Forbes released their annual list of the world’s highest-paid models, and once again Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen topped the list.
The 36 year old model has topped the list for 14 straight years, and was recently seen during the opening ceremonies for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. According to Forbes she made over $30.5 million, with the majority of the income coming from her advertising contracts with Chanel and Carolina Herrera as well as sales of her own lingerie and skincare line. Fellow Brazilian Adriana Lima came second on the list with a distant $10.5 million.
One of the largest gains on the year was Kendall Jenner, who saw her earnings jump by 150 percent to make $10 million over the past year. Jenner has the largest Instagram following of all the models on the list, and even held the record for the most liked post on the site until recently. Her 150% jump is the highest jump in the past ten years. Jenner was tied for third on the list with Karlie Kloss.
Fifth place was also a tie between Gigi Hadid and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who both made $9 million in the last year. Like Jenner and Kloss, social media plays a role in Hadid’s popularity. Running closely behind them was Cara Delevingne, who has begun transitioning to films such as this summer’s hit Suicide Squad. In the last year she earned $8.5 million.
Rounding out the top ten were Candice Swanepoel with $7 million, China’s first supermodel Liu Wen with $7 million, and Miranda Kerr with $6 million.
One criticism that has come from the list, is that there is a lack of diversity on the catwalk. In the top ten the only non-white woman was Liu Wen, and on the rest of the list there were very few aside from Puerto Rican model Joan Smalls and American model Jasmine Tookes.
Photo: Startraks
