Karlie Kloss is set to earn £193 for each stride she takes down the London Fashion Week catwalk

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Karlie Kloss is set to earn £193 for each stride she takes down the London Fashion Week catwalk according to calculations from AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians). But how will models with less experience fare?

AAT, the professional qualification and membership body has calculated earnings per stride, revealing that career progression pays – whatever the industry.

For a rookie model, the average earnings are a meagre £2.60 per stride. Those with a little more experience can expect to earn around £6.50 whereas supermodels such as Karlie Kloss could be paid a staggering £193 per stride or £5,835 per show.

The figures were based on calculating the average amount a beginner model, an established model and a supermodel earns to walk runway divided by the length of a 30 metre catwalk.  However, once their annual salaries from the Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter 2015 fashion shows and advertising campaigns are combined, the gap between model status and pay cheque becomes even more apparent.

At the age of just 17, Molly Bair has been active in the industry for just over a year. The self-declared ‘alien-rat-demon-goblin-gremlin’ looking model has walked for everyone from Alexander McQueen to Chanel Couture. Despite this success, she only earned the small sum of £1,700 for walking a total of 48 shows during 2015. However, her unique look has secured her three commercial advertising campaigns which in total bring her earnings to £47,700.

At the middle of the scale, Lexi Boling who has been modelling for two years walked over five times more shows than Karlie but only earned a fifth of Karlie’s pay cheque. Although she currently ranks in the top 50 by models.com and has walked 117 shows this year, Lexi cashed in a mere £16,000. However, the exposure gained from walking so many shows as well as featuring on several Vogue magazine covers resulted in the American-born model securing ten lucrative advertising campaigns, generating revenue of £1.1m.

In stark contrast, the models who manage to achieve supermodel status are earning millions. As one of the most sought-after catwalk models and a Victoria’s Secret Angel, Karlie Kloss earned a whopping £81,000 from walking 22 shows during the 2015. With eight years’ experience in the bag, the 23 year old is also the face of some of the most prestigious fashion houses in the world, earning her £1.8m this year alone.

 

AAT Comment offers news and opinion on the world of business and finance from the Association of Accounting Technicians.

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