What are your thoughts on the whole new crop of so called “Supermodels” who are basically just the children of Celebs/Ex-Models? Because, Kaia is a pretty girl, but is she as beautiful as Cindy in her prime? No, I don’t think she is, and I also doubt whether Kendall Jenner/Hailey Baldwin/Sophia Ritchie etc would even have a modelling career if it wasn’t for the famous parents. In my opinion, the most beautiful supermodel was Christy Turlington, and these current girls, while undeniably cute, are not in the same league as Christy/Helena/Linda etc
It’s pure nepotism. None of these new girls would have had a chance even ten years ago. I used to be a huge fan of the fashion world back in 2007, and it had such an air of exclusivity back then. The models had mystique and weren’t on social media. Not all the models were conventionally pretty, as unique looks were favoured back then, but they all had a special something. Cosmetic surgery was looked down upon, as were non-model celebrities. Celebrities whose fame was due something other than modelling would absolutely never have been considered for anything other than print campaigns or perfume ads, and even that pissed everyone off.
Now it’s all about hiring who has the biggest social media following, and looks come second. Ability, and that “special something” that previous models used to have, are not even a concern. The new crop of girls can’t even walk gracefully.
Kendall Jenner would have been considered too bland, and her brow lift would have prevented her success. She also has a terrible walk and looks self-conscious.
Bella Hadid would never have been accepted with her obvious nose job.
Gigi Hadid is pretty but doesn’t look like a model, she doesn’t have the right bone structure. There’s a difference between being model-pretty and actress-pretty, and most of this new crop is the latter. Kaia Gerber is another one who is very pretty but not in a model way.
Not forgetting Cara Delevigne! Her older sister was a legitimate model, and they are very upper class which is why Cara got her foot in the door, despite being several inches too short, and lacking the model look facially. Karl
Lagerfeld thought she was short and ugly but hired her anyway because she was famous and popular.
There was also a difference between commercial (ie catalogue, not in the public eye) modelling and high-fashion modelling. Commercial models can often get away with looking actress-pretty provided they are tall and slim. The lines have been blurred now.
Also commercial models tended to have more conventionally attractive bodies, slim but with some curves, whereas high fashion models were thinner and flatter. Nowadays the catalogue-model body is welcomed on the runway, which I think is a big improvement. I was never a fan of that extreme body type that is only naturally found in very tall, slender teenage girls who haven’t finished filling out. Consequently, in the noughties a lot of models were teenagers, in rare cases, some as young as 13. It was common for 15-17 year olds to walk the runway. (As an aside I thought it was cruel that this body type was insulted and called ugly and underweight. They were still developing. It was factually wrong to accuse them of being underweight, the lower BMI limit for teenage girls is set at only 16.7 for a reason.)
Another benefit of changing the favoured body type to that of a catalogue model, is that “older” (lol) new girls in their twenties are now welcomed, instead of expecting new faces to be in their teens.
