Friday Mess-age : What models really think of Kendall Jenner
Kendall Jenner has had quite the year, she has been the cover of tons of magazines, walked fashion week runways and was even recently announced to be the new face of Chanel. But it seems not everyone is happy for Kendall. In a long open letter published on The Blot fellow model Arisce Wanzer expressed her feelings about Kendall’s journey to the fashion industry. She points out that other models come from an underprivileged background and struggle to get into the fashion industry whereas Kendall seems to have received her success easily. Also taking a dig at her mother.
Read the full letter:
Dear Kendall,
Take a moment and remove yourself from your current situation, if you can, to a life that isn’t riddled
with excess and only hearing the word “yes” to your wants and requests. Now, imagine you’re from a
small town and/or Third-World country where your only way to get out of your current social class,
achieve your dreams, get a green card or just gain better work conditions is to become a high-fashion
model. You have to leave for six months to a year sometimes, signing contracts you can barely
understand, let alone oblige to, almost without choice. You’re away from your family, your friends and
everything you know. You live in a one-bedroom apartment with six other girls in the same situation in
this Big Apple, New York City.
Did I mention you’re only 17 when all of this goes down? That means you have to go to tutoring and/or
English lessons in between learning how to “walk” at the agency, attending castings every other day,
going on test shoots to get you experience, trying to learn your new neighborhood, going to the gym
and hoping to maybe make some money all at once. Oh, and your apartment and test shoots aren’t
free, by the way. They are added to your account with the agency, as are your casting outfits and
cellphone. These are going to leave you in some serious debt if nobody books you for anything; some
girls owe upward of $30,000 after a year of trying to book gigs, so take that into perspective as well,
Miss Jenner.
So now let’s pretend you actually lived through all of that, and it’s finally Fashion Week. Exciting, right?
This could be your big break! You could send your family in Belarus or Woodbridge, Va., the money
they need for your little brothers to have new clothes and/or books for school and/or even afford a plane
ticket home for the holidays! Imagine standing in line after line of girls with your exact height and body
measurements all day, each one hoping for a coveted spot on the New York Fashion Week runway.
Casting after casting, and you just can’t seem to get your place. But suddenly after a week full of the
word “No,” killing yourself at the gym, exhausting yourself in classes, cutting your diet in half, not talking
with your family and sleeping in a room with six equally exhausted girls, you get the call. Your agent
texts you with an 8 a.m. fitting at Marc Jacobs. Oh my god, you’re going to walk for Marc Jacobs! This
is a dream come true, someone finally said yes, and the prestige is beyond what you could have
imagined! So you pack your model bag, a bottled water, your walking shoes and agency-approved
casting outfit. This could be your big break, assuming they don’t cut your look last minute, a common
practice done to no-name girls, so fingers crossed!
The fitting was perfect, your garment is amazing, and Marc was SO nice! And cute, too! One last fitting
after that one, and it’s show time; you’re finally going to debut everything you’ve worked so hard for.
You get to prove to your family that you left everything behind for a great cause, and you can finally pay
back all of your agency debt, not to mention the money your parents lent you to make ends meet.
It’s the morning of the show, and you’re up and ready, grab some fresh fruit to nibble on, pack your bag,
and you’re out the door. The subway is packed with lots of models, agents, buyers and fashion people
in general, all exhausted, but ready to work. You’ve been bumped/tripped by both a hairstylist’s travel
kit and a makeup guys’ enormous Caboodles-like suitcase, all before 10 a.m. You walk into Lincoln
Center, and it’s like magic … you can’t believe you’re here! You’ve finally made it!
Backstage is a commotion circus of clothes, hair, makeup, yelling, Fashion TV interviews … it’s an
Instagram overload! All the big names are there, your personal heroes including Hanne Gaby Odiele,
Karlie Kloss, Joan Smalls, Jamie Bochert, Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs himself — the list goes on!
You’ve really hit the big leagues!
But wait, isn’t that a reality TV star over there in hair and makeup? Yea, that’s definitely a Kardashian or
something. What is she doing here? Did she take the subway? Was she at the casting? What agency is
she with? I didn’t see her last season … Does she need MORE fame? MORE money? A green card
perhaps? Doesn’t she get enough cash from that show that all of ignorant America glamorizes? Didn’t
her sister have sex with someone on camera and profit from the video sales to get their family its new
line of limelight? This girl didn’t do and doesn’t owe half of what you did (remember, you’re NOT “KJ” in
this scenario) to get here today, that much is certain. Her mommy surely called a top agency, got her in
the door and the design houses just chose to milk her fame like the cash cow that it is. One by one like
dominos from Vogue to Givenchy, fashion is selling out to the ignorant masses for money. What
happened to the art, the cerebral part of fashion? Did it really all die with Alexander McQueen?
Well, there goes the neighborhood, I guess. Gone is the prestige you once felt as a “chosen one” by
Marc, Anna or Ricardo — this cheapens your entire experience. You thought you were special, that
your hard work had finally paid off. You didn’t realize that these coveted spots were for sale. The cost?
The soul and dignity of a fashion house. The clothes will still sell, and the players will still play, but the
image will be forever tarnished by these real life Veruca Salts buying their way in with sleazy fame
rights.
You’re on to walk in five, so you’re smoking to calm your nerves. You need to ash your cigarette, and
there’s Kendall Jenner’s drink. You already feel a bit better.
Until next time, Ariscestocrats!
Arisce
In collaboration with Mess Magazine
The post Friday Mess-age : What models really think of Kendall Jenner appeared first on Fashion One News.