Now That Kendall Jenner Walked the Runway for Giles, Is a Full-Blown Fashion Career Inevitable?

February 18, 2014

Kendall Jenner just followed her Marc Jacobs debut with another runway appearance, this one at Giles in London. As Jenner explained in a backstage interview with Grazia Daily, she was selected for both shows by stylist and LOVE editor Katie Grand: “She’s amazing. She’s been a great person to be around and I really appreciate her supporting me.

Although Jenner’s Kardashian klan status makes it easy to discount her fashion week performances as stunt casting on the part of publicity-hungry brands (to be fair, the sheer top she wore on the runway at Marc Jacobs doesn’t offer much evidence to the contrary), it’s worth remembering that the 18-year-old is represented by one of New York’s top modeling agencies, The Society — a new division of Elite Paris which focuses on long-term branding. The Society doesn’t sign stunt fodder, and by all accounts, Jenner is serious about having a fashion career. “The second time [I met Jenner], we got chatting and I was surprised how intent she was about modeling — just like all the other girls,” Katie Grand told Fashionista.

If representation weren’t enough of a reason to take Jenner’s fashion aspirations seriously, her newly-solidified position as a Grand golden girl should be. As the London Evening Standard reportedly once put it, “What Katie does—and Katie says—is as influential as it gets.”

And as a powerful social media following increasingly becomes a factor in a model’s ability to win lucrative contracts (we heard that one Australian model lost out on a blue-chip fashion campaign to Cara Delevingne solely on the basis of social media metrics), Jenner’s 8.7 million Instagram following won’t hurt her chances of success.

Another thing that happened at the yesterday’s Giles show? Delevingne filmed an Instagram video selfie from the runway; she has 4.3 million followers.