For Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber, style is in their DNA.
When the mother-daughter duo aren’t booked and busy dominating the modeling world, you can often find them wearing complementary off-duty looks. While their red carpet style is just as striking, their day-to-day looks are so good that the pair just landed a new fashion campaign—alongside Rande and Presley Gerber, making it a true family affair.
Photographed by frequent Vogue collaborator Cass Bird, the family was lensed for Vuori, sporting the brand’s hoodies, sweatpants, bikini tops, bodysuits, and more. (The Gerbers are investors in the brand.)
On the heels of the campaign, Vogue caught up with the duo to discuss working together, embracing mother-daughter style, and how they plan on celebrating the upcoming Mother’s Day holiday together. (Hint: a annual tradition will be involved.) Below, read on for their full chat with Vogue.
Vogue: Kaia, when was the first moment you realized your mom was a supermodel? And when did you realize that modeling was something you wanted to do, too?
Gerber: I didn’t understand why she was always having her photo taken. I thought it was normal! In terms of it being something that I wanted to do, I guess I was just used to that environment. I saw how hard my mom worked, and the life that she made for herself through this career, and that really inspired me.
Crawford: When she was little, she and her friends would always want to play dress up, and do photo shoots. They would raid my closet, and I would do their hair and makeup. Kaia always loved it. The first time she got hired on her own was with Donatella Versace, who asked her to do Versace Kids.
Cindy, how do you think the modeling world is different now than when you first started out?
Crawford: When I started modeling, there was no internet. I didn’t have the references to learn; I didn’t even know designers, really! The thing that’s great about this generation is, if they’re told they’re going to work with Steven Meisel, they can go online and they can look at Steven’s work— and they can show up ready. They can understand his aesthetic and vocabulary. And Kaia is the type of model that did that. She knew that, if you were working with Peter Lindbergh, it was going to be a little more moody.
Gerber: You’re a great student, too. I think I get that curiosity and scholar mindset from you.
Kaia, it is surreal to think that you have an iconic supermodel mom at your disposal for advice. What have been the biggest lessons that Cindy has passed down to you?
Gerber: One thing I will say about my mom is she’s not an advice giver. A lot of what I’ve learned from her is more through her actions, and watching the way she navigates the world in a way that makes me so proud to be her daughter. I respect her so much. The amazing thing about having a career as long as hers, is I get to see her through other people’s eyes. I hear stories about her, and they’re always so positive about how smart and funny she is—and how she was always on time! She is a real stickler on being punctual, and I’m so grateful that she instilled that in me, because I am now someone who values that so much.
Crawford: When my son Presley got his first job at a smoothie shop, I told him the same thing: Be on time. Be prepared. And stay off your phone!
Let’s switch gears and talk about your mother-daughter approach to fashion. Kaia, I love that you recently wore a re-creation of a white Hervé Léger dress that Cindy wore to the 1993 Oscars. How do you both approach dressing as a duo? Is there a lot of sharing pieces or referencing of each other?
Crawford: I trust Kaia’s opinion, but I also don’t wanna be one of those moms that tries too hard. I would never want to compete with my 23-year-old daughter. But at the same time, I want to reimagine fashion.
Gerber: I’m probably more inspired by you, than you are by me. Her style has been pretty dialed in for a while. The older I get, the more I go into your territory, which is classic. The nice thing about like looking quite similar to a parent is if I want to know if a hair or makeup look will look good on me, I will look up pictures of my mom—because if it looks good on her, most of the time, I can pull it off as well.
Crawford: We recently went to an event, and Kaia found an old Alaïa dress that I had. Nothing makes me happier. If she wants to wear something that I wore 30 years ago, what bigger compliment is that?
Is there anything off-limits you would never let her borrow?
Gerber: Your wedding dress, maybe?
Crawford: No, I would love for you to wear it. My wedding dress was so cute: It was John Galliano off the rack. There’s a lot more things that I should have saved. I was Kaia’s age living in a small apartment in New York, so I got rid of a lot of stuff. I kick myself, because I realized that I should have archived some of it. Like the first designer I dress [I bought] after I started modeling. It was a black Calvin Klein sheath dress that was backless; I saw it in the back of a magazine and tracked it down, and wore it to prom. Another one was a black Mugler dress that I had. It was almost like a Marilyn Monroe dress; I wore it to the first cocktail event I went to as a model in Chicago.
Kaia, do you have anything precious in your own archives?
Gerber: I have a lot of archival Sarah Burton, because she gives you everything that you wear, which is pretty rare for a designer. I also bought a vintage Alaïa coat the other day, which I’m pretty sure my mom has a similar one.
Vogue: Your new Vuori campaign features athleisure pieces, which is its own subgenre of fashion now. How do you both approach off-duty dressing?
Gerber: Towards the end of the pandemic, the only time we saw people leaving their house was to go to the gym. That’s when I noticed it becoming this thing—of people wearing workout clothes [as a look]. I spent months in nothing but comfortable, cozy clothes and I thought, Why on earth would I ever put on anything else? But if you look back to the nineties, and at my mom’s or Jane Fonda’s workout videos, athleisure was becoming trendy then—it was a big part of culture and fashion. So, for me, it feels like we’re carrying on with that. I want clothes that I can be in all day.
Crawford: It’s funny because, when I would drop the kids off at school in Malibu [when they were younger], most of the time I would go in workout clothes. Once in a while, I would have my supermodel outfit on, and all the other moms would be like, ‘Oh, you’re going into town today.’ They could tell, because the Malibu community is all about hiking or walking on the beach. Health and wellness is now the new luxury. When you work hard to take care of yourself, you want to feel good while you’re doing those things; Having something cute to put on to work out in actually motivates you.
Looking ahead, how will you spend Mother’s Day together this year?
Crawford: Kaia and my son both live in L.A., so I just want to be with them. For our family, we’ve realized how precious our time together is—especially now that my children are both adults, and have their own lives. When they were little, the kids would make me breakfast in bed. I would have to lay in bed until they got breakfast ready; I’m usually the first one up in the house, so I would pretend to not be awake. I don’t care about [Mother’s Day] gifts: What I care about is a handwritten card!
