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At first glance, Kendall Jenner looked like she was wearing next-to-nothing at Balmain's Paris Fashion Week show Thursday.
The 18-year-old Keeping Up With the Kardashians star walked the runway in a chic, cutout black and tan dress that gave the illusion of being nearly naked. Really, though, the dress's lining just so happened to be a close match to Kendall's skin color.
Kendall's become a regular fixture on the catwalk, modeling the likes of Fendi, Pucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg and more in New York, Milan and Paris.
Still, though, some critics have questioned Kendall's modeling credentials because she hails from such a famous family. There was one report claiming the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star was given a difficult time by some fellow models during New York Fashion Week, although a source told E! News, "If Kendall was bullied, she certainly isn't aware of it. She's too busy working hard and enjoying what she's doing."
Kendall is determined to make it in the business on her own merit. She recently told The Cut that she asked big sis Kim Kardashian not to come to shows she was walking in. "I want to be high fashion," she explained. "I want to be taken seriously. People think that this [success] just came to me. But it didn't. What I have has almost worked against me."
"People didn't take me seriously as a model," she said. "I went on castings and some people weren't feeling me because of my name. But it was great when people didn't recognize me. I was like, 'Thank you. Please don't recognize me.'"
Kim agreed, telling The Cut that Kendall "had to work extra hard to gain this respect and to fight for people to see she's serious"
But Kendall's "hard work paid off," Kim said, "and that makes me so proud."
Understandably! Kendall's impressed her family, of course, and the designers, too, but what do the haute couture fashion critics have to say? Well, André Leon Talley, a renowned fashion editor with long-standing Vogue ties, was asked on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live Wednesday what he thought of Kendall's modeling skills.
"She did very well. She's very professional and she's walking in the best shows," he said. "She takes it seriously. She'll have a good future...She looks good in runway. Yes, I love her!"
There you have it.
Tune in to the premiere of Kourtney & Khloé Take the Hamptons this November on E!
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)