The Kendall Jenner Effect

I love to hate on the Kardashians.

But I am also mildly obsessed with them. I once did a six-hour marathon of Keeping Up With The Kardashians during my A-level exams (which is why I failed trigonometry. And science. Sorry, ma).

I used to anchor myself to the TV, kicking back my legs on the sofa & cackling with glee whenever Scott Disick threw shade at the Kardashians & their cronies.

I eagerly lapped up gossip articles on them like a thirsty cat, & proceeded to bombard them to my friends' phones like an uncontrollable BB gun.

In other words - I was E! Entertainment channel's devoted, humble servant.. & KUWTK, my master.

But sadly, time passed, & the hoo-ha about the Kardashians fizzled away... & along came Kendall Jenner, the second-youngest of the Kardashian clan, who made her foray into the fame-filled, glitzy world of modelling.

                                     

I couldn't run. Nor could I hide from Kendall the Omnipresent. Whenever I walked into a mall, she'd be on a poster outside a makeup or handbag store. Her lips pouted to rosebud-like perfection at Estée Lauder's boutique; her long legs airbrushed to infinity at Longchamp. She was on every single billboard or print-ad one could imagine. But sometimes she just seemed so...blah. Just where were the other stunning looking models who could truly express the power of the product, in its true glory?

I was infuriated - she didn't deserve to be up there, I thought.

The problem is...she looked pretty dang amazing in a lot of them.

But - KJ never worked her way to the top of the fashion industry. She never had to showcase her 'raw talent' like other models did, working day & night to make ends meet. She simply rode on the (business) connections her momager sent her way - probably spanning from the OJ Simpson/Robert Kardashian period, all the way to Hollywood's who's-whos. She rode on the wave that was the sex-scandal drama that catapulted Kim K to stardom, rubbing shoulders with the West's top fashion photographers & creative directors. Ah, nepotism.

KJ never experienced the trauma of casting rejections. Why should she, when she can pick up a phone & speed-dial her plastic-clonelike sisters to get her in the blink of an eye? What does KJ know about the mental & psychological torture that many models put themselves through to get that perfect casting call in a highly-competitive, fast-paced industry to support themselves or their sometimes financially-stricken families? What does she know about entering an industry that is bogged down by unrealistic standards of beauty, & makes sure to reject women because of these so-called 'values'?

Sad. There's a bunch of models I feel in today's industry who aren't given enough recognition as they deserve. Take Sara Sampaio for instance, who humbly pushed her way through coming from a small town in Portugal where there was no exposure, & a lack of modelling opportunities. Irina Shayk. Tyra Banks. The list is endless. The girls who are striving, struggling & selling their souls to be given a chance, but shunned because girls like KJ "got there first". It's high time to address the elephant in the room - creative directors & the fashion industry itself, that too, are to blame for breeding this privilege; they ought to break out of this elitist mindset & start giving opportunities to the truly deserving otherwise fashion can never truly progress.

Nah, KJ doesn't spin a "beauty is subjective & lies in the eyes of the beholder" narrative. She hasn't yet. But still. Maybe it's time for her to start openly recognising her privilege, & acknowledging it, instead of living in her elitist little safety bubble. It would be refreshing.

Until then, I'll keep hatin' on her.