It used to be Selena Gomez. Whenever I looked at Selena Gomez’s photos, I felt so old, because she always looked so freakin’ young to me. Nowadays, it’s Kaia Gerber’s babyface that makes me feel old. To be fair, Kaia Gerber IS a baby. She’s only 15 years old, for goodness sake. She should be worrying about trigonometry and PSATs! But here she is, on the cover of Teen Vogue, because we are all so very old now. Kaia has been working as a model steadily for about a year and a half, including a Vogue Paris cover and a modeling gig as the face of Marc Jacobs Beauty. All of which reminds me of that great Absolutely Fabulous line: “If the models get any younger, Pats, they’ll be chucking foetuses down the catwalk!” That’s where we are now. As for the editorial… I’m calling it “Good Genes, Bad Jeans.” Kaia has great genes and horrible jeans. Some highlights from the interview:
She had a grounded childhood: “I think it was only on my eighth birthday, at Disneyland, that I started to understand what was going on. I wanted to take pictures with the princesses, and everyone wanted to take pictures with her!”
She loves chocolate: “It was even my first word!”
Family time: “As my brother and I get older and busier, I really cherish the time we spend together. Every summer we go to our house in Canada; it’s our tradition. It’s on the lake, and we go for four or five weeks. There’s no Wi-Fi, so I stay off social media.”
Social media: “I try to take breaks. Everyone expects you to be on it all the time, but social media is just everyone’s best version of themselves. I try and give people a truer depiction of who I am,” she says.
Her close-knit group of friends: “My parents have always taught me to be myself and to follow my instincts. They also say that you should never let what other people do affect what you want to do. It changes everything when you accept who you are and you don’t try to change yourself.”
She feels a responsibility to be a good role model to young girls: “It is so key to me to be a good role model for young girls and someone their mom would want them to look up to. I now reach so many people, and it’s hard for them to know what is real. I don’t take any platform I have lightly. It’s so important to send a good message.”
She loves Karlie Kloss: “I really look up to Karlie. She’s broken all the rules of what a model should be and uses her platform to benefit others. Plus we’ve met a bunch of times, and she’s one of the nicest people ever. All my icons I look up to as people, not just their work. ‘Iconic’ is not a word I use lightly. You have to earn it.”
When I started paying attention to models, the big-shouldered supermodel era was sort of on the down swing and it was the rise of Kate Moss and waif models. Still, I used to enjoy reading about the Amazon Supermodel days, with Cindy, Linda, Christy, Naomi, and I would put Claudia and Stephanie in there too. You know what this reminded me of? That I always sort of disliked Christy because she was so obviously the goody-two-shoes of the group. The other models adored her, of course, but she always seemed so bland compared to the vivacity and drama of the others. Come to think of it, Cindy had some bland moments too, but she made up for it by marrying and divorcing Richard Gere and all of that. Anyway, I bet that Kaia will end up the Christy of the nepotism models: the goody-two-shoes.
Photos courtesy of Teen Vogue.
In UNZIPPED, Cindy Crawford was the only one I liked. She was professional, down to earth and did her job. The others were kind of silly and sometimes rude. It doesn’t surprise me her daughter is poised and responsible. Still a fun movie, though the Mizrahi clothes haven’t aged well.
That said, Kaia is pretty but she’s no Cindy Crawford.
Exactly. You can tell Kaia and Cindy are related but Cindy has the It factor that Kaia will never have. I still remember that Pepsi commercial with Cindy. Even as a kid my jaw dropped she was so beautiful.
Well she’s still a baby. And Cindy had a rounder baby face when she first started too. I assume by the time she’s 18 or 20, she’ll be a full blown bombshell.
Good luck to her. It seems she was raised right. Or her publicist is putting all the right words in her mouth. Go to college though, Kaia. Go to college.
No she doesn’t and Cindy should know better. She is pretty but flat.
Cindy’s son is the one who looks like her and has the IT factor. He was trying to get into photography but I think he’s modeling now.
I don’t think she’s tall enough for the big modeling jobs. Her mother is 5’9″ and Kaia is shorter, probably around 5’7″ although I don’t know for sure. She could do a lot of product modeling. They make them look stunning in those photos.
I see absolutely nothing about this girl that millions of 15 year olds can’t outdo. Her looks are good, as millions of other young girls,
The kicker, these other girls are not being tweeted or manipulated by make-up artists and photoshop.
Agreed. She’s a cute girl, like Selena Gomez or something, but are we supposed to honestly compare her to her mother? Yeah, no.
yeah, she’s cute.. not her mom, she won’t even be a model if not the daughter of an icon.
Even that top photo shows she has some not-so-flattering angles. Very pretty, but not supermodel material.
And no 15-year-old, model or not, should be hung up on being a role model to anyone. Far too young. And honestly, what are models supposed to be role models of?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX5sMoXB1Xv/?taken-by=kaiagerber
This video shows she’s not great modelling material, even though she’s very pretty.
@coco
Pretty 15 year girls are a dime a dozen. This girl has nothing special.
I have always thought she look pretty regular in the face. Not that that’s a bad thing. She’s beautiful, but I feel I’ve seen girls like her before and if her mom weren’t Cindy Crawford she wouldn’t be a model.
I think she looks just like her mother.
But she is not as tall, and Cindy was on the shorter side for models – only about 5’9″.
Is Kaia tall enough for all the hype?
Loving chocolate is not news or worth writing about. I’d even venture to say that, with very few exceptions such as Malala, what a 15 year old has to say is really just a waste of paper except for her or his friends and family. If you do print what a 15 year old says, said 15 year old is in trouble.
And really complaining bc a 15 year old will be a well behaved balanced adult sounds a bit callous.
It’s TEEN Vogue. It sounded appropriate for the audience.
Exactly. As a mother of young people around the same age, I see that they have enough of this self-serving blandness in instagram, snapchat etc. This girl is gonna believe that anything she says is interesting. Which, unfortunately already happens on an empirical level. Cute girls talk about themselves all the time and people listen. TEEN Vogue could serve teens better. There are exceptions after all. Lorde, Malala, Zendaya. You know, people who are asked about their own creative drives and who are or were until very recently, under 18.
@ slowsnow – As probably TEEN VOGUE’S oldest subscriber (I want to support their political content), I want to attest that they have some great material, Kaia’s fluff piece withstanding.
There were two other covers with this issue, one with Amandla Steinberg ,the other with Millie Bobbie Brown (is that right, Brit actress from Netflix show).
I kept thinking, “So much privilege.” Like, she is a special snowflake because she unplugs from social media at their remote Canadian paradise? Please.
I dont blame her for sounding so self-congratulatory, but I blame her parents. She seems inoffensive, entitled and bland. Too bad her patents don’t take her to build houses for,the poor, like Jimmy Carter, or do charity work in South America, like some of my students do. Clooney, the Beckhams, these people – is there any reason we should want to read about their self-centered, entitled lives??
Sorry, I’m cranky tonight, reading this while Americans drown .
Wow, she looks just like her mom in the header photo.
I’m ok with everything she’s saying, she seems more down to earth and less vapid than many of her peers. But holy crap she’s still so young, really just a kid.
I can’t decide which of the supermodels I liked best. Probably Cindy because she was local. What about Nikki Taylor and Elle McPherson, are they part of that bunch? I found them both really beautiful.
Of the generation after Condy, Amber Valetta and Stella Tennant were and still are my faves.
Maybe they weren’t huge in the US, but being a teen/young adult in the 90’s in Paris, you could hardly pass a week without seeing Nadja Auermann or Eva Herzigova on magazines, poster ads… Auermann, particularly walked every runway, posed for every major name.
And Inès de la Fressange remains my fave. I admit I prefer the couture,models. Selling Pepsi kind of kills the mystique for me.
Nadja Auermann was incredibly beautiful. Her legs!
However, I always found Kate Moss the most beautiful of them all because she looked so unusual.
And Tatiana Patitz, Helena, Karen Mulder.. those girls were more models than Cindy or Claudia.
I love Christy. She was part of Trinity, but not ad wild as Naomi and Linda. She is still gorgeous.
Kaia is pretty but petite and lacks charisma. She only did two big jobs, mj and miu miu. And 15 in modeling is not that young, most models start at 13 or 14.
Hon, you don’t have to be a role model for young girls….you are a young girl 🙁
I was thinking the same thing. Is she talking about being a role model for 11-year olds? Also, I’m so tired of celebrity spawn.
Ugh …
No shade, but do young girls know who this girl is? I didn’t know until now…
I would guess, yes, they do. Instagram models and celebrities are bigger than any of us realize to young kids. The youtube stars and such, have millions and millions of followers. It’s a world I know nothing about, but I do know it’s huge. The Jenner girls are wildly famous to young teen girls. Scary actually, because they can really be voyeurs in these people’s lives from their phones, and they have such a huge influence, and parents may not even know it’s happening.
I also think she ‘designed’ some purse or that has taken the teen world by storm or something.
I’m sorry, if her mother wasn’t Cindy Crawford….
co-sign
I know that is what me makes me cringe.
She’s a cute girl, don’t get me wrong, but she doesn’t have the “it” or the height that most models have–and she gets handed lucrative deals.
No she doesn’t but that should be fine but her mother isn’t being honest with her. She is pretty but she won’t feel pretty in a few years.
Exactly.
And I don’t see the Cindy resemblance everyone talks about.
When Kaia has her hair scraped back and she doesn’t have on her omni-present make up, she looks exactly like her father.
His close set eyes, face-shape and nose.
Pretty enough, but nothing special.
The son is the striking one IMO.
But Cindy has been pushing her daughter hard. Since she was 5 years old!
Yes she would be called cute in school but I really don’t think her modeling career would go far without her mom. Hey Ivanka Trump was a, blink and you’ll miss her model, too. Obviously it didn’t last long either.
Her brother is good looking. Good enough to model.
Funny thing is off all the supers; Crawford is the LAST one I would have guessed, would become a desperate showbiz mama a la Kris Jenner.
I mean much was made of her Midwestern down to earthness, (relatively anyway), at her apogee compared to other supers.
I have no idea what Christy Turlington, or Claudia Schiffer’s kids look like. I’m sure they could pimp their daughters hard enough, if they wanted to.
@Holly her brother is a model as well, but like most male models he isn’t a household name. He’s very good looking like you said.
As opposed to other supers you mentioned, Cindy was the only one who married a model. Rande modeled too. Christy married Ed Burns the actor director. Their kids are cute a bit younger than Cindy’s and they live in NYC. Claudia also married a Director, and her kids are cute and a bit younger too, and they live in London. I haven’t seen any pictures of them where I thought they would be model type kids. They seem kind of normal, but who knows. Could be the LA thing too. Not bashing LA, but Ava Phillippe is pretty much the only normal celebrity kid I have seen hosting at a restaurant. The environment doesn’t scream make sure to get an education. The city kids seem a bit more normal.
One thing I did look up is that Kaia is now the same height as Cindy. The thing about being 15 is you do grow, and we have been seeing pictures of her younger, so I wouldn’t be surprised by that. Both of her parents are pretty tall. I prefer her to Kendall Jenner though. She seems less vapid, but yes this is a case of nepotism or at least who you know.
If her mother wasn’t Cindy Crawford she wouldn’t look like Cindy Crawford and therefore wouldn’t be able to try and replicate her career. I find myself less bothered by this piece of nepotism because it depends on her looking exactly like her mom. Like, it’s not just access – she literally needed those genes.
I think she looks more like her father than her mother, frankly. And she doesn’t have her mother’s height.
She looks so much like her dad in the second photo!
I commented before I saw your post. Agreed.
I think we need to look harder for the next generation of stars: models, actors, musicians…. The kids of famous people just feel like warmed over leftovers. Though Kaia is a perfectly nice person I’m sure, we are honoring and worshipping way too much mediocrity these days.
Thank you for putting my feelings into words.
It all seems so lazy, like ‘if you loved Cindy Crawford, you’ll love this knockoff!’
It feels like her parents groomed her for this though, and their son. I remember seeing the kids taking modelling photos of each other and they were barely 10+.
Given that George Clooney married a beautiful brainy woman, and Cindy was always known as the thinking mans woman, I’m hoping Kaia opts for university and to pursue a career not based on her looks. Doubtful it will happen unless this girl makes a break from it on her own.
Hmmm…I just don’t understand why Cindy and Rande wouldn’t encourage their girl to be than a model?? I mean don’t get me wrong, good on Cindy for taking the world by storm and making tons of money and creating a great life for herself, but her daughter doesn’t have “it” and Cindy of all people should recognize that. I mean doesn’t the girl have any other interests to cultivate? If my parents could offer me the very best education and options galore…and she picks being a model? Oh well….and also I feel like Cindy very much misses being a super model and gets to live this again through her daughter…just weird.
I agree. My daughter just got confirmation of her student loan – i.e., getting great education AND a huge debt and my mind boggles.
I apologize if I offend anyone but this kind of job breeds insecurities in people and a life of adjusting to other people’s expectations regarding something you have very little control of: your body. Unless you are an “it” girl with a style and a voice, and end up writing, creating or just trend setting (which of itself is already pretty vapid) I don’t see a very interesting and challenging future here.
@slowsnow You aren’t offensive it is true.
Your daughter has a great future ahead. You must be a proud Mom.
I won’t help my niece even though she asks me. She has the basic requirements but she would never be a supermodel. The only thing she would get is a mediocre career and low self-esteem. I don’t say that to her but no one can take a good education away but model looks aren’t forever. She is smart and responsible it would only be a waste of potential.
It’s always weird to me because as much as you can have a child and think they’re the most beautiful thing in the world, and as much as you can want them to find and fall in love with someone else who thinks they’re the most beautiful thing in the world… who on earth wants their 15-year-old to be sexualised like this? It’s not like Cindy doesn’t know the game.
Agree x 1000.
I remember when my sister and I started getting to 15-16 years old and overhearing my mum complaining to a friend of hers, “How hard is it when you see full-grown MEN looking at them? Knowing you’re not allowed to punch them in the face?”
It’s a bit odd to me when people don’t have that protective desire. She didn’t need to start modelling this young, after all. And it’s not like she was her family’s way out of a life of poverty, or something.
Gibee, you reminded me of an incident that happened when my daughter was 12. We were both on elliptical machines at the gym and she was in front of me. A guy walked by and CHECKED OUT HER BUTT and omg I nearly jumped off the machine to tell him off but he was gone in a flash and I froze in shock. To this day I regret not taking immediate action. Disgusting. So yeah I don’t understand how a Mom can allow her daughter to be objectified at such a young age. Or ever for that matter.
@GiBee and OTHER RENEE
Ew to both stories.
I don’t get it at all. I would never want men to look at my girls when they are older like that. There are stalkers and you have no idea who is looking at these. It is dangerous even beyond the poor parenting.
But even the creepy experiences mentioned in this thread prove that an underage girl doesn’t have to be a model to be leered at, sexualized, sexually harassed, or worse by older men and others. I’m not saying a modeling career for a 15-year-old rich kid is necessary, but the implication that she and her mother are to blame for any of that kind of behavior from men -or that moms need to veil their underage daughters (literally or figuratively) as a response to rape culture is a part of the problem, not the solution. (And of course parents who allow their underage sons to be in movies, music, magazines, and red carpets don’t get accused of dangerously causing adults to sexualize or objectify their sons). It’s putting the blame on girls being visible.
If those mom-jeans are any indication of the clothing styles she models, I don’t think anyone has to worry about her being sexualized. LOL
I remember reading an interview with Cindy a few years ago and she said she had laid down some rules on what and where Kaia could model until she was 18. Hopefully that means we won’t see Kaia on the Victoria Secret runway any time soon.
Then maybe get an education and go to college instead of riding off your mother’s coattails? I’m tired of nepotism models who get paid to pose (badly) proclaiming themselves as role models. if you want to model fine, but look at your idol Karlie, who actually promotes education. Even Joan Smalls got a BA and she’s a top model right now.
She’s only 15. She may decide to go to college in few years.
She is very blandly pretty, as countless other 15yr old girls effortlessly are. Nothing at all exceptional about her.
Her brother (Presley), looks-wise, has a far more interesting and edgy mix of his parents’ genes.
Exactly. Nothing but another nepotism model. Presley is the real model material, and for that I almost feel bad for Kaia — except that I’m sure she’ll continue to be pushed down our throats regardless.
She looks just like Rachel Bilson to me.
She looks like Sofia Vergara to me.
She is FIFTEEN- a young girl herself. She shouldn’t be worried about being a role model for other girls. She should be going to school and studying to get her learners permit. I really respected Cindy Crawford but I think this was such poor parenting on her part. There is no reason for her daughter to be modeling or giving interviews now. She doesn’t need the money or the travel or the life experience-she has all that already.
Cindy is professional, but she thought she was smarter than she actually is. She isn’t a deep thinker, and she has always been very ambitious and crazy competitive. She sees the other girls who aren’t children of a megamodel and somehow thinks her kids have an edge and will leave the others in their shadow.
It is bad parenting. I don’t usually like to shame but she knows better and it makes me ragey that she is doing this.
Right?! Kris Jenner is the other one that infuriates me because of how she “parented” the 2 youngest girls.
Sylark said exactly what I was thinking. She’s nice looking and pretty but she doesn’t seem as interesting to look at as her brother does.
I don’t know, maybe it’s the pose. That ” I command you to stare up the caverns of my nostrils” pose always bugs me.
This is probably sacrilege, but I honestly don’t get the hype about the whole “Amazon supermodel” era or whatever. I mean, those women were supposed to be stunningly beautiful. But I honestly don’t see it. I really don’t. Especially with Linda Evangelista. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they’re good-looking and they’re tall, but like, in terms of those awe-inspiring facial features, I really struggle to understand what the hype was all about.
I feel the same way with Kaia Gerber tbh. I do like Cindy Crawford because she always came off as really intelligent and well-spoken in her interviews, and I like that she was in a chemical engineering program before making it big as a model. I’m sure her kids are no different in that they’re smart and well-adjusted and good kids, but like, I still don’t get the whole fashion hype. They’re good looking in the way that I think most people are, but nothing out of the ordinary.
I thought some of them were so gorgeous. For me though it was actually Cindy Crawford who I never really got. The rest of them were like, otherworldly and Cindy was like, the prettiest girl in your homeroom class. She never seemed to belong.
YES!!! I was a teen during the Amazonian supermodel era and Cindy had the girl next door looks and all the other girls had this exotic quality about them. Linda was my absolute favorite and Milla Jovovich when she modeled was also up there too.
That’s exactly it Cleo! Cindy had such an all-American girl next door look that she actually looked like a girl who could live next door to you. Like fine, I see why she’d be in your advert, but I could never see her as High Fashion. Just too conventionally pretty for it.
She was never my favorite either and she became a commercial model therefore no longer an editorial or runway model. To me, she has an asterisk. Her daughter doesn’t even have that. If anyone thinks I am being brutal there are people who going to say much worse to her face.
Part of it was the time. Also,they were all stunningly gorgeous and the fashions back then were interesting, beautiful and lot of originality. All of that together created the tone and era. It was a wonderful time in Fashion, music and art. The photographers – Herb Ritts etc. – the music, and the magazine covers…. these models dominated and crossed all the entertainment industries in a way that was recognized and respected as artful.
Now, it feels like everything has been done. When I see beautiful women on par with Cindy et al today, they aren’t modelling, they have educations and careers not at all based on their looks. That’s why today’s models are so blah perhaps… women have more opportunities than we did back then and more possibilities of actually achieving our dreams. Modelling isn’t necessary anymore.
Today’s models are not exotic. They all look like the girl next door with maybe a little work done.
I feel this. I think I can put down some of it to the vibe of the times. Marketing was a lot simpler back then before social media, and at least some of the allure was the fact that these women were “inaccessible.” I’m sure it was other things too, but like I said, some of it escapes me if only because I wasn’t there during the heyday.
Maybe I’m young, but I think it’s rather lazy sometimes to think that “everything is done”? Sure, the mainstream isn’t what it used to be, but there is a lot of art that’s out there that is getting more coverage than it would have before, and I think it’s a question of seeking it out tbh. I’m sure this is the chip on my shoulder speaking, but I dunno. I don’t like seeing a lot of what people are into today, especially young people, getting brushed aside because others can’t relate to it or for the sake of nostalgia. It feels dismissive.
@A – I apologize. I didn’t mean to be dismissive. I was speaking only for myself and specifically in terms of the era of supermodels and fashion and how it all dominated and interconnected.
There is a lot of new great art all the time, I agree. But the 90s was sort of my time and it has a special significance for me which makes me happy. Purely age thing here.
ETA: I’m not lazy. I’m at end of life with illness. All good I hope.
@Carrie1, oh I didn’t mean you personally were lazy! Sorry I can see how my comment might have come off like that. I promise that’s not what I meant at all, I meant more the tendency for people to do that in general is a bit lazy. But I get the nostalgia pull and why it’s a thing. I know that when I’m getting on in the next couple of decades and the mainstream stops being something I relate to, my generation will probably feel it too. It’s a universal thing, I think, but like I said, it’s the chip on my shoulder as a young person that’s speaking when I say that.
@A I think there is interesting art but it isn’t in fashion right now.
I believe the internet has created laziness because now everyone thinks they can do anything even if they have no talent for it. Instagram girls are an example. It waters down things.
Part of what makes art compelling, in my opinion, is discovery and action. I am a Millennial but I think we are in a dip until something shifts. It will eventually because it always does.
A lot of 90s nostalgia is because the economy was good so people were more optimistic. I can remember life before the Iraq War I don’t know your age but it was very different. Maybe like the 60s were different from the mid 70s.
I disagree about nostalgia being lazy. There just isn’t a vibrant subculture or youth culture right now to be inspired by.
@magnoliarose, I’m sorry, but I don’t think the Internet is responsible for lazy art. Greed, commercialism and nepotism are what’s accountable for lazy art, in the same way that those three things have always been accountable for lazy art. Just because there’s been a change in the medium of presentation doesn’t change the fact that lazy art is born out of lazy people, the same as it always has been. And it’s particularly interesting to state that what makes art compelling is “discovery and action” while simultaneously dismissing the internet, which is arguably the biggest, most efficient tool people have to facilitate discovery in all of history.
If there’s art on the internet that’s “lazy,” it’s because the user has chosen to surround themselves with that. But it hasn’t “created” any laziness that’s been somehow nonexistent until this point. Talentless hacks with the money and the capacity to buy their way to fame and fortune have always existed, even without the internet, and they always will. The Instamodel generation, by and large, come from rich, well-connected families who would have had the means to provide these opportunities whether or not their kids were on social media. So blaming the internet for their general lack of talent, when the truth is that they’re kids who have never been denied anything, skews the focus a lot from where it should be.
But the shift in medium doesn’t automatically signify a shift in ease. The biggest change that the internet has presented is that it’s become a level playing field. Personally, I don’t see that as “watering things down.” It presents more opportunities for newer types of creativity to come to the forefront.
As for whether nostalgia is lazy or not, that’s something we’ll have to agree to disagree on. Personally, I think the world is moving too fast for people to continue to indulge in their desire for a past that’s not going to come back. It’s nice on a personal level to think about, but beyond that, continuously pining for it at the expense of the present is something that’s not worthwhile.
My kids, two of three of whom are artists, say that art has gotten bland and watered down because only wealthy white kids can afford tomstaynin the cities and work for peanuts until you either make it or you don’t. So we only get the wealthy white kid perspective.
I don’t know. I still think that Iman and Christy Turlington are two of the most beautiful creatures to ever exist. I think it’s that sort of other-worldly beauty.
Whereas someone like, say, Gigi Hadid or Kaia just look like normal attractive people.
Iman I agree, but Christy is so bland. Out of the models in the supermodel era, only Naomi was otherwordly, And young Kate Moss had the rare combination of being both stunning and interesting.
Going back further, I always thought Jean Shrimpton was drop dead gorgeous
As far as Cindy Jr..her mom has included her in vogue shots for years, she encouraged her to model at 14 (some sunglasses thing) and there was a stir when mom put her on the catwalk in swimwear when she was about 11 or 12
@A One of the misconceptions about modeling is that a model is supposed to be beautiful. That isn’t the case. A model is supposed to be captivating and singular enough to elevate a photograph. They are supposed to be able to walk on the runway and photos from the show should look good.
Consider that those models were discovered without any plastic surgery and without a desire to model. They became supermodels based on merit and hard work.
Linda Evangelista created great editorials. The first time I saw her in person I wasn’t impressed but in her defense, it was at Garren getting her hair colored with wet hair and wearing a smock. Dressed up she was literally another person.
They didn’t look alike either.
@ GiBee Christy Turlington in person surpassed her photos even without makeup and was simply stunning. Nice and would patiently take pics with fans and mother young scared new models.
@magnoliarose, I get that, but that’s still my point too. I don’t particularly find those women captivating and singular enough to elevate the photographs they’re in. I find the narrative that’s spun around them captivating perhaps, but them, on their own? I don’t see it at all from my end, and I don’t feel any particular draw or pull towards their editorials either. Not to mention, a lot of the hubbub around Linda Evangelista, in particular, had to do with her facial structure and how suited she was to high fashion. High fashion models don’t conform to commercial beauty standards, I get that, but even by high fashion standards, I’m not that blown away by a lot of these women, sorry.
Also, I don’t know what the correlation is particularly between someone who has “no desire to model” and how that means they got to the top through “hard work.” Seems to me like those are two rather counterintuitive topics. I’m not out here trying to defend Instamodels either, I don’t think they’re that great or that deserving of the fame they get, but considering most of modeling is about your “look” I just don’t see it in a lot of the supermodels of the past.
Like I addressed in another comment, I get that they were part of a particular time period with a particular vibe, and I get that they were famous and how and why they were famous. But I don’t feel the draw of their looks or their editorials or their runway modeling. I do think a lot of their fame has to do with the time period and the particular confluence of different ideas in fashion that went on then. But I don’t see how their looks or their work were that captivating, sorry. This doesn’t mean they didn’t work hard or do their job well or were lovely, good people though.
@A
What fashion models do you like? I don’t mean it snarky or challenging just curious.
When I mean about not trying to be a model is that they hadn’t done anything to themselves to alter their looks in order to model. Kendall has had numerous surgeries. Bella has a whole new face as does Gigi, but they are dead eyed and lack charisma. They look flat and plastic. Even their pap photos are a yawn and their eyes are empty. It isn’t because it is now I would think it at any time.
By working hard I mean there weren’t connections and money to buy them PR and ask for favors. Or buy followers. It isn’t based on aesthetics only.
I even go back to the 70s and 60s. I like early photography and find those women more compelling even over a hundred years ago.
@magnoliarose, I’m a fan of Yasmine Ghauri, Kate Moss, Iman, Helena Christensen, Karen Mulder. These days, I like Imaan Hammam, Pooja Mor, Liu Wen, Coco Rocha. I think all of those women have a good deal of editorial work that’s seriously compelling and a nice platform for fashion. The way I see it, the decline of supermodels has less to do with the lack of talent and more to do with the fact that fashion magazines and designers chose to shift their marketing from models to actresses. The audience’s focus has changed. It’s no longer about the unknowable, unattainable model who’s inaccessible. People have a preference for accessibility, and it’s less work for designers and magazines to put a face that’s already recognizable on the cover, rather than someone they have to search for and build up hype around. You can’t blame magazine editors for putting instant recognition first when the print industry is in a slump and they have to get magazines off the racks. This doesn’t mean there aren’t talented models out there, but it explains why they aren’t becoming supermodels like they used or otherwise would have.
I was a teen in the 90s and although I wasn’t that into supermodels, I absolutely LOVED Helena Christensen. To me she was so stunning and not your run-of-the-mill, generic “pretty girl”. You couldn’t replicate her beauty; there was no one that looked quite like her during that era.
Honestly, where I work, I see five or six girls around her age every day who are prettier. She is absolutely nothing special.
Who cares? I don’t want to read about 15 year olds. Especially kids of celebrities.
She’s only a few short years away from being declared “Icon of the Decade”. (ugh)
I know this is a gossip site but it still makes me sad when most of you are just busy tearing down this girl. Forget nepotism, this is a 15yo girl who already knows shes not her mom and here we are saying all the things we’d never want to hear or to have people tell our daughters. “You’re pretty, but so bland, nothing like your mom whos gorgeous”. Oh yeah u can try but you’ll never be hear.
Listen to your own words. I love cindy too but they’re different people. And im totally fine with her being a goody two shoes. The world is already full of overly sexualized and eager to be grown up teens. I think its cool and different in this day and age.
Props to her.
Hi Mimz,
She’s being pushed into herself in a brutal industry where the ONLY thing that will matter is the physical, the superficial.
That’s on her parents, as they know the industry themselves and what will come.
Most of us are saying Kaia’s OK looking but nothing special for this business and that’s what it is.
(Same with Christie Brinkley’s daughter, whose also being shopped by her Mama)
I’ve always felt uncomfortable that Cindy has pushed this girl hard – anyone remember the stories of uncomfortable & stolen ‘model’ Kaia photos being touted. And all before she was 10 years old!
This is my point too. She shouldn’t be shoved out there to be judged in the first place. No one is going to be gentle. Models are products and feelings don’t matter. If you cry no one is going to comfort you. Only if you become a favorite do you matter.
Model looks are purely a genetic fluke just like gymnasts or basketball players. She shouldn’t be made to endure criticism for something she had no control over.
I agree. These kids (the brother as well) haven’t had a chance to live their own lives and find out what they want to do. They were dragged into showbiz. Cindy Crawford seems to have reality TV show ambitions. Also, it seems wrong to comment on a 15-year-old’s appearance but they’re in a superficial industry and it would be actually ruder to say she has no potential for a real job in engineering or medicine or law or whatever.
Kaia looks like the leading lady of Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber Part 2 and a little bit Zendaya. I think Kaia will have more appeal if she pursued other things and then just modelled on the side. She is very cute and I’d rather see her in fashion mags than the sister of Kate Moss, Lottie.
Those quotes are insufferable and sound so fake.
When they write “The future is…” and cross over Amandla and Millie’s names, it looks like they’re saying that the future is Kaia and not Amandla and Millie
There were three covers for this issue. Amandla and Millie have the other two, with the same strikethrough of the other names. But yes, not the best graphics choice.
They should have done a roller thing, like those casino machines, where you have all three names rolling around. For Kaia’s cover, you have Kaia’s showing but the other two names just visible above and below. The crossed out names look harsh.
Yeah, I thought they were knocking those other girls, tbph.
second picture she looks like Cyrus
Wow she’s only 15? It seems to me she’s been working for long
I agree with the posters who say Kaia doesn’t have her mother’s beauty or genuine modelling potential. I checked out her instagram and was aghast at her (must be recent) weight loss. She’s incredibly thin at a time when her body is probably still growing.
kaia hits me as all sorts of wrong. She is 15-16 and modeling for a few years. She is a horrible model. Everything looks as she is trying while Cindy and others of her ilk looked natural whatever the pose. What is Cindy (and Rande) thinking. They have tons of money. Send this girl to school–show her other pathways. Why sexualize a young girl so–especially one who does not need the money? I have little to no respect left for the parents. Kaia is clearly a wannabe who wants like crazy to be the “good girl” her mom was supposed to be. I doubt mommy was such a good girl if she is so willing to sell her spawn down the river. Clever pr? Yes. Good parenting, no!.
Randy is a drunk apparently and he’s the one who shared a full on bikini shot of her (fam holiday) on his IG that was taken down after everyone condemned him for being creepy about his own daughter. She was only 14 then if I remember correctly. The parents are beyond fame thirsty.
I’m sorry but since when are “fashion models” (i.e., human clothing hangers) able to be substantive role models for women? If she wants to be the latter, she should consider a profession that uses her brain.
OK pains me to say this but I have seen both IRL. Cindy in NYC in the 90s vs. her daughter a year ago at my older kid’s school.
Cindy 90s was about the most stunning thing I have ever seen. It was in a midtown bodega, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Her daughter hanging out in a group of friends.. blended in. It’s cruel, but true… and it’s not about growing into her looks. I
And if the world was fair, Aya should be the new new thing not Kaia.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDBN68eIa6F/?hl=en&taken-by=iamayajones
ai! why are they still pimping out kid models? it’s so many kinds of ethical wrongs in our warped society