SEVEN MINUTES & A SELFIE
Itinerant model, digital powerhouse and now the face of Swarovski, the ever-busy Karlie Kloss takes a moment with Alice Birrell.
Model and digital powerhouse Karlie Kloss is now the face of Swarovski.
These days the meeting of a celebrity is accompanied by a standard ritual: greetings, small talk and a selfie. The modern-day equivalent of an autograph, the selfie has ousted the scrawled name on memorabilia as a memento of an A-list meeting. So it was that model Karlie Kloss is taking photos of herself on my phone, trying different angles, and pivoting 90 degrees on a settee in a Midtown penthouse to face an arched window. Head resting on her chin, a pout, blowing a kiss, an adorable smile. “Daylight is the best light,” she says knowingly before handing back a perfect scroll of 10 portraits taken at speed.
She’s just f lown back to her current home of New York to take up the mantle of Swarovski’s new global brand ambassador. In a lean black suit, heels and carmine lipstick, the selfie, incidentally, is her idea, though it will make our precisely timed seven-minute interview run over. Kloss, model and now entrepreneur, is fluent in digital. Passionate about women getting more involved in the tech industry, she’s established her own coding scholarship, Kode with Klossy, launched her own YouTube channel, and has at last count a combined following of 8.4 million across social media.
For a brand like Swarovski, this makes Kloss irresistible as a brand face. The purveyor of crystals since 1895, supplier to a multitude of fashion houses and creator of its own line of jewellery, among other various categories, including optical and lighting, the Austrian brand’s reach is wide, and given that many of its light fittings hang in homes globally, truly a household name. Kloss’s clout is a match for the behemoth. “We wanted to continue finding a muse with multi-facets,” says Swarovski creative director Nathalie Colin, drawing a tidy comparison with crystals. “She’s very connected, she’s very digital-savvy … I think she will bring a sense of spontaneity, freshness.”
On Kloss’s part, the role was accepted without hesitation, taking up the mantle from predecessor Miranda Kerr. “I’ve worn Swarovski crystals since the beginning of my career on couture gowns on the runway or on red carpets or also in real life – I promise it does exist!” she says laughing. “I think it’s a really modern-thinking company.” As part of her role, Kloss has already collaborated on a series of online videos – short humorous snippets filled with Karlie-isms. “In real life she’s Karlie; she doesn’t try to be a different person,” says Colin. “She’s
“IN REAL LIFE SHE’S KARLIE, SHE DOESN’T TRY TO BE A DIFFERENT PERSON”
spontaneous and she has this accessibility, which is so important: she’s much beyond a beautiful face.”
For those not already familiar, the 121-year-old brand, maker and supplier of fine crystals has a history full to bursting with fashion connections. The brand supplied crystals for Josephine Baker’s costumes, Audrey Hepburn’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s tiara, Dorothy’s ruby slippers and Cristóbal Balenciaga and Christian Dior’s 1950s couture creations. More recently, for Alexander McQueen’s surreal mesh hoods, for Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Rodarte and Christopher Kane … the list is extensive. For the new autumn/winter ’16/’17 Atelier Swarovski collection, the brand’s high-end pieces, designers Rosie Assoulin, Peter Pilotto and Jean Paul Gaultier have created capsules for release in October.
An ability to keep step with the times has stood Swarovski in good stead. Joining her great-great-grandfather’s company in 1995, head of corporate communications and design services Nadja Swarovski is credited for repositioning the company as the go-to brand for the fashion industry, working extensively with designers and partnering with the CFDA. Today, Colin says, Swarovski’s agility is key. “We have evolved with the way our consumers have evolved as well. Jewellery used to once be considered only for special occasions. That’s finished now. Even statement jewels are worn during the day with a pair of jeans and sneakers. All the frontiers are broken.”
As for Kloss, her own evolution is undeniable. The model’s Facebook page states she’s a “public figure”, which is fact now that her commitments have moved beyond just runway and editorial and into ambassadorship – L’Oréal before Swarovski, Victoria’s Secret before that – the sign of a modern model with staying power. “It feels like dog years in a way,” she reflects on her graduation from runway to model/mogul category. This year she made Time’s 100 Most Influential People list. “I think the only explanation I have is just sheer dumb luck that I’ve stuck around this long, mixed with hard work.” Dumb luck perhaps, but no mean feat in an industry influenced by a digital cycle replenished by the second.
At 24 years old, pursuing philanthropy and studying at New York University, Kloss has come of age. Proceeds from her line of vegan cookies, Karlie’s Kookies, made in conjunction with Momofuku Milk Bar, have raised money for Feed, Hurricane Sandy relief and the CFDA in the past. She has almost a decade of work with blue-chip photographers such as Arthur Elgort, Patrick Demarchelier and David Sims to her name. Her walk – louche but spirited – is etched into contemporary fashion lore. As her friend Dree Hemingway once sagely said: “Karlie’s been around forever: she’s in her late early 20s.”
Swarovski knows it’s lucky to have her. “It’s giving her a platform to express a view,” says Colin. “On how to wear jewellery; tips that she can share with our younger generation of consumers.” And that plays a large part in what makes a model desirable to a brand today. That and knowing there’s always time for a selfie.