As Paris Fashion Week comes to an end, it is safe to say that Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid have dominated the scene. After the 80s, which were taken over by supermodels such as Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell, and then the 90s, which were all about waify models epitomized by Kate Moss – the growing importance of KenGi brings on a new age in the modeling industry and, some may say, its end.
Any recent Vogue magazine article that has covered either Kendall or Gigi mentions almost immediately their astronomical amount of followers on social media: about fifty-one million for Kendall and fourteen million for Gigi. They are the perfect reflection of today’s society where most people are under the control of social media. This is positive, as it reflects our reality, but it also brings an end to models being chosen solely for their physique. Because of this, KenGi is receiving a lot of hate as people accuse them of using their connections and not being deserving of their succss. According to the old rules of modeling, this is true, but social media and celebrity culture cannot be ignored any longer.
The Balmain fashion show was the perfect example of this shift, as Olivier Rousteing cast KenGi alongside numerous famous models such as Alessandra Ambrosio and Karlie Kloss. The Balmain show also reinforced the KenGi phenomenon by having Kendall and Gigi swap their hair colors using wigs. All of this lead to a lot of accusations of the Balmain shows being too “commercial,” as it used a lot of big names. This is a radical transformation from previous decades, but shows are made to sell and by choosing models that millions of women look up to, Balmain is sure to up its revenue. After all, designers have almost always followed trends; by hiring supermodels or Kate Moss they knew that their line would immediately be viewed as “cooler.”
-Marianne Demarolle
Image courtesy of: 20some.com