This week, Kendall Jenner, the most soft spoken member of the famous family, got some serious shade thrown at her for a statement she made to Love Magazine about the modelling industry.
'Since the beginning we’ve been super selective about what shows I would do,' she said.
'I was never one of those girls who would do like 30 shows a season or whatever the f*ck those girls do.'
'More power to 'em. But I had a million jobs, not only catwalks but everything else.'
The comments understandably caused major backlash from the modelling community, with a number of high profile models taking to social media to condemn Jenner for her words.
However, the Love Magazine cover girl has since retracted her statement, claiming it was 'twisted' and taken 'out of context.'
'I was misrepresented in a recent interview over the weekend & it’s important to clarify the meaning,' she wrote on Twitter.
'It was intended to be entirely complimentary but unfortunately, my words were twisted & taken out of context. I want to be clear. The respect that I have for my peers is immeasurable!'
'I get to experience first hand their tireless commitment, their work ethic, the endless days, the lack of sleep, separation from family and friends, stress of travelling, the toll on physical and mental health, yet they still make it all look effortless and beautiful.'
'I’m inspired by so many of these people i have had the good fortune to work alongside! There’s no way i could EVER hate on that i want everyone to win. SLAY ALWAYS.'
Model Alliance, an advocacy group for people working in the global fashion industry in the modelling area, made a public statement inviting Jenner to join their movement, calling on brands and agencies to respect the limits of their models to create a safer environment free from abuse.
Taking to Instagram, the alliance's statement reads: 'We appreciate your candor in your recent interview for Love Magazine about the importance of mental health and your struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance. We also understand that some of your original comments might not represent fully what you meant and may have been taken out of context. Nonetheless, we wanted to explain why many models reacted the way they did.'
'Many working and aspiring models — girls who aspire to have a career as successful as yours — struggle with various abuses on the job in what remains a largely unregulated industry.'
'Sexual harassment and assault, pressures to lose weight, late and nonpayment, relentless work hours, and excessive, unexplained fees that leave models working in debt to their agencies are among the many problems that models routinely face.'
'Unfortunately, despite our organization’s efforts over the last several years to address these concerns, we have faced significant pushback from the industry — and models’ fears of retaliation for speaking out about the abuses they suffer are very real.'
'The good news is that we have the solution: the RESPECT Program. RESPECT is a global, industry-wide initiative to ensure that everyone working in the fashion industry is treated with dignity and respect on the job.'
'Your agency and other companies in the industry have the opportunity to join RESPECT, a program that over 100 models, including many of the industry’s leading names, publicly support.'
Jenner has yet to respond to the invitation.
