active on the festival circuit, promoting their 2023 album. They have performed at events like Cruel World and are set to appear at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July.
The big reveal was orchestrated by Monica Moynihan, who runs the definitive Patrick Nagel Arts website and Instagram. The actual detective work was done by Mark Walker, known as @nagel_angel on Instagram. Walker spent considerable time and money tracking down the original photo, which he found in a multi-page editorial spread for Angelo Tarlazzi in the February 1981 issue of Vogue Paris.
Walker described his moment of discovery on Instagram, saying, “I saw that smile. I saw those eyes, those eyes that I’d stared at hundreds of times by this point in my life, hundreds if not thousands of times. I’ve been entranced by this magical woman for over 40 years. I knew it was her.”
Another fan, Sarah Bastos, helped identify the model as Marcie Hunt. Barry Hahn, Nagel’s technical assistant, confirmed that the Tarlazzi photograph of Hunt was indeed the reference used by Nagel. Hunt was wearing a paisley blouse, graphic cat-eye spectacles, and a wide-brimmed fedora in the photo, but her inviting, toothy grin made her instantly recognizable.
According to Annie Zaleski’s book about the Rio album, Duran Duran’s co-manager Paul Berrow was captivated by Nagel’s work in Playboy and commissioned him to create two covers for the band’s breakthrough LP. The band members instantly fell in love with the second image, a bare-shouldered woman with an alluring smile, which became the iconic cover.
Renowned graphic designer Malcolm Garrett added design elements and typefaces to evoke the vintage vacation vibes of 1950s cigar boxes. “We all looked back and smiled at the girl,” Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes recalled. “It just seemed to represent everything we wanted at that point. It was uplifting. It was fun. It was modern, and colorful, and bright, and optimistic, but with something in it that you just didn’t know what was going on.”
The artwork captivated music fans of the early-MTV generation, promising champagne-fueled, jet-setting adventures. The glamour girls in Nagel’s artwork seemed to come to life in Duran Duran’s tropical music videos. The band’s videos often featured strong, self-assured women, a welcome contrast to the usual video vixens of the time.
“The women [in our videos] were manipulating us! In ‘Rio’ or ‘Hungry Like the Wolf,’ we’re chasing them. They’re the ones with the power,” John Taylor explained in a 2022 interview celebrating the album’s 40th anniversary. “They’re on the pedestal — as it should be.”
The reason it took so long to identify the real Rio is partly due to Nagel’s reclusive nature and his untimely death at age 38. Hunt retired from modeling and now leads a more private life, running the Dos Lagos Vineyards winery in Napa with her husband.
Duran Duran expressed their surprise at the news, stating on Instagram, “WOW!… We suspect the model and maybe the band Duran Duran had no idea Nagel was influenced and used this image to create the cover of their musical masterpiece, Rio. He certainly changed many things, most specifically removing her glasses, but he obviously loved her smile. And that smile has been an iconic piece of Duran Duran history for decades.”
The identification of Marcie Hunt as the Rio cover model has brought a sense of closure to a long-standing mystery, adding another layer of intrigue to the band’s storied history.
