Angelina Kendall ‘all-in’ for ride to top

Australian model Angelina Kendall has scaled fashion’s dizzying heights at lightning pace. Talked about, sought after by fashion’s best, her kind of explosive rise is a rare thing. Get to know our homegrown name on the rise.

Rising star Angelina Kendall is the April Vogue Australia cover girl. Picture: Juergen Teller for Vogue Australia

Angelina Kendall has a space problem. On her family’s request, she must haul home from Paris magazines the Australian-born model appears in. Of late, she’s been clocking up some excess baggage. “I bought a stack of magazines that I was in … and then I was like, ‘I’m not going to keep doing this. It’s taking up too much room’.”

Just a year after her debut Paris season in February last year, she’s clocking up among the most shows per model per season. ­Already in the bag are blue-chip campaigns for Burberry, Tom Ford and Versace alongside Gigi Hadid. She’s fronted covers including Vogue Italia’s September issue and Vogue Australia’s April 2024 issue – on sale on Monday.

Kendall feels drained post fashion week. It’s evening in Paris the day after fashion month ended in October and she’s reflecting on the unbelievable ride that has been this season. Among the blur of it all, Kendall closed Chanel, as well as doing a cover shoot at the Australian embassy.

Australian supermodel in the making – Angelina Kendall graces the Vogue Australia April 2024 cover. Picture: Juergen Teller for Vogue Australia.

“Paris is crazy. Paris, honestly, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to be getting up early and home late. Once I got back to my house and just stepped in the door at 10pm, and they called and said, ‘We need you to go back to the other side of the city to refit’.”

Most people her age – Kendall turned 18 in September – are planning blowouts to celebrate the end of school but she doesn’t have time. Pausing year 12 at her Sydney northern beaches high school in February 2023, she kept studying online, logging on every night after jobs at 10 or 11pm.

Some have compared Sydney-born Kendall’s distinctive look and style to a young Gisele Bundchen, the Brazilian supermodel. Kendall’s mother is Brazilian and her New Zealand-born father lives in Australia and owns his own building company. Kendall spent a year going to school in Rio de Janeiro and learning Portuguese (she’s now fluent), and thinks it was perfect preparation for her current life.

Her big break came in 2021, age 16, when she was scouted on Instagram. Things immediately kicked off, modelling in Australia. “I never really had a slow period,” she says. When she packed her bags for Europe in February last year, she told her friends she’d be gone for a few months. “And then I didn’t get back until December.”

She doesn’t know how long it will last but as a self-confessed high-achiever, she’s going all-in.

“If I’d uprooted my whole life, I’m not just doing this for a one- or two-year thing,” she says. “I’ve always kind of been determined. I’ve got to keep on doing new things and beating what I did last year. It’s like, ‘Okay, great that we got this. What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?’.”

Vogue Australia’s April 2024 issue will be on sale on Monday