PHOTO: Stephane Cardinale – Corbis
Kendall Jenner was notably absent from the string of models walking in and out of the castings for the 2017 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show last week. And, when most took to their social feeds to announce that they’d be boarding the infamous pink jet to Shanghai, China, where the glittery catwalk will be happening this year, the 21-year-old remained mum. (Though, she continued to post selfies and ad campaigns on her profile.) Now, it’s being reported that there might be a contractual obligation that’s keeping her from returning to the program: According to TMZ (so, let’s wait a beat), Jenner’s contract with rival lingerie brand La Perla bars her from walking what would have been her third Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Apparently, she didn’t even audition, per a source close to the Kardashian-Jenner clan.
As an ambassador for La Perla, Jenner is reportedly obligated to appear in the brand’s runway shows and ad campaigns—something we image she gets hefty compensation for. She began working with the company last fall; she then closed its inaugural New York Fashion Week show back in February and wore a barely-there gown from its ready-to-wear collection to the 2017 Met Gala. With all this in mind, it would make sense for Jenner to skip out on a highly-publicized event for a different lingerie brand, however sparkly and exciting the program may be.
PHOTO: Dimitrios Kambouris
As with most major celeb news in 2017, speculation as to Jenner’s involvement with Victoria’s Secret stemmed out of her recent social media activity. For instance: Her latest Instagram posts are all snippets from La Perla’s Fall 2017 campaign, which, naturally, she fronted. The captions (“write to me ? @laperlalingerie #LaPerla_Ambassador” and “??? @laperlalingerie”) suggest she might not be too salty about missing out on a trip to Shanghai. Though, she’ll be missing out on quite a reunion on the pink catwalk: Both Bella and Gigi Hadid have confirmed their return to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, while Karlie Kloss announced that, after a brief hiatus, she’ll be joining the Angels in China once again.
PHOTO: JP Yim
Neither Victoria’s Secret nor Jenner have officially confirmed whether the model will be sitting out the 2017 spectacle. (We’ve reached out to Victoria’s Secret for comment, and will update our story when we hear back.) Though we’re sad to see her leave the wing-clad family after only two shows, there are plenty of models—both fresh-faced and familiar—that have posted about this year’s show to get excited about. Plus, no matter which lingerie brand she’s aligned with, Jenner will always have someone on-call to support her and Kylie’s, um, unique sharing habits.
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