"I'm the biggest dork," proclaims Kaia Gerber with a grin. "Not just at this party, but, like, everywhere. It's okay," she shrugs. "I've accepted it."
The trouble is, nobody else has.
In a few short months, Ms. Gerber—age 15—has quickly become an in-demand fashion force, with campaigns for Alexander Wang and Miu Miu in the bag. This season, she stars in the new ads for Marc Jacobs Beauty, and her new LOVE magazine cover (shot by Kendall Jenner) just hit newsstands.
The rising model's success is thanks partly to her pret-a-pedigree: mother is Cindy Crawford, father is tequila baron Rande Gerber. But she's pulling a lot of the load on her own, cultivating one million Insta-friends, studying for classes between fashion shows, and stealing her brother's sweatshirts on the DL.
We spoke with the high school sophomore at her Marc Jacobs Beauty launch party, which started at nine and ended promptly at midnight, because 15-year-old girls have bedtimes (and we do, too).
Marc Jacobs is your first beauty campaign. What makeup tricks did you learn on-set?
Diane Kendal was the makeup artist, and she showed me this new way of looking at makeup. It's editorial and edgy but it still transfers to your everyday life. She showed me things to do on myself that I would have never tried, but after working with her, I actually started using teal matte eyeliner. It's good for bringing out brown eyes. If you do it the right way, it really works.
Does your mom try to help you with makeup, too?
My mom is very much about "less is more." She showed me how to use makeup to enhance your beauty, but not to change your face, which I think is important. Also, she never really had rules about makeup when I was younger. She let me wear as much makeup as I wanted, which I think was good, because she let me make a lot of mistakes. And now that I'm older, unless I'm working, I won't wear makeup. And I think that's good—I mean, now I've hopefully learned… Because I was the girl in 8th grade who would wear bright blue eyeshadow!
When I was in 8th grade, in the '90s—oh my gosh, sorry—
No, that's really cool.
I guess! Well, "back then," it was very uncool to wear tons of makeup to school. What's the beauty vibe in your high school now?
At my school, which is just like a normal public high school in [California], everyone's pretty cool about letting us express ourselves, whether that means you wear a lot of makeup or whether that means you'll never wear makeup, ever. I really love that about my school, that they're really open to letting us be who we want to be. And I think the world now is more open to that, and my [generation], overall, we're really accepting. We try to see the positive in everyone.
That's awesome. So people at school are nice?
Yeah. I mean, it's high school, so, usually. [Laughs] It's a pretty typical, normal high school experience. I try not to miss class that much. I have homework.
Your brother Presley is also a model. Do you steal his stuff?
Presley has really good sweatshirts. Not like Yeezy sweatshirts or anything, but they're just really good and worn in. And since he's bigger than me, they're really oversized, which I love with skinny jeans. He'll say, "Kaia, have you seen my stuff?" And I'm like, "Nope, guess you just left it somewhere." Then I'll literally be wearing it the next day, and I'm really bad at covering for myself. I'll be like, "What are you talking about? This is mine!" And then I can't stop laughing.
But you're really staring down the camera in these Marc ads. How did you keep a straight face?
It was hard because in my everyday life, I'm really goofy. But there's something about clothes and makeup, especially with Marc Jacobs. When I looked in the mirror, I honestly saw a different person. And that made me feel like a different person. And Hype Williams [who directed the campaign] is a really good director. He somehow got me into this place in my head where I didn't think I was a dork. And I promise you, in real life, I am the biggest dork. I know I am. But in front of Hype, I actually thought, "Wait, am I cool now? Did I get cool?" Then I went back to my everyday life and I was like, "Nope."
Kendall Jenner was just talking about you on 'The Tonight Show'.
I was freaking out. The thing is, I love Kendall so much. But Jimmy Fallon, he's like a TV star. I literally watch Jimmy Fallon at night. So when he said my name, on his show, I freaked out. He said my name! I was like, "He's holding LOVE Magazine! He knows who I am!"
Was your cell blowing up?
Actually no. My friends—I don't want to say they don't know about this side of my life, but they don't really acknowledge it. It's really nice, actually. But because of that, I didn't know about it until [a fan] tagged me on Instagram.
If you went on Jimmy Fallon, what would you do? Celebrity karaoke? Pictionary?
No. Don't make me do karaoke. I'm the worst singer. And I couldn't do his Pictionary game either, even though it's so funny, because I'm the worst drawer, too.
But you're good at doing eyeliner!
No, that's different! Makeup is easier. It just is.
