Rise to Fame
Being a Kardashian got her in the door; getting back out took considerably more effort. She spent years attending Paris and New York castings where casting directors already knew who she was and still weren't sure they wanted her. The Marc Jacobs Fall/Winter 2014 show was the pivot point. Katie Grand cast her, and the bookings followed: Chanel, Balmain, Versace. By 2017, she'd become the world's highest-paid model, dethroning Gisele Bündchen after 14 straight years at the top.
In the Spotlight
818 Tequila is where she's putting her real energy now. The brand launched in 2021 to immediate cultural appropriation backlash (the launch imagery featured her riding through agave fields in braids), then faced a trademark lawsuit from Tequila 512, then a deceptive labeling class action in 2025. Revenue keeps climbing anyway, reportedly around $45-50 million in 2024, with analysts comparing it to Casamigos. The Pepsi ad disaster of 2017 didn't slow her down. Some public figures accumulate controversy like debt. She accumulates it like inventory.
Side Notes
Her middle name is Nicole, which Kris Jenner chose as a tribute to Nicole Brown Simpson, who was murdered in 1994. The horses aren't a branding exercise either. She's been riding since childhood, and in 2025 she bought a $22.8 million equestrian estate in Montecito with a main house dating to the 1800s. Vogue World 2025 opened with her in the Nicole Kidman costume from Moulin Rouge (her favorite film, as it happens). The throughlines in her life are less about fashion and more about obsessions she had before anyone was watching.