In the summer of 2016, several veteran models told reporters that Kendall Jenner did not deserve to be called a supermodel. Miranda Kerr, an actual Victoria’s Secret Angel for six years before Jenner walked her first runway, said otherwise in February 2017.
Fast facts
- Kendall Jenner, 30, is a member of the Kardashian-Jenner family and founder of 818 Tequila, which landed a distribution deal with the spirits company Sazerac in April 2026.
- Miranda Kerr, 43, was Victoria’s Secret’s first Australian Angel and is founder of the skincare brand KORA Organics.
- Both women appeared on Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s highest-paid models in 2015 and 2016.
- In February 2017, Kerr publicly disagreed with several older-generation models who had said Jenner did not deserve to be called a supermodel.
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What Stephanie Seymour Actually Said
In June 2016, Victoria’s Secret veteran Stephanie Seymour spoke to Vanity Fair at the amfAR Inspiration Gala. Asked about the newer generation of models coming up through reality television and social media, she said this:
“They are completely different than we were. Supermodels are sort of the thing of the past. They deserve their own title. Bitches of the moment! That would be a good title for them.”
Seymour was talking about Jenner and her friend Gigi Hadid. Jenner answered publicly within days. “If you’re going to tell us not to be in ‘your moment,’ then don’t be in mine,” she wrote online, adding that she planned to “be a positive influence on anyone younger” instead of criticizing other models.
Janice Dickinson and Rebecca Romijn said much the same thing that year, both arguing that Jenner and Hadid’s fame came from social media followings rather than modeling ability.
Why Miranda Kerr’s Opinion Carried Weight
Kerr was one of the models PopSugar later asked for her take. Unlike Seymour, Dickinson, and Romijn, she and Jenner had both been guests at the same event around that time, a party celebrating Harper’s Bazaar’s 150th anniversary tied to the magazine’s February 2017 issue.
Kerr didn’t hedge. “They’re doing so well. It’s great to see them out there and being so versatile,” she said, describing how Jenner and Hadid moved between commercial work and high fashion editorials. “Back in the day, it was either you’re an editorial model or a commercial model,” she explained. “It’s good to do commercial and editorial because it shows a lot of versatility.”
By 2017, Kerr hadn’t been a Victoria’s Secret Angel in four years, and had already spent that time growing her own skincare company.
The Numbers Forbes Was Already Tracking
Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid models is a factual record of how each woman’s career was actually valued during this period.
| Year | Miranda Kerr | Kendall Jenner |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | No. 6, $5.5 million | No. 16, $4 million (her debut) |
| 2016 | No. 10, $6 million | Top 3 (tied), $10 million |
| 2017 | No ranking found | No. 1, $22 million |
| 2018 | No ranking found | No. 1, $22.5 million |
Jenner’s 2017 ranking made her the highest-paid model in the world, ending Gisele Bรผndchen’s run at the top of the list, which had lasted since 2002. Kerr’s own highest-ever ranking, No. 2 in 2013 at $7.2 million, was less than half of what Jenner earned four years afterward. Forbes’ rankings don’t show Kerr again after 2016. She married Snap Inc. co-founder Evan Spiegel the following year, in May 2017, and continued building her own company.
Kendall Jenner’s Tequila Deal
In April 2026, Sazerac, the Kentucky spirits company that owns Buffalo Trace and Fireball, announced a strategic partnership and financial investment in 818 Tequila. Jenner launched 818 in February 2021. The deal gives Sazerac exclusive rights to sell and distribute the brand across the United States.
The terms of the investment were not disclosed. According to Forbes, 818 has posted double-digit growth every year since 2023, even as the broader tequila category slowed down.
“I’m so excited for this next era of 818 Tequila,” Jenner said in a statement announcing the deal. “We’ve built something I’m incredibly proud of.”
Miranda Kerr Had Already Built the Same Kind of Business
Kerr’s version of this came earlier, and from a different direction. She was previously married to actor Orlando Bloom, with whom she has a son.
She launched KORA Organics, her organic skincare line, in 2009, seven years before Seymour’s comment, while she was still walking Victoria’s Secret’s runway every season. The company expanded internationally starting in 2017 and now sells in 30 countries, according to its own website.
Kerr has said the brand grew out of her own search for skincare that actually worked, shaped partly by her mother’s cancer diagnosis. She remains the company’s founder and CEO.
