Madonna’s 24-year-old daughter Lourdes Leon and Cindy Crawford’s 19-year-old daughter Kaia Gerber have joined an exciting and illustrious group with their latest Vogue appointment: per writer Maya Singer, they are two in a group of models who are “changing an industry,” joined by fellow runway and glossy magazine aficionados Bella Hadid, Precious Lee, Anok Yai, Sherry Shi, Yumi Nu, and Ariel Nicholson. These young, innovative additions to the fashion scene all grace the cover of Vogue‘s September issue, and Madonna and Crawford’s daughters have plenty to say about how the industry has misunderstood them so far.
“People think I’m this talentless rich kid who’s had everything given to her, but I’m not,” Leon tells Vogue‘s Singer, adding that she paid for her own college education and lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
“I get a lot of ‘Oh, another dumb model,'” Gerber later chimes in. Surrounded by models who made fashion history — Yumi Nu was the first Asian curve model to be featured in Sports Illustrated‘s Swimsuit Issue recently, while Ariel Nicholson makes history with this very cover as the first transgender model to be the face of Vogue — Leon and Gerber are speaking on behalf of their own revolution: the push to take models and artists in general at more than just face value.
Gerber has spoken before about insecurities she felt around the value placed on her image over what she had to say, and Leon certainly shares her disdain for the limiting power of being viewed as just a face. For Gerber, she wants to be clear that it isn’t the models themselves who have changed in this new day and age, but the industry around them that’s suddenly dramatically shifted.
“[Mom Cindy Crawford] always had plenty to say — she just didn’t have Instagram,” Gerber said.
For Leon, paving her own way in fashion has meant eschewing anything that looked like what came before, only agreeing to make her runway debut with unconventional thinkers like Uribe’s Gypsy Sport and exploring her artistic expression through dance.
“A teacher of mine made me understand movement in a whole new way,” Leon shared with Vogue. “You’re using your body to define the space around you — to change it. That’s a very naked form of expression.”
These young women are making it their mission to leave the fashion industry a more diverse and thoughtful place than they left it — and, frankly, they have a steeper hill to climb given their famous parents and the expectations that come with their growing up in the spotlight. In some ways, one day gracing the cover of Vogue was always going to be the birthright of these women. But it’s what they have to say when they get there that has the power to make all the difference.
Before you go, click here to see celebrity kids who are all grown up.
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