94 | FORBES ASIA DECEMBER 2017Forbes Life MOVING UP
Highest-Paid Models
BY NATHALIE ROBEHMEDKendall Jenner takes the crown from Gisele.
F
or the first time since 2002,
Gisele Bundchen is not
the world’s highest-earn-
ing model. Kendall Jenner,
22, steals the top spot with a
mammoth $22 million year.
Thanks to an Instagram account
that lets her disseminate advertise-
ments to 85 million followers, Jen-
ner tallied a career-best total in the 12
months to June from favorable deals
with Estée Lauder, La Perla and Adi-
das, among others. Paychecks from her
family’s reality TV show, her Kendall +
Kylie clothing line with her sister, Kylie
Jenner, and numerous social media en-
dorsements juice her modeling money.
She edges Bundchen ($17.5 million)
who had a quieter year. The 37-year-
old still posed for a Carolina Herrera
fragrance and Arezzo shoes and
Vivara jewelry in her native Brazil, but
fewer campaigns meant her take-home
dipped 43% from 2016’s $30.5 million
total.
Rounding out the top three is Chris-
sy Teigen ($13.5 million), who joins the
list for the first time. With an outsize
social following, the foodie and former
Sports Illustrated cover girl mints mil-
lions from deals beyond fashion, in-
cluding advertisements with beverage
brands such as Vita Coco and Smirnoff.
Together, the world’s 10 highest-
paid models banked $109.5 million be-
tween June 1, 2016, and June 1, 2017,
before taxes and fees. Earnings are
based on income from cosmetics, fragrance and other con-
tracts; estimates are sourced from interviews with numerous
managers, agents and brand executives.
As fashion changes, so do the rankings of highest-paid
models. Take Instagram-famous newcomer Bella Hadid (No.
9, $6 million), who joins the top earners thanks to a busy
year posing for more than a dozen brands including Dior
makeup, Nike and Nars cosmetics. Her sister, Gigi Hadid,outearns her by $3.5 million, marking the
first time siblings have ever appeared on
the highest-paid models list. “With social
media there are more opportunities to cre-
ate your own content and use your voice,”
said Ivan Bart, president of IMG Models.
“The stars are using it.”
Karlie Kloss ($9 million) is one such
multi-talent eager to speak up. With a
YouTube channel and a forthcoming talk
show on Freeform, she has leveraged a
large social audience—some 12.6 mil-
lion followers across platforms—to grow
Kode With Klossy, a nonprofit that aims
to balance the gender disparity in soft-
ware engineering and has educated more
than 500 girls so far. “I realized, here I
am with this platform and reach to young
women across the country and around the
world,” Kloss told Forbes. “If I could just
help a handful of girls, that would be real-
ly meaningful.”
By decentralizing fame, social media
has empowered women once ignored by
fashion. Ashley Graham ($5.5 million)
built her own audience instead of relying
for exposure on editorial shoots, which
rarely feature models beyond sample size.
The first curve model to make our high-
est-paid list, Graham has her own lines for
Addition Elle, Dressbarn and Swimsuits
For All, plus campaigns for Lane Bryant
and H&M, among others. “It is not about
who has the highest cheekbones anymore,”
the 30 Under 30 honoree told Forbes in- “It is really about how to be a boss, a
brand and a businesswoman.”
Though fashion is taking steps towards inclusivity,
Liu Wen ($6.5 million) remains the only nonwhite model
among the top ten. But change is coming: A recent survey
by FashionSpot found that for the first time nonwhites ac-
counted for more than 30% of the models cast in fall 2017
advertising campaigns, meaning models of color are now
booking not just low-paying catwalks but lucrative adver-
tisements, too. - KENDALL JENNER $22.0 MIL
- GISELE BUNDCHEN 17.5 MIL
- CHRISSY TEIGEN 13.5 MIL
- ADRIANA LIMA 10.5 MIL
- GIGI HADID 9.5 MIL
- ROSIE HUNTINGTON-WHITELEY 9.5 MIL
- KARLIE KLOSS 9.0 MIL
- LIU WEN 6.5 MIL
- BELLA HADID 6.0 MIL
- ASHLEY GRAHAM 5.5 MIL
Kendall
JennerF JACOPO RAULE/GETTY IMAGES