Following the leaders. Although Cindy Crawford is one of the most iconic supermodels in history, she thinks that the industry’s newbies have a long leg up on her. Social media didn’t exist during 50-year-old Crawford’s reign in the ’80s and ’90s. And for that, “I’m so jealous,” she told Cosmopolitan. “I feel they have this direct way to communicate with their audience that my generation didn’t have.”
She has a point: Kendall Jenner boasts 56.1 million followers on Instagram, while her bestie Gigi Hadid has more than 17.1 Insta-admirers. But Crawford (who has 1.2 million) realizes that those large numbers come with a hefty price.
“I think it’s a responsibility, but it’s also a great tool, because they really can be their own publicists,” she continued. “They can present themselves the way that they want to be presented.”
OGs such as Carolyn Murphy, who was Vogue’s Model of the Year in 1998, are also feeling the pressure of maintaining a digital presence. “I just got reprimanded last week for not Instagramming enough,” she said. “And I thought that seniority ruled. I thought, Well, if I’m almost 43, isn’t that Kendall Jenner’s job?”
But on the other hand, Amber Valetta doesn’t feel like faking it for followers. “It’s uncomfortable for me that we kind of have to manufacture moments,” she admitted. “Even though sometimes they are real moments. But at the same time, these girls are really smart and clever, and they figured out how to be brands.”
