CANNES — Supermodel Karlie Kloss said that she has been told she was too fat and too skinny by the fashion industry, on the same day.
The top model described in a Cannes Lions conversation with Hearst chief content officer Joanna Coles that there’s no perfect body type.
Kloss said, “I was called both too fat and too thin by a casting agent on the same day,” adding she wished female designers would produce clothes for a wider variety of female shapes and sizes.
The model then received a standing ovation for saying the way she survived and thrived in the industry was by focusing on her health and strength as opposed to her weight. She said, “I don’t want to please anyone but myself.”
Kloss also discussed her coding camp for young women, Kode with Klossy, which is now in its second year and has expanded to 15 coding camps in 10 different cities over the summer.
She said her fashion career has been a huge privilege and education, “But at my core, I am totally a nerd. I love understanding how things work.” And while she admits computer science “is not the sexiest thing,” still “I am so passionate about it, and it is genuine.”
Famed former Cosmopolitan editor Coles debuted an exclusive trailer for Freeform’s new TV show, “The Bold Type,” which she described as a more politically charged “Sex and the City.”
The show is based on Coles’ experience as an editor-in-chief and she is played by Melora Hardin. The show debuts after the series finale of “Pretty Little Liars” on June 20.
After their session, Coles and Kloss led a group of young women to ride the Snapchat Ferris wheel, which looms large over Cannes Lions outside Le Palais, where all the speakers take the stage.