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Karlie Kloss Is Fashion Week’s Top Model

Jourdan Dunn, Ali Stephens, Karlie Kloss

From left, Jourdan Dunn at Richard Chai; Ali Stephens at Calvin Klein; Karlie Kloss at Alexander Wang.Photo: imaxtree.com

All Fashion Week we’ve pitted the bright-eyed rookies against the familiar runway beauties to determine the Model of the Week. Once again, our complex algorithm took into account the number of each model’s openings and closings at big shows as well as a general buzz factor in the tents.

1. Karlie Kloss Kloss clomped down 30 runways this week, including 3.1 phillip lim, Vera Wang, and Narciso Rodriguez. While Tyra Banks may be mocking her walk, designers are loving it. She closed Marc by Marc Jacobs, opened Carolina Herrera, and scored both spots at Doo.Ri.

2. Jourdan Dunn won the conspicuous honor of being one of the few diverse models in an otherwise very white season. The London-born model walked twenty shows, including Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, Zac Posen, and Proenza Schouler. Though she didn’t open or close any catwalks, Dunn did buck an unsettling trend of paler and paler models. Let’s hope more designers catch on.

3. Ali Stephens Yes, we know Stephens appeared in only one show, but that was her good call. For her first New York Fashion Week booking, she declined over 30 offers to instead open Calvin Klein. Avoiding overexposure, this chocolate-cake-eating, MTV-watching eleventh-grader has us eager for more of her long-legged walk in London.

4. Irina Kulikova Last year’s button-nosed winner couldn’t hold her No. 1 spot this time around. But it’s not for lack of trying — she walked in 22 shows. The pale Russian’s highlights this week were opening Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan and closing Peter Som and Proenza Schouler.

5. Abbey Lee Walking in 29 shows would be a triumph for any girl. However, Lee turned even more heads debuting in New York with a pierced nose and nipple and a Lauren Hutton–esque gap tooth. The 20-year-old Australian racked up spots at Oscar de la Renta, Halston, and in her week’s shining moment, closed Rodarte. Model fanatics may just have found their irreverent beauty icon in the otherwise rather timid, tepid, and teenage-catwalker climate.

6. Olga Sherer While her flame-colored hair caught attention all week long, Sherer’s boldest move was closing Ralph Lauren. As Lauren usually saves that spot for campaign girls, we have to wonder if an advertising contract is on the way. If not, she’ll surely be seeing some action from one of the other 25 designers she walked for.

7. Suvi Koponen Koponen received a little model-to-model blessing early in the week, scoring the last spot at Alexander Wang, a show styled by Erin Wasson. She went on the walk in 23 more, including opening Carolina Herrera, closing DKNY, and doing both honors at Hervé Léger.

8. Heidi Mount In a week when most of America was only focused on one blonde Heidi (Klum and her Project Runway finale), the sleepy-eyed Mount managed to make us notice another. Of the 24 runways she sashayed down, she opened three (Rodarte, Nicole Miller, Ohne Titel) and closed one (Costello Tagliapietra). Mount’s our second Salt Lake City native (after Ali Stephens) on the list, and we’re starting to be thankful we didn’t spend our awkward high-school years in Utah.

9. Anabela Belikova Opening Marc by Marc Jacobs nearly secured her a spot on the list by itself, but closing Preen and Richard Chai cemented her placement. After a grueling twenty-show week, we were shocked to see the Russian still smiling into the weekend.

10. Magdalena Frackowiak Frackowiak was on our Models to Watch list this year, and, after hitting seventeen shows (including Ralph Lauren and Marc Jacobs), we expect to keep seeing her. This Polish model opened Thakoon and Tommy Hilfiger and closed Malo and J. Mendel, boosting her momentum as she heads to European castings.

Karlie Kloss Is Fashion Week’s Top Model