Kaia Gerber & Cindy Crawford on Their Careers, Social Media and the Modeling Industry | Vogue

a favorite person and a newly favorite person I'd like to give you a little gift this is the issue that you're in your name is on the cover and I'm gonna show the audience the pictures Cindy started out doing the cover this is August of 1986 with Richard Avedon the thing that I loved about those Avedon covers is they were just all about the face it's very different when you're using a fast camera when you're using a slow camera it's kind of like you have to you know find that moment and I remember one of the things he taught me which I have shared with kaya is like have a thought every time you look at that camera lens make sure you have a saw he goes I don't need to know what it what it is but don't have like a blank expression so if we just start out about the kind of the very basic dynamic of where you both approached the industry you know we were talking about this the other day that you know I'm from the Midwest I started modeling and you know Chicago doing catalogs did belt modeling once where my face wasn't even in the picture and you know when I finally got to New York I didn't know anything about anything I just came to New York I didn't know how to catch a cab I didn't know the light had to be on I wondered why some cab stopped and what son didn't and then I was like oh the light has to be on but no one told me that my mother didn't wear any makeup yeah I just didn't know anything about you know point of reference yeah but talk about a point of reference yeah I mean if anyone had a point of reference I think I definitely did so for me it wasn't a foreign world to go into I definitely felt like I understood it I knew what I was kind of getting into I'd been around it a lot I definitely think there are some things that no matter how much somebody can tell you about you know the industry there were a lot of things you do have to learn firsthand so for me it was it was definitely less scary to go into I have so much appreciation for women like my mom and the other girls who come you know they don't know anything a lot of the times they're not even English isn't even there for language so for me I definitely had a unique experience going into the industry and I think one of the things that that I did and khaya certainly has done and has more access is like when you go to work with a photographer or designer is like do your homework and under so that because I want to have a language like if I know this photographer shoots this way when I get to set I kind of already know what language we might be speaking that day as opposed to just walking in and not knowing anything about the editor or the designer or the photographer and I know already by the time kaya started in the fashion industry she was pretty well versed she I mean she teaches me stuff all the time designers and young photographers and just you know being prepared which is good advice for any job by the way but it also applies that brings us up to a very curious thing that really is a dynamic that is happening now which is social medias and that is really a definitive change for you wouldn't you say absolutely and that was something that my mom couldn't really teach me you know we were learning it together especially starting in an industry that was so heavily influenced by social media when you know that didn't exist when she was doing it and I think you know it's benefitted models and the industry as a as a whole in a lot of ways I feel like we've become a lot more accessible you know but when I see images of my mom from when she was modeling it was very selective you know you're seeing her on the cover of Vogue and that's it and so I think it allowed for people to have this kind of fantasy or fascination with models at the time because you weren't seeing them every single day you were seeing them shot by these incredible photographers with a whole team of people and you know now as models you see us from the second we wake up until we go to sleep and you're not just seeing us all done up which i think is really nice to realize you know you're not always looking like you look on the cover of Vogue but it also takes away a bit of that kind of magic and almost suspense for what's gonna come out next I don't think my generation grew up wanting to be models like you didn't even really think that it was a real job and then it was like the supermodel moment and then I really think like when I look back on it was like America's next top model like Tyra Banks made everyone believe like all of a sudden you too can be a model and then and then social media happened right after that and it was like everyone not only could be a model they were a model in their everyday life I mean there isn't a 12 year-old that doesn't know how to take a great selfie and how to retouch it perfectly and so when people would say like well how could you let kya start modeling so I'm like every every young person is modeling in their own life what I miss about like the old days like without sounding like my mother I got old days is that when when you're shooting with film and there was no monitor all the attention was on the set on the model so there was an aspect that you were performing in front of the hair the makeup the stylist like everyone's eyes were on you and when you're receiving that you put it on you you perform and then all of a sudden it I think really the first person that I that I knew that was really using digital in a like was Michael Thompson and all of a sudden everyone was hovered around the monitor and no and I'd be standing on set like guys I'm over here I feel alone and and so that was a big shift for me now for kaya she grew up with digital it's rare that you shoot on film you know now there you already see the cover laid out on a set in front and retouched every there's and retouch they'll be retouching in front of you and I think okay but I think you know it's it's cool to have that immediate like you can see it and you're doing it and you can build off of that but yeah I definitely and do you think that film there was like a more personal connection and it is a performance that you're putting on to some aspect so well and what I've noticed is sometimes like when when they're like okay we got it because they see it big and sometimes that next thing that was gonna happen was like the unplanned thing you know or for instance sometimes your modeling and you'll do something that looks bad but the next thing was gonna look good but they'll stop you at the bed and don't you remember we used to be like okay now we've got it let's just do two rolls for the heck of it and throw it away and that might be where the magic is I think that when you know Vogue has adopted the 18 year old policy which is very very important I mean I did start when I was 15 you started when you were young but I had a very very protective mother who was really looking after me and was making it you know I didn't yeah and also did show models so I didn't have to pursue it so right you had same thing yeah it's a way I think to start a conversation with the fashion industry when these roles came into play you know I between my first and second season doing shows was when the rules fully came into effect I remember the first time I really noticed someone asking me on set oh can i tuck your shirt in and for me as a model I had never thought about that but suddenly when they asked me I was like you know what that makes sense right like it is appropriate to ask can i tuck your shirt in and that definitely kind of something clicked in my head where I realized that now everyone was really making an effort to make sure everyone felt comfortable we definitely felt more encouraged to speak up it just felt more like a collaborative process but again I think bottom line is this these aren't issues that just we as models we're facing and and it's also whether you're 17 or 25 or 40 nobody should have to feel uncomfortable in their workplace regardless like for instance I've done a ton of nudes throughout my career you know with Herb Ritts and Helmut maybe but I never ever felt bad about it except for one time and it was because it wasn't supposed to be a nude and I kind of felt like a little pressured into it and this guy kind of I don't know he just kind of it felt not right and those are the only ones I regret and they're actually not even full news it was like from the back sort of but I didn't vote myself and I think that's the thing is like that that idea of voting yourself in is very important in any you know any situation sometimes it's like even you know I've had times where they wanted me to hold a gun and I was like yeah I don't really feel good about this or someone wanted to tape my face once and I was like don't feel good about this so you know and sometimes they don't like that you say no but but to your point now I think models feel more empowered to say no yeah and I think if anything that's definitely a positive change is just that we feel like there is more space for us to speak up because at the end of the day you know we are the ones who have to take responsibility for the images as well as everyone else on this shoot but you know whatever decision is made that day I want to know that you know I'm following asleep confident with my decisions because it is you know your figure face anywhere in your body and your life you know you never pushed me into the industry and it was a decision that you let me make on my own and obviously were so supportive and helped so much but I also didn't want to start until I felt self confident enough and you know like I knew myself enough to protect myself but yeah it is the most amazing industry I've never you know where else can you get so many creative minds in one room like even today sitting here with everyone and and being able to travel to all of these amazing place I can't imagine ever at first I can't taking any of it for granted modeling is like a hard job for kids to understand I remember my son telling his preschool that I didn't work because I guess I didn't have like a normal job that he understood plus I didn't work every single day so and I think you talked about this in your VOC piece that you wrote is that you know I would wash my hair and and makeup off the second I came home so it was like they really just saw me as mom and they didn't understand sometimes why we were like paparazzi were following us and how do we explain to a five-year-old why paparazzi is following you it doesn't it still doesn't make sense to me so and I then I was on like Wizards of Waverly Place and my kids thought that was cool that was like the first time that I was famous to my kids I was in right I was like wait so we're really - Lena Gomez no see you think I don't really know what you do right at an age where often like your 18 year old daughter is like doesn't necessarily want to listen to anything you have to say there this has been something that's brought us closer because it's she also can't say mom you don't know what you're talking about but about this no new and about I bought my captions on Instagram you also say that and she's right by the way I defer to her on any sort of learning things for me exactly but it's it's a fun journey for us to be on and I just went to Paris - well - for the Peter Lindbergh memorial but also I got to I went to this on the Ron show and went we went to the party afterwards and it was incredible for me as a mom to see Kaia like totally feeling comfortable in this world in her element like that was a really great trip I think for both of us it was and I think when I first started I was so you know careful to to be like I don't know if you should come to this and you know I I definitely wanted it to be my own thing but you know now I'm so happy that she's around and I'm like aw come stay for the show like she wasn't even gonna say I was like please come and stay we'll be fine yeah and ya know it's it's definitely brought us so much closer and for that you know I'm eternally grateful to this industry for doing that well that's all I can say yeah and Cindy I just have to say that as for mother to mother with children I mean it speaks enormous leave you it really reflects so incredibly on you and what you have given your daughter and you know I hope all the mothers in the room can can feel but you must be feeling well thank you but I I have to say she did come out pretty cooked already she's she's I I can't take all the credit but I will take I won't think so you are awesome well you lead by example thank you [Applause]

Channel: Vogue

Views: 2,722,081

Rating: 4.8916855 out of 5

Keywords: cindy crawford, cindy crawford interview, forces of fashion, kaia gerber, kaia gerber cindy crawford, modeling industry, cindy, kaia gerber interview, kaia, kaia and cindy, kaia gerber vogue, kaia gerber and cindy crawford, kaia gerber on modeling, kaia gerber on modelling, modelling industry, cindy crawford forces of fashion, kaia gerber forces of fashion, forces of fashion vogue, fof, forces of fashon kaia gerber, kaia gerber mom, cindy crawford daughter, vogue

Id: hgPftCGq3Aw

Length: 13min 50sec (830 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 26 2019