Cindy Crawford to 14-Year-Old Kaia Gerber: “Enjoy Carbs While You Can!”

Cindy Crawford in a Dion Lee dress, Chloé sandals, Aurélie Bidermann necklace. Photographed by Chad Pitman for The EDIT, NET-A-PORTER.com.

When Cindy Crawford was at the top of her modeling game, she was working out twice a day. Now, as a mother — to Presley, 16 and Kaia, 14 — her priorities have shifted to her kids. Three days a week, she exercises with a trainer and once a year she takes a rejuvenating trip to a resort spa and only eats raw food for a week. “It’s more about resetting your body and shedding bad habits than weight loss, because although workouts are great for tone and health, in the end your weight is about food.”

The soon-to-be-50-year-old, who is publishing a new 250-page coffee-table book called Becoming, aims to pass on these healthier habits to her daughter, who’s modeling career is just getting started. “Today, models are expected to be so tiny and I worry about that for her, because that was never my natural body type and I don’t think it’ll be hers either. Still, I’ll say to her, ‘Enjoy carbs while you can!’”

Cindy Crawford wears jumpsuit and belt by Balmain, briefs by Dolce & Gabbana and sandals by Gianvito Rossi, photographed by Chad Pitman for The EDIT, NET-A-PORTER.com.

This advice is especially prescient after Crawford was the victim of a a fake photo hack, an image of her retouched to include cellulite and saggy skin. “Now, if I’m on a beach in a bikini where there might be paparazzi, I’d definitely put a coverup on,” she said. “There are good and bad angles and I don’t want to subject myself to that. It’s hurtful.” Crawford admitted that while fashion and makeup’s intention is to be for fun, it’s somehow moved away from that. “These days, images that are meant to inspire and make women feel happy to be women sometimes have the opposite effect.”

Cindy Crawford wears top by Emilio Pucci, pants by Sonia Rykiel and pumps by Gianvito Rossi, photographed by Chad Pitman for The EDIT, NET-A-PORTER.com.

Just a teenager, Kaia’s already been featured in CR Fashion Book and Vogue this summer, and was in a Versace campaign at 10. “She’s much more together and worldly than I was at her age,” Crawford admitted. But let’s give credit where credit’s due: before celebrity lifestyle brands were trendy, Crawford was already successfully helming and honing hers with a video series, skin care line, and home furnishings.

Crawford suggests that models should follow in her multi-faceted footsteps. “Anna Wintour was the one who started the trend of putting celebrities on covers and in the big campaigns,” she said. “Then everyone followed suit, so now they want stars like Kendall Jenner and Taylor Swift. They want people with a following, and social media has helped because models like Cara [Delevingne], Coco [Rocha] and Gigi [Hadid] can have their own voices and talk to fans directly. There are more pathways available to them than we had.”

Here comes Kaia!

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