Supermodel Gisele Bündchen – the highest-paid model in the world for 15 years – has finally been knocked off the top spot.
Kendall Jenner has knocked Bündchen off the top spot for the first time since 2002, after leveraging her reality star fame to become the most profitable model in the industry.
Although a relative newcomer to the world of high-fashion modelling, especially when compared to 37-year-old veteran Giselle, Jenner – half-sister of Kim Kardashian-West has taken the industry by storm.
According to Forbes, Jenner’s earnings totaled £16.6m ($22m) this year, which “are in large part due to deals with Estee Lauder, La Perla and Adidas, among others, in addition to her Kendall + Kylie clothing line” she shares with her sister. Jenner’s earnings also come from her family’s outrageously popular reality TV show, and the money she rakes in through social media endorsements targeted to her 85 million followers.
Somewhat surprisingly, Jenner, who is just 22 years old, has already scored some extremely covetable modelling opportunities, including “a cover on Vogue’s September issue, a lead spot on the Marc Jacobs Runway, and as the face of Estee Lauder.”
However, social media may have been one of Jenner’s biggest earners. According to Forbes, “This year’s list is dominated by Insta-girls, including the Instagram-famous sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid.”
As Ivan Bart, president at IMG Models, explained: “With social media, there are more opportunities to create your own content and use your voice, and the stars are using it.”
Overall, it seems like 2017 was an excellent year for Jenner, despite the distasteful Pepsi incident she was involved in earlier in the year. Fortunately for Jenner, it does not seem like it affected her millions.
As for Bündchen, this year the model earned a mere £13.2m ($17.5m), putting her securely in second place and £3m ($4m) ahead of third place Chrissy Teigen, who made the Forbes list for the first time.
Who else is wondering how Bündchen feels about losing her first place crown? We can take a guess…
