The New Jenner-ation

On a cold February morning in the royal city of Jaipur, Kendall Jenner, fashion’s current princess, sits down with PRIYANKA PARKASH for a freewheeling chat about being on the road, her mirth over being called a street-style star, and why this shoot with Mario Testino for Vogue India is her most exciting one yet

- Priyanka Parkash

NY-Jaipur-Shanghai… Just 72 hours in the life of supermodel and Insta-star Kendall Jenner. If those frequent-flier miles don’t make you dizzy, stomach this: over 75 million Instagram followers, 14 Vogue covers, around 85 runway shows, contracts with Victoria’s Secret, Estée Lauder and Calvin Klein, a fashion line with her sister and a burgeoning photography career. Did I mention she’s only 21?

Hers is, clearly, the face the fashion industry is betting on. Jenner’s meteoric rise (in an early season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the shy teenager showed her mother a flipbook of pictures she shot of herself, and declared to their nearly 5 million viewers, “I want to model”) is, of course, a result of talent, hard work and dedication on the young beauty’s part, but it’s also a reflection of the social culture in which we are currently living.

For those who’ve been living under a rock, Jenner is part of the Kardashian - Jenner mega empire presided over by matriarch and momager Kris and includes children from her first marriage to Robert Kardashian (OJ Simpson’s close friend and lawyer, famously immortalised in the recent Netflix show)—Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Robert—and daughters from her second marriage to Olympian Bruce Jenner (now known as Caitlyn), Kendall and Kylie. Keeping up? With numerous fashion and beauty brands, video games, makeover shows, books and more endorsements than you can imagine under their belt, they’ve made a business of living their lives. And those lives—messy, chaotic and in all their glory—are showcased on prime time, in Snapchat filters and updated constantly through their very popular apps.