Fashion’s American sweetheart Karlie Kloss has made one of the most impressive modelling debuts of the past decade. Successfully sustaining the hype around her to carve out a top-tier international career, she was declared by French Vogue to be one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.
Born in Chicago and raised in St Louis, Kloss’ career began with a shoot for Scene Magazine Chicago, shot by David Leslie Anthony. Her agency, Elite Chicago, sent the tear sheets to Elite New York, who immediately arranged to meet the 16 year old.
Kloss’ agency sent the aspiring model to walking classes to negate the effects of years of "turning out" as a ballet dancer. The model was soon working, however, appearing in an Abercrombie & Fitch campaign shot by Bruce Weber. In 2008, her breakout year, she left Elite to join Next and walked in 31 shows in New York Fashion Week alone, opening Carolina Herrera and securing the prestigious position of closing for Marc Jacobs .
As well as walking for almost every major fashion house, Kloss has fronted countless ad campaigns, from Marc Jacobs’ Lola fragrance to Christian Dior, to Barneys. She has also launched Klossy, a Youtube channel which offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the fashion industry.
The model, now signed to IMG, has also branched out beyond fashion, creating Karlie’s Kookies with Momofuku Milk Bar, part of the proceeds of which are donated to children’s charity FEED. In 2015, she founded Kode With Klossy, an initiative to get girls into coding, after being inspired by entrepreneur friends to attend a coding boot camp herself.
Kloss currently resides in New York with her husband Joshua Kushner.
