There’s really no arguing it at this point: Karlie Kloss is a modern day super. With a TV show, a denim line, her own kookies, a pair of Victoria’s Secret angel wings and more ad campaigns and editorials than we can count, she’s obviously much more than a clothes hanger. She has celebrities at her birthday parties, walks red carpets, and gives interviews to magazines in addition to posing for them. Take this feature in the September issue of Vanity Fair for instance.
Such exposure is great for a model who wants to expand her repertoire beyond modeling–for instance, her fellow modern day super Joan Smalls, who is also featured in the VF article, says she hopes to get into acting.
One thing that such exposure apparently doesn’t help with: booking runway shows. Kloss told VF that the top excuse designers give her for not using her in a show is: “You are too famous. No one will pay attention to the clothes.”
It’s comparable to when someone like Lindsay Lohan tries to star in a movie. We’re all so used to seeing her out of that context, it’s hard to focus on anything else. And Kloss is still far from tabloid fodder. But she is recognizable. When we see her on a runway, we might sometimes think, “Karlie!” before noticing what she’s wearing.
At the same time, there seem to be designers who want that. Like remember when Alexander Wang put a bunch of ’90s supermodels in his show? That obviously wasn’t just about the clothes. Plus, designers will often nab one or two big name models as exclusives to open and/or close their shows. They add excitement.
Guess it’s just another one of the fashion industry’s many contradictions.