Having a famous mom has a lot of perks, but when you want to make a name for yourself it‘s easy for people to assume you’re “talentless.” For Lourdes Leon, being Madonna’s daughter means proving that she is an artistic vessel that exists independently of her mom, full of talent and gifts to give to the world. The model appears on the cover of Vogue’s September issue along with Kaia Gerber (who knows a thing or two about famous moms), Bella Hadid, Anok Yai, Precious Lee, Yumi Nu, Ariel Nicholson, and Sherry Shi. Each of which have been apart of a revolution redefining what we call “American Beauty.”
Lourdes, the self-proclaimed “Latin from Manhattan” who her friends call “Lola” has been making waves in the modeling industry. Vogue’s September issue is literally titled, “Generation America: The Models Changing an Industry.” But Lourdes told the outlet, “People think I‘m this talentless rich kid who’s had everything given to her but I’m not.” According to the outlet, she ran down a list of ways she’s independent of her mother like she paid for college herself and lives in Bushwick, New York so she can disappear into its polyglot creative community.
Just like mom, Lourdes loves to dance. “A teacher of mine made me understand movement in a whole new way,” she told Vogue. “You’re using your body to define the space around you—to change it. That’s a very naked form of expression.”
© GettyImagesAs the daughter of Cindy Crawford, Kaia might relate to some of Lourde’s feelings. The model and actress followed in her mom‘s footsteps with great success, winning Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2018. Along with the rest of the models, Kaia is helping change the way the world sees models as “dumb” or without any opinion. Now that they have platforms and social media, it makes it a bit easier. But Kaia will be the first to tell you her mom “always had plenty to say—she just didn’t have Instagram.”
