Instagram is becoming a place where models can get discovered and become famous on their own terms, sharing their personality and even using the social site to book jobs. It’s a huge change in the fashion industry and these 5 top models have all shared their own thoughts on the big shift.
Cindy Crawford
Cindy believes instagram models have more control: “I’m a little bit jealous that they have social media, because I think that through the use of social media, they are better able to help shape their own image. I think my generation of models, we were perceived the way we were – you know – through our pictures. On social media, you can create or just illuminate your own image, and I think some of the young models are really good at it. I think that more and more social media presence is what will helps you start your own clothing line or campaign or end up on a cover of a magazine.”
Eva Herzigova
Eva thinks the whole landscape of the fashion industry has now changed: “This is a new age for the modelling industry and you get all kinds of people involved in fashion. From the point of view of aesthetics I’m not really interested in the social media success girls, but beauties that create an image to remember inspire me.”
Karlie Kloss
Karlie believes designers are using models with large followings to their advantage: “It’s an interesting sign of the times that models are being booked for jobs and covers because of their following on a social media platform. I walked in the Balmain show for Olivier Rousteing. If you rounded up all the numbers of the majority of his line-up, there would be upwards of 10, 15 million followers.”
Karolina Kurkova
Karolina questions how long instagam famous models can last: “When I started modeling there was no social media, I didn’t come from a rich family and I didn’t date anyone famous – my work spoke for me. I’m glad, because I learned discipline, dedication and patience, and it kept me grounded. Now you can be famous so easily and it’s dangerous, it can mess with your head. People are coming from left and right with two million followers and, whether they say they’re a model or a stylist, they’ve never trained, never worked with anybody, never sacrificed anything. They’re taking work from people who gave up their time and energy to learn their craft. I’m not judging, but who’s going to have the longevity? You might be cool right now, but how long will it last? Are people going to get tired of you?”
Naomi Campbell
Naomi believes those who rise through instagram haven’t worked as hard: “I just feel like my generation of women — like Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Claudia [Schiffer] — we had to earn our stripes and take our stepping stones to get to where we have gotten to accomplish what we have achieved to this date. I kind of feel like, ‘My God, we’ve worked so hard, and we are still working at it.’ Then it just comes like that for them, but I sometimes believe easy come, easy go.”
