Kate Upton: ‘Too Obvious' for Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
What do Karlie Kloss, Miranda Kerr, and Alessandra Ambrosio have that Sports Illustrated's 2012 Swimsuit Issue cover star Kate Upton doesn't? A shot in hell at hitting the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show runway.
Though the 19-year-old Upton has modeled in catalogs for the lingerie brand in the past, her bombshell looks have been branded as "too obvious" by Sophia Neophitou, who designs for and helps cast the televised show.
"We would never use [Upton]," Neophitou, who also edits 10 Magazine, tells the New York Times in a profile on the model's social media savvy.
"She’s like a Page 3 girl,” she adds, in reference to the topless glamour models seen in Britain's The Sun newspaper. “She’s like a footballer’s wife, with the too-blond hair and that kind of face that anyone with enough money can go out and buy.”
Ouch. Of course, other detractors have changed their tune about the Florida-bred beauty.
"When Kate first came in, everyone at the agency thought I was crazy,” Ivan Bart of IMG Models says. “She wasn’t ‘fashion’ enough.”
Now, he says, “Kate is bigger than fashion. She’s the Jayne Mansfield of the Internet.”
And Upton herself seems determined to parlay her online popularity and All-American good looks into a career as a "model celebrity."
“People told me I couldn’t be fashion, that I’m just an old-fashioned body girl, only good for swimwear,” she says.
“But I knew that I could bring back the supermodel. What can I say? I’m relatable.”
In that bikini? You're giving us way too much credit.
