Kate Upton finally scored her first cover of American Vogue! She’s covered some of the international editions of Vogue, of course, but Anna Wintour was making Upton wait for this one. Still, now Upton has an American Vogue cover… and Victoria Beckham does not. Does that make you giggle a little bit? Anyway, Kate covers the June issue which… I mean, it’s an okay start for her. Wintour doesn’t care as much about the summer month issues, so this was a decent compromise. If I was Upton, I would be incredibly pleased with how this came together – the photoshoot (by Mario Testino) is mostly beautiful, with several striking images. And she’s styled really well too and it’s a real pictorial, they didn’t half-ass it. Plus, Upton should be happy that she got a real interview and profile in the magazine, and that it’s mostly complimentary. You can read the full thing here and here’s a short excerpt:

The Upton legend begins on YouTube. She broke out in 2011, dancing to Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How to Dougie” in footage shot by a friend at a Clippers game—her appeal a mix of blonde bombshell and homespun girl next door. (The video has two million views and counting.) A subsequent clip was more risqué: Upton dancing the Cat Daddy in a skimpy bikini for Terry Richardson—and yet here, too, she’s goofy, disarming, improbably wholesome (that video has nearly sixteen million hits). Meanwhile she’s a regular on Twitter (more than 900,000 followers), and was an early adopter of the video-sharing app Vine.

“It’s just me sharing my life,” she says about tweeting. “I like it if it’s authentic and in the moment and happening.” Growing up, she adds, “I didn’t buy the magazines that had models on the covers, because I didn’t know them. So I think this kind of gives me, as a model, a personality that people can connect with.” It seems to be working. In 2012, she was the fourth-most-popular search on Yahoo—just behind Election, iPhone5, and Kim Kardashian.

What makes the Kate Upton era so unlikely is that the things we love about her—those curves! that personality!—defy what the word model has come to mean, at least on the runway: a seemingly endless procession of lanky, expressionless wraiths. That is most certainly not Upton’s profile. (Descriptions of her figure tend to involve euphemisms for a single word: breasts.) And yet Upton’s body has sparked debate. This year’s Sports Illustrated cover—a shot of her in Antarctica, parka open to reveal a stunning breadth of cleavage—set off a fresh round of “Is she fat?” conversations across the Internet.

“It was hard at first,” she admits of hearing such rumblings. “You sit there and you’re like ‘Is something wrong with me?’ ” But she’s learned to ignore her critics—and come to regard her healthy body as a point of pride. “The things that they’re rejecting are things that I can’t change. I can’t change my bra size. They’re natural! I can work out and I can stay healthy and motivated, but I can’t change some things. I really just live my life. I love my body. It’s what God gave me! I feel confident with myself, and if that inspires other women to feel confident with their bodies, great.”

[From Vogue]

Yeah. It’s fine. Kate Upton got a Vogue cover and the world didn’t end. I wonder what’s up with Wintour lately? She let poor gauche Kate Upton have a cover AND she allowed Kim Kardashian to come to the Met Gala? Do you think Wintour is just tired of fighting with these people? She’s like, “Damn, I’m tired. I shall let it go just this once.”

The photo with the glasses is my favorite!

Photos courtesy of Mario Testino/VOGUE.

As many of you know, I love Kate Upton so, so much, but she looked pretty dreadful at last night’s Met Gala. For a punk-themed event, this was not the look I envisioned from a (relatively) versatile model who can really vamp it up. On this red carpet, Kate wore a shapeless, green Diane Von Furstenberg gown that draped in all the wrong places and clung to nothing at all. This dress did nothing at all for Kate’s voluptuous figure, and the tailoring as very loose and sloppy as well. Poor Kate looks like a Real Housewife here when she could have really strutted her stuff in a great Marc Jacobs or Dolce dress.

If one can set aside the awful dress for just a moment, things don’t get much better here for Kate. She’s overdone the tanning lotion, the makeup is just blah, and her hair is boring too. At the very least, she could have gone with a more dramatic updo instead of this lazy uptwist. Bad styling all around. This could have been a great evening for Kate!

Rosie Huntington-Whitely brought it the most out of all the models in this group by choosing a metallic and mesh Gucci gown that looked like liquid gold mating with the most uppity of punky vibes. Rosie pulls off the mostly sheer top very well with her statuesque frame, and not even feathery, winged boobs can destroy this look. The capped sleeves with a bit of fringe might be a bit too much, and I’m not a huge fan of the massive drop earrings, but Rosie’s hair and makeup are just right for this dress.

Heidi Klum continues to amaze me with her ability to make an excellent living as a supermodel but still continuously mess up on the red carpet. First off, Heidi chose a Marchesa gown, which is never a good sign. Secondly, she completely ignored the theme and went with a “Vegas showgirl” vibe. I guess we should all just be grateful that her girls aren’t hanging out all over the place. Instead, she looks like Disney on Ice.

Karolina Kurkova looks a bit out of place with such a short, short dress at such a formal event, but that’s okay. Karolina is wearing Mary Katrantzou with a very loud, mismatched print top and skirt with one sleeve. If not for the punk theme, she would have looked pretty ridiculous, but she carries off the look with a fun attitude.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Ugh. I was trying to work up the energy to write about this yesterday, but I just wimped out. So, time to buck up and just power through. Kate Upton has a history of dating athletes – I would be surprised to learn that any of her exes or casual dates in the past two years have been anyone other than pro athletes. But now she’s allegedly moving on from football players and such. She’s moved on to Diddy. Ugh. Gurl… you could do better.

Call them Diddyup! Here’s a duo that’ll make your heads spin — Kate Upton and Sean “Diddy” Combs are hot and heavy.

After the 20-year-old Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl said she was single on Valentine’s Day and had broken up with star Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, she was spotted a little over a month later, on March 24, sucking face with Diddy, 43, at club LIV in Miami Beach.

“They were kissing, they weren’t hiding it,” an eyewitness tells Confidenti@l.

Earlier that night, Diddy, hosting a bash at the club, had tweeted: “Miami … Ain’t no party like a @iamdiddy party … Meet me at Club Liv 2nite #CIROCBOYZ in the building!!!”

The curvy Upton soon joined him in the VIP section and she and the hip-hop mogul stayed together, partying late into the night. Following their hot hookup in South Beach, the duo met up again in New York, sharing an intimate dinner together at Gemma in the Bowery Hotel on Thursday.

“They were having dinner together,” a source tells us.

Upton, silent on Twitter that day, the next morning tweeted: “Cuddling with my favorite tiger ” an obvious diss to Verlander, because she linked to a picture of her holding an actual tiger cub in a Bazaar magazine shoot.

Diddy, who has been linked to Cameron Diaz and most recently singer Cassie, was spotted with the latter house-hunting in Beverly Hills in January. The relationship has appeared to have since cooled off. Cassie, whose last album was released in 2006, posed last year in a GQ spread labeled “Diddy’s Girl.” Last summer she frolicked topless on a yacht with the rapper while on vacation in St. Tropez. Diddy publicly acknowledged their relationship last September, tweeting a picture of her and writing, “I’m a very lucky man #knowthat.”

Upton, the object of every straight man’s desire, spent New Year’s Eve with Verlander at the Ritz-Carlton on St. Thomas.

[From The NY Daily News]

Please let this just be a Miami party thing. Please let Kate and Diddy only exist briefly as a couple for about a week. Because the douche is strong in Diddy. And besides the d-bag qualities… Diddy is pretty old for Kate. He’s 43 years old (and he has a 19 year old son). Kate is 20 years old. So… that’s pretty gross too. But on the other hand, when you’re 20 years old, you can make those kinds of mistakes and it’s no big deal. My advice to Kate: Girl, stick to ballers. And once you grow out of that phase, just don’t use Diddy as a backup plan. That’s how Cameron Diaz operated and it was AWFUL!

…. Okay, I wrote all of that up and then I saw these denials. Diddy tweeted” “Attention all Media. I don’t even know Kate Upton personally! I’m not dating her! What’s being reported is not true. END of story!” Upton tweeted, “Really??? Not at all true…” Red Alert canceled! Kate Upton is still exclusively dating football players, y’all.

Photos courtesy of Kyle Blair/WENN.com and WENN.

Here are some photos from a Harper’s Bazaar photo shoot featuring Kate Upton and some exotic baby animals. There’s a lot of controversy, of course, but before I wade into it, can I just say something? I love Upton’s styling in these photos? It’s sort of retro, but it’s also really flattering. I like that she’s not pushing her boobs on us, and I also like that Bazaar got some hair and makeup people who weren’t hypnotized by her breasts and actually put in the effort to make her look great.

Now, on to the controversy. This pictorial is called “The Animal Nursery” and I guess the theme is good-hearted and big-breasted Kate is some kind of stylish nurse to baby animals, and she poses winningly while holding up various animals. The shoot was styled by Carine Roitfeld and it will appear in all 26 international editions of the magazine. This is hardly the first time a major fashion magazine seemed tone-deaf about how fashion pictorials are “accessorized”. Vogue has gotten in trouble by using actual BABIES as accessories for fashion shoots, and just a few months ago, Vogue did an absolutely terrible shoot in the areas of New York and New Jersey devastated by Hurricane Sandy. So where does “using endangered baby animals” fall on the list of editorial disasters? Eh.

Fashionista reached out to Harper’s Bazaar, but no one at the magazine would issue any statements. Fashionists also reached out to Zoological Wildlife Foundation, which apparently provided the animals for the shoot, and they wouldn’t go on the record either. But PETA did, of course. Here’s PETA’s statement to Fashionista:

“The gibbon featured in the photographs is an infant and should be with his mother at all times. Besides the emotional trauma that he has undoubtedly suffered as a result of the separation, his delicate immune system is still developing, and he is susceptible to illnesses that humans carry. All the animals in the photographs are endangered and should be protected, rather than being treated like props.”

[PETA’s statement, via Fashionista]

Aw, the gibbon should be with his mom. Damn. As for the little tiger… I’m kind of in love with him. I bet he has those super-sharp kitten claws too. That’s actually what bothers me the most about this shoot – that they had all of those baby animals together on the set. What if the baby tiger thought the baby gibbon was a playmate and those sharp kitten claws come out and then…? Disaster.

Photos courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar, Kate Upton’s Twitter & the Mail.

This story is kind of sweet even though this recent trend of asking a celebrity to a dance is getting slightly old, but I guess we have the internet to thank for rapid proliferation of these videos to viral status. It all started, of course, a few years ago when Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake were both asked to the Marine Corp Ball(s), and then another Marine upped the ante and asked out Betty White as well. Betty gracefully ducked out of her invite due to work obligations, but Mila and JT both went on their dates — basically because they were encouraged to do so as part of their Friends With Benefits promotion, I think. I’m not knocking them because they shouldn’t be expected to go on dates with complete strangers, right? It’s kind of silly and potentially dangerous to do so. Also, their acquiescence only encourages other people who want to continue the trend of hoping for a date with their dream celebrity.

Now a high school senior, Jake Davidson, has asked Kate Upton to his prom. He made a video, which has been featured on “Today,” and Kate called in to the show to surprise him. Check out this dude’s face in this video when he realizes she’s on the line:

In response to Jake’s question, Kate gave a very diplomatic response: “I’d definitely have to check my schedule, but you seem like so much fun, and if everything works out, I’d love to go with you. I know we’d have a blast.” Isn’t that sweet? I have a feeling that she means it too. Nobody made her (or so I’m guessing) call into “Today” to talk to this dude, and it’s not like she was scheduled on the program to promote anything. She just wanted to surprise him. You gotta love this chick.

In slightly related news, Maria Shriver has been helping out “Today” on air (for the first time in several years) by reporting with Matt Lauer in Rome to help cover the new Pope stuff. Supposedly, she’s been very well received, and NBC is courting her strongly for an official “comeback to NBC” not only on “Today” but also their nighttime news programs as well. She should just replace Matt, and possibly Savannah Guthrie too. Let’s just clone Maria, and she could host “Today” all by herself. Ratings problem solved!

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN

For better or worse, Kate Upton is all the rage now in the modelling world. Here she is doing more promotion for Sports Illustrated in a very flattering white dress, and in the past several months, she’s not only covered the SI: Swimsuit edition for the second consecutive year, but she’s also been branching out into full-fledged fashion circles with Vogue UK and Vogue Italia covers and a Vogue US spread, among other endeavors. Not bad for a “curvy” girl, right?

As I’ve noted more than once, none of Kate’s success has stopped the shameful body criticism from continuing, and Kate’s polar-boob shoot has served not only to please countless men but also to reignite a lot of sniping over Kate’s atypical (for a model) bikini body. I’ve really been trying to understand the complaints about Kate’s body, but I’m coming up empty on explanations other than possibly because she has a low hip-to-waist ratio. I still think that’s wrong though, and I believe that all of this criticism is affecting her no matter what Kate says to the contrary.

Recently I was a bit surprised when Chrissy Teigen, lover of all things food, admitted going on a 10-day cleanse immediately before the latest SI: swimsuit shoot. Here’s something that’s truly shocking though — for four months prior to the same shoot, Kate adhered to a cleanse two weeks out of every month. She also worked out with a personal trainer twice a day. Seriously, there’s even a People story on this:

What’s harder than posing almost naked in the freezing cold in Antarctica? Preparing to pose almost naked in the freezing cold in Antarctica.

We chatted with David Kirsch, the trainer who primed Kate Upton for her second Sports Illustrated cover, and let’s just say: Upton must be exhausted.

Kirsch began working with the supermodel back in August, and for the first two weeks, Upton met with him for sessions twice a day. From then on, the model exercised five to six days per week for one and half to two hours until the photo shoot in December.

“[She did] boot camp circuit training mixed in with cardio,” Kirsch tells PEOPLE. “Running, rowing and the elliptical.” He adds that there are six regions a model needs to focus on for an SI: Swimsuit Edition shoot: “Legs, inner thighs, hips, butt, abs and arms. Anything that shows when you’re wearing a bathing suit. Which is … everything!” (Especially when that bathing suit is as tiny as some of the ones Upton sported!)

It wasn’t just the constant sweat sessions that got Upton ready to strip down; she was also extremely careful about what she ate. “She followed my ABC’s – no alcohol, bread or processed carbs – and no sugar – 24/7 with no cheat days,” the trainer reveals.

Along with not eating pasta, pizza, candy or apparently anything else that tastes delicious, Upton did Kirsch’s seven-day cleanse for two weeks out of every month they worked together. And during the other two weeks? She regularly drank protein shakes and green drinks to stay energized.

Despite all that, Kirsch says Upton didn’t complain once throughout the exhaustive process. Though, the same can’t be said about Upton while she was kneeling on an iceberg in nothing but a string bikini. But can you really blame her?

[From People]

All of that and yet still, people have the nerve to label this girl as fat. These are extreme measures for sure — maybe not for a model in general but definitely for one who is being held up as more “normal” looking than the rest of them. The simple fact that Kate was willing to cleanse for 50% of her life for four months and also workout twice per day tells me that even this “healthy” girl has an unavoidably unhealthy outlook on food. And I’m afraid with all this criticism that she’s only going to get more obsessive as her career progresses.

In other Kate-related news, Upton has just been been revealed as the face of high street retailer Accessorize. Here are the first images from her spring/summer 2013 campaign. Especially in the swimsuit shots, she looks like she’s dropped a few pounds since the SI shoot, doesn’t she?

Photos courtesy of WENN and Accessorize

These are photos of Kate Upton a few days ago in Las Vegas to promote her second consecutive Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit edition cover. I’m not crazy about this purple dress at all because this type of neckline isn’t terribly flattering on big-busts (and I speak from personal experience), and horizontal stripes aren’t flattering on anybody. Let alone a model that people seem to have it out for in terms of not being good enough. Over and over again, people have screamed out for models who don’t look like coat hangers, and now there’s been a ridiculous backlash towards this lovely, 20-year-old model for daring to have some flesh on her bones.

Indeed, Kate has already defended herself against pro-ana criticisms and insists that she loves her “healthy curves.” Personally, I think it’s pretty great that she’s quickly grown so successful in the past year while still being able to eat solid foods. But the criticism is back again this year with Kate’s new parka-boobs magazine cover, and she’s managing to gracefully dodge such questions. Also, her fellow SI models (including my favorite, Chrissy Teigen) are defending Kate — which means that the stories that they mean-girled her last year are either inaccurate or they’ve wised up and realized that Kate is here to stay for awhile — in a refreshing twist. Here are the details:

Sports Illustrated treated Kate Upton like a dumb blonde: The top model only learned she landed on the cover of the Swimsuit Issue when the news leaked online Friday. “I immediately called SI, and they were like, ‘Don’t tweet anything!’” she told us at the issue’s official launch party Tuesday at Crimson. Upton’s on the cover for the second year in a row, and has bizarrely been bashed by some for her curvy body. “Everyone has the right to their own opinion,” she told us. “I am in a good place in my career, so it’s all right.”

While Upton brushed off criticism, her fellow bikini babes came to her defense. “Everyone is hyper-critical of women, and it’s got to stop,” Alyssa Miller said. “We should be embracing all body types.” Chrissy Teigen added, “I don’t think people realize we read everything.” While Upton was top dog, Katherine Webb — the SI babe and Miss Alabama who became famous as Brent Musburger’s obsession — turned almost as many heads. She was seen posing for pics with pageant-queen guests Alison Cronin and Brenna Mader.

[From Page Six]

Kate is still so very young, and it must be at least somewhat difficult to be in the public eye while certain people keep loudly insisting that you’re too fat to be a swimsuit model. Yet she manages to project a good-natured attitude about all of the nonsense, and she’s absolutely correct in that her career is on fire and that none of the criticism really even matters. In fact, she’s generating quite the conversation on body image, so I think we can count Kate as a modelling success on more notes than one.

In related boobery, Kate has announced that she is completely single. So I guess she’s no longer dating Justin Verlander, right? His loss.

Photos courtesy of WENN

I was surprised by how many people still have nasty things to say about Kate Upton’s body. I really don’t get why so many people are so personally offended that Kate has managed to build a career for herself by appealing to – GASP! – heterosexual men as opposed to women and the fashion industry’s gay men. Of course Kate scored her second consecutive Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition cover! The issue is for straight dudes and they like how she looks – a pretty face, long legs and big (natural) boobs. My take: she’s fine. She’s not bothering anyone. She’s harmless. And personally, I like that she’s not a size zero. I like that there’s a well-known model who has some flesh on her bones.

Anyway, SI has done their big, official reveal of their swimsuit edition and you can see the all of the photoshoots and stuff here. Kate and some of the other models were on The Late Show last night (I’m including photos below) and the SI editor, MJ Day, told People how the cover image was selected:

Kate Upton’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover is very hot – but during her photo shoot in Antarctica, all the model could think about was the freezing cold.

“It was definitely the hardest shoot I’ve ever done,” Upton, 20, tells PEOPLE. “The best as well – Antarctica is one of the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. But I’m from Florida, so it was pretty painful.”

The pain paid off, however: the perfect shot earned Upton her second consecutive SI cover, a distinction not seen since Tyra Banks covered back-to-back issues in 1996 and 1997.

“Everything about the picture is perfect,” Swimsuit Issue editor MJ Day tells PEOPLE. “The light, the background, the suit. It’s different from what we’ve done in past years, and it was an exciting moment for us to have those photos work out.”

Exciting, because Day and her crew didn’t know if they’d get any usable photos out of their Antarctica shoot – the first-ever fashion shoot on the continent.

“It was difficult,” Day admits. “First of all, it’s cold, even though we were there in summer. The windchill was sub-zero – the elements are really working against you.” As the crew dealt with a whole host issues – batteries dying in the cold, crazy weather rolling in and out – Upton was a total pro, Day says. “She never complained. She’d just say, ‘Okay, let’s go do it again.’”

Because of costs and the planning required to go to Antarctica – Day says this shoot was three years in the making – Upton was the only model taken to the faraway locale.

“I knew that if I needed to bury someone in clothing, I needed her physique and curves to come through,” Day explains. “So to bring her was obvious: I knew I could put a one-piece on her and she wouldn’t look flat, she’d still look voluptuous and healthy and shapely and sexy.”

Upton’s now-infamous Canada Goose Chilliwack Bomber coat, paired with white Letarte by Lisa Cabrinha bottoms, was an afterthought. “I figured, why not a coat?” Day says. “We threw it on, took maybe 100 frames, then moved on. Then that night, the photographer and I were looking at photos, and he said, ‘I don’t know, could this be it?’ It just had that energy.”

The only downside of the whole experience was the fact that the cover leaked on Friday, four days before it was supposed to be revealed. “I didn’t get to tell Kate she was the cover, which was kind of sad,” Day says. “I wanted to see the look on her face when she found out.”

In fact, Upton found out from fans, via Twitter. But despite the early reveal, she’s still beyond excited about the feat.

“It was an accomplishment just to get through the shoot,” she says. “I didn’t even think about the possibility of being the cover until after I thawed out a bit! But now it’s like, wow – I actually went down there and was able to accomplish that. I’m part of history, and it’s a great feeling.”

[From People]

That’s interesting that Kate didn’t go into the photoshoot thinking that she was going to be the cover. You know who’s probably really pissed off? Irina Shayk. I just get the feeling that Irina thought this was going to be her year (especially after last year, in which many people thought she should have gotten the cover too).

Photos courtesy of Sports Illustrated, WENN.

One of the weirdest parts of my job as a blogger who happens to be female seems to be trying to “adopt” the heterosexual male gaze long enough to adequately judge some of this celebrity stuff. Like, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition is not made me for me. It’s made for straight dudes who want to look at models in swimsuits. So, let me put on my straight-dude goggles and look at the 2013 SI: Swimsuit Edition cover, which features Kate Upton for the second time in a row. If you remember, I didn’t care for her first cover that much – there was too much Photoshopping of her crotch area, and it made me feel like I was staring at a Barbie (as in, her biscuit seemed to be made out of smooth plastic).

So, what do you think of this year’s cover? I think I like it more than last year’s. Her biscuit isn’t ‘Shopped into oblivion (that I can tell…?) and even though her rack is front and center, I have to admit that I prefer this to seeing her spill out of a too-small bikini top. I even think the coat is kind of cute! I’ll also admit that Kate is doing what I do when I want to get some dude’s attention – casually pushing her boobs together with her upper arms and forearms. It’s an old trick. You push ‘em together and then lean forward a little bit, keeping your chin down and then you look up at the dude enigmatically. Gets ‘em every time.

Apparently, Kate’s photoshoot was done on a boat in Antarctica. This is the first time since 1988 that a model has gotten consecutive covers – that model was Elle Macpherson (and she was featured for three consecutive years). Oh, and this is the 50th anniversary issue. We’re seeing the cover now because it leaked on Friday and SI pushed up their big reveal, which was originally scheduled for Monday. The Swimsuit Edition will also feature Hannah Davis (Derek Jeter’s girlfriend), Julie Henderson, Miss Alabama 2012 Katherine Webb, Alyssa Miller and Nina Agdal. Congrats to Kate! She’ll get even more work now, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she scored her first American Vogue cover this year.

Photos courtesy of SI’s Twitter.

If you haven’t gathered, I’m a pretty big fan of Kate Upton. I mean, I don’t have her Sports Illustrated photos plastered all over my locker or anything, but I think she’s a really fresh face and body in a model market that’s littered with eating disorders. Do I think she might actually pull off her claim of bringing back the supermodel? We shall see. At the moment, Kate is pretty close to being a household name, which is the basic qualification for a supermodel. So far, she’s not very convincing at pulling off high fashion shoots, but she’s successfully graced the covers of Vogue UK as well as Vogue
Italia and appeared within a US Vogue spread too. Basically, Kate Upton is here to stay for awhile.

So here are some photos of Kate’s latest ad campaign, which is for Sam Edelman shoes. The shots themselves are lovely but not terribly remarkable except for a slight old Hollywood vibe and the clever way that the company is showing off Kate’s curves in a tasteful manner while still highlighting their merchandise. Here’s the official statement from Sam Edelman via Women’s Wear Daily:

Sam Edelman is marching into 2013 with Kate Upton by its side.

The New York-based footwear brand has tapped the model for its new digital and print advertising campaign that will roll out starting Monday and run for six months.

Shot in an undisclosed location in New York City by ad impresario David Lipman, the campaign pays tribute to Edelman’s urban heritage and is part of a larger strategy for the brand as it strives to grow into a lifestyle player.

“It felt like the right time,” said Sam Edelman, designer and division president of his brand. “We had a major ad campaign with Charlotte Kemp Muhl 18 months ago. It carried us for a long time. [By choosing Kate,] it was a hell of a decision to go with an indie girl.”

Lipman echoed that sentiment. “We chose Kate because she isn’t stick thin. She’s beautiful and all-American,” he said.

The 5-foot, 10-inch Upton, who is, for the record, merely considered “curvy” for a model, was spotted wearing a pair of Edelman equestrian-style boots. That’s when the potential partnership clicked, and Lipman and Edelman called her in.

“I’ve loved Sam Edelman shoes for a long time, so shooting the ad campaign was a lot of fun for me,” said Upton, who soon realized that she shared a passion for horses with the designer.

Shot in black and white, both the stills and the video nod to the enigmatic feeling of Old Hollywood films. For instance, one photo shows a sultry yet innocent-looking Upton sitting amid a pile of Sam Edelman flats while averting the camera’s gaze.

“I wanted to capture the spirit of youth and vitality,” Lipman said. “I wanted to portray Sam’s lifestyle and a young girl’s lifestyle and merge the two.”

The brand’s footwear ranges from $60 to $150, and new categories will stay in a comparable price range.

[From WWD]

I think it’s rather interesting that the company has taken great pains in their news release to describe their reason for hiring Kate as wanting to hire a model who isn’t a stick insect. Between that and Ralph Lauren hiring its first plus-sized model last year, the tide might be changing ever so slowly in the fashion industry. What I like most about Kate is that she refuses to conform in the face of all criticism to those who says she’s just too cheap or not skinny enough to be a model. And now the industry is coming to her. Fascinating.

Photos courtesy of Sam Edelman