Grazia – We’ve spilled a lot of (virtual) ink documenting Kendall Jenner’s modelling career. You’d think that being a Kardashian would open doors, but in her LOVE Magazine cover interview Kendall reveals that she won’t let her famous name hold her back.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I want to be high fashion. I want to be taken seriously. I want people to see that I can really do this. So I’m going to work for it,” and I worked. People think that it just came to me. But it didn’t. What I have has almost worked against me. I had to work even harder to get where I wanted because people didn’t take me seriously as a model.’
Kendall added: “Because of the TV show. Because of the Kardashian name. I was like, you know what? I realised I have to push hard. I have to push and be like, “Yo, this is what I want to do and I want you guys to take me seriously. And I’m not going to stop until you do.” She continued: “I went on castings and some people weren’t feeling me because of my name. But it was great when people didn’t recognize me. I was like, ‘Thank you. Please don’t recognize me.'”
Kendall was careful to not turn her catwalk appearances into a media circus, so had a Kardashian FROW ban. Kendall said: “Kim was invited to a lot of the shows that I was in. She called me before and was like, ‘Hey, I was invited to the show, I just wanted to let you know. Do you want me to come?’ and I was like, ‘No.'” She added: “I’d love my sister to come, I’d love my whole family to come. But I didn’t want it to look like a family affair. I wanted this to be me. Next season? Sure but for my first season, no. I just wanted it to be something that I own.”Katie Grand, editor-in-chief of LOVE Magazine, said to the Evening Standard: “When the Marc show came up, Kim asked Kendall if she should come and watch, but Kendall knew that this would turn the appearance into something else — so she advised that Kim didn’t come on this occasion. She consciously avoided creating a media circus.”
Katie explains that Kendall was actually very un-Kardashian: “she didn’t turn up with an assistant, and her agent was backstage with all the other agents although not to look after her. Actually, she was laughing with me backstage because some of the other girls were going around saying, ‘Apparently there’s a Kardashian in the show?’ She thought it was the funniest thing.”
So what does Kim think about Kendall’s high fashion rise? “She went on casting after casting trying to prove herself,” Mrs West told LOVE. “Designers wanted to fight against having a “celebrity” walk in their show, but Kendall broke that label and proved she takes this seriously and modelling is her career. Marc Jacobs gave her a real shot and treated her like any other model. He believed in her and opened the door for her. Then Riccardo and Karl gave her a chance and she has proven she is the real deal. Her hard work paid off, and that makes me so proud.”
