Kendall Jenner is this year’s highest paid model, raking in $22 million in the 12 months prior to June 2017.
For the first time since 2002, Gisele Bundchen is not the world’s highest-earning model. Kendall Jenner, 22, steals the top spot with a mammoth $22 million year.
Thanks to an Instagram account that lets her disseminate advertisements to 85 million followers, Jenner tallied a career-best total in the 12 months to June from favorable deals with Estée Lauder, La Perla and Adidas, among others. Paychecks from her family’s reality TV show, her Kendall + Kylie clothing line with her sister, Kylie Jenner, and numerous social media endorsements juice her modeling money.
She edges Bundchen (No. 2, $17.5 million) who had a quieter year. The 37-year-old still posed for a Carolina Herrera fragrance and Arezzo shoes and Vivara jewelry in her native Brazil, but fewer campaigns meant her take-home dipped 43% from 2016’s $30.5 million total.
Rounding out the top three is Chrissy Teigen (No. 3; $13.5 million), who joins the list for the first time. With an outsized social following, the former Sports Illustrated cover girl and foodie mints millions from deals beyond fashion, including adverts with beverage brands such as Vita Coco and Smirnoff.
Together, the world’s 10 highest-paid models banked a cumulative $109.5 million between June 1, 2016, and June 1, 2017, before taxes and fees. Earnings are based on income from cosmetics, fragrance and other contracts; estimates are sourced from interviews with numerous managers, agents and brand executives.
As fashion changes, so does the highest-paid models ranking. This year’s list is dominated by Insta-girls, celebrity scions–and features the first curve model to make the cut.
Take Instagram-famous newcomer Bella Hadid (No. 9; $6 million), who joins the top earners thanks to a busy year posing for more than a dozen brands including Dior makeup, Nike and Nars cosmetics. Her sister, Gigi Hadid (No. 5; $9.5 million) out-earns her by $3.5 million, marking the first time siblings have ever appeared on the highest-paid models list.
“With social media, there are more opportunities to create your own content and use your voice,” said Ivan Bart, President at IMG Models. “The stars are using it.
“If I could just help a handful of girls that would be really meaningful,” said Kloss.
Karlie Kloss (No. 7; $9 million) is one such multi-hyphenate eager to speak up. With a YouTube channel and forthcoming talk show on Freeform, she has leveraged a large social audience–some 12.6 million followers across platforms–to grow Kode With Klossy, a non-profit that aims to balance the gender disparity in software engineering and has educated more than 500 girls so far.
“I realized, here I am with this platform and reach to young women across the country and around the world,” Kloss told Forbes. “If I could just help a handful of girls that would be really meaningful.”
Social media has decentralized fame to empower women once ignored by fashion. Ashley Graham (No. 10; $5.5 million) built her own audience instead of relying on editorial shoots that rarely feature models beyond sample size for exposure. The first curve model to make our highest-paid list, Graham has her own lines for Addition Elle, Dressbarn and Swimsuits For All, plus campaigns for Lane Bryant and H&M, among others.
“It is not about who has the highest cheekbones anymore,” the 30 Under 30 honoree told Forbes in 2016. “It is really about how to be a boss, a brand and a businesswoman.”
Though fashion is taking steps towards inclusivity, Liu Wen (No. 8; $6.5 million) remains the only nonwhite model among the top 10. But change is coming: A recent survey by FashionSpot found nonwhite models accounted for more than 30% of the models cast in Fall 2017 advertising campaigns for the first time, meaning models of color are now booking not just low-paying catwalks but lucrative adverts, too.
While previous lists examined the top 20, this edition focuses on the 10 highest-paid women to give a true picture of modeling’s biggest moneymakers. Near misses include Joan Smalls, Taylor Hill, Candice Swanepoel and Lily Aldridge, who all banked just below the $5.5 million cut off.
Source: Forbes
