“This Is How Gigi Hadid Does Casual Friday”

“Is That You, Kaia Gerber? Cindy Crawford’s Mini-Me Goes Blonde for a Day”

“Why Kendall Jenner’s Courtside Make-Under Is a Game-Day Win”

On Vogue.com, where all of these headlines are from, there is a category of articles called “Models.” There are also categories called “Celebrity Style” and “Celebrity Beauty.” But even though the three headlines above are about models, they’re found in these latter two celebrity categories.

Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner essentially ran Fashion Month this year, completely taking over the media. There were fewer, but still a significant amount, of articles dedicated to model Bella Hadid, Gigi’s younger sister. Kaia Gerber, supermodel Cindy Crawford’s 14-year-old daughter who has already become a well-known model herself, also stole the media spotlight.

These models, who are all dominating the high-fashion runway and photo shoot scene, aren’t just stuck in the modeling world — they also seem to be taking over the celebrity scene. They are idolized by young girls, they have millions of followers on social media and their looks are being copied and written about as more than the typical “model off-duty fashion” stories.

These girls are being recognized for much more than their runway walks — they’re the new stars.

Supermodels were also idolized and popularized in the ‘90s when “The Big Six” reigned: Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford. These supermodels are still household names, but after their decline, there wasn’t a new group to take their place. That’s where the celebrities came in.

The rise of celebrities in fashion can be credited to Anna Wintour, who became editor-in-chief of Vogue in 1988. In the late ‘90s, Wintour decided that the supermodel era was over and put Madonna on the cover of Vogue — the first celebrity cover model. She continued the trend over the next few years, and it stuck. Actresses, singers and other well-known stars became the norm for fashion magazine covers.

This past year, Jenner and Hadid have consistently landed covers on other magazines and international editions of Vogue — Hadid has 11 international Vogue covers and Jenner has eight so far. Neither has landed the cover of American Vogue yet, but only time will tell if they soon will.

The interesting thing about these celebrity models, though, is that they are both models and celebrities in their own right. Jenner grew up on reality TV with the Kardashians, and Hadid’s mom is Yolanda Foster of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Both girls are regularly featured in their respective family reality TV programs. So although they are both talented models, they’ve found celebrity fame through other outlets. Even Gerber, who isn’t on a reality TV show, rose to the spotlight through her famous mother.

Despite the fact that all these girls are gorgeous and undoubtedly talented at modeling, their prior relationships with the media have likely helped them get to where they are today. Since the world has already been exposed to them as celebrities, they can easily blend the worlds of celebrity and model.

There is a new line of what classifies a celebrity versus a model. And in a world where every star seems to be doing it all, the line is extremely blurry. When the next cover of Vogue features a celebrity-model, we won’t know if it is due to their model fame, celebrity fame or maybe a perfect combination of both. However you classify them, one thing is certain: they are the new It girls.

Jackie Homan is a sophomore magazine journalism major. Her column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email her at jahoman@syr.edu or follow her @jackie_homan on Twitter.

Published on March 21, 2016 at 8:08 pm