“I had this Hannah Montana life, the best of both worlds”: So says Karlie Kloss as she reflects on her life in looks for Vogue. Not many 15-year-olds can say that the first week of high school was also when they booked their first runway show, walking for Calvin Klein. But that is precisely what happened to Kloss, who, four days into her freshman year, was walking on the corner of 35th and 7th when she got a call from her agent saying, “You booked the exclusive!” She wrapped up her high school career in a similarly out-of-the-box fashion: “I went to my high school prom on Friday, and the following Monday I went to the Met Gala—both wearing Dior.”
During the more glamorous part of her double life, she traveled to Fashion Week in Europe with an unusual entourage (her mom and teacher) and met designers who gave her valuable advice. At her very first Alexander McQueen show in 2009, aware of what a privilege it was to walk for the designer, her nerves got to her. She walked up to McQueen and said, “I’m so nervous. I hope I don’t ruin your show because I might trip.” McQueen responded, “If you trip, own it. You own the dress. The dress does not own you.” Kloss did end up getting the dress stuck on her heel but didn’t fall like she worried she would. Instead, she used the opportunity to dramatically pick up her dress and throw it down, which went on to become the campaign imagery for the collection.
Soon after that, she appeared in her first Victoria’s Secret fashion show. “I first walked in 2011, right after I graduated high school,” says Kloss. “It was many years after I started my career, but it was the first time my friends back home had ever seen me on a runway.” She was one of the world’s most famous faces, but she was also a student attending New York University. Her model friend and mentor Christy Turlington encouraged her to pursue college and also wrote her a letter of recommendation—talk about an iconic way to start your higher education.
Of course, an examination of Kloss’s career isn’t complete without her legendary moments in Vogue. Not only did she chop her hair off for the magazine per Anna Wintour’s request, but she also got to be on a September cover with fellow models and Instagirls like Joan Smalls, Cara Delevingne, and more. “Being on a Vogue cover is like winning the Super Bowl,” says Kloss. “But being on a September Vogue cover is like you won a Nobel Peace Prize. As a model, it doesn’t get any better than that.”