Fashion Models Should Speak Aloud More Often (Especially Lauren Hutton)

Vogue took video of a model roundtable it convened with industry legends from Lauren Hutton and Iman, to Karlie Kloss and Caroline Trentini. And oh, how awkward it was between Paulina Porizkova and Naomi Campbell!

In the article, an edited transcript of the proceedings at Minetta Tavern, Campbell is hard to dissuade from reminiscing about her era of fashion — Naomi’s main conversational mode in the segment being wistful self-aggrandizement. Her train of thought is interrupted when the Czech supermodel interjects:

Paulina: But it’s not the tight cliques anymore, which in a way is good, too, because if you were not part of the clique you were definitely left out.
Naomi: I don’t think so. I loved being part of a group of girls. It was so supportive.
Paulina: You were in a clique, Naomi.

In the video, the exchange doesn’t appear, and, what’s more, it seems edited so that Porizkova and Campbell have as little interaction as possible.

Which isn’t to say that the video is lacking for points of interest. Karlie Kloss, the 16-year-old St. Louis supermodel wünderkind, yearns for the days when fashion photography explored personality, and says the models of her generation are expected to be “blank slates” who “have to fit in the mold.” (She also says she was extremely hurt when a rumor, which was and is flatly untrue, surfaced last year that she suffered from anorexia and was seeking in-patient treatment.) Caroline Trentini admits she still lacks confidence in herself and her body, and Iman reflects on being Yves Saint Laurent’s muse for his “African Queen” couture collection. Lauren Hutton looks shocked when Trentini says that, until she took a holiday this winter, she had worked full-time all year, every year, for the past six years, from the age of 15 onwards. “That’s insane, that should not be allowed,” says Hutton. “That’s criminal.”

Porizkova takes that as her cue to get an ornery word in. Looking right at Kloss, who shot to industry fame when she was barely 15, Porizkova says, “If models were no longer 15 and 16, if there was an age prohibit, that would be a really great thing.” It’s impossible to tell Karlie’s reaction before a video montage of tea being poured rolls and someone changes the subject.

Naomi Campbell, Iman, Caroline Trentini, Karlie Kloss, And More Discuss The Business Of Modeling [Style.com]