Personal:
KORA ORGANICS:
Miranda May Kerr is an Australian model.
Kerr rose to prominence in 2007 as one of the Victoria’s Secret Angels. Kerr was the first Australian Victoria’s Secret model and also represented the Australian department store chain David Jones. Kerr has launched her own brand of organic skincare products, KORA Organics, and has written a self-help book.
Kerr began modeling in the fashion industry when she was 13, winning the 1997 Dolly magazine model search competition. Since 2008, Kerr has consistently ranked on the Forbes list of highest earning models.
She was born in Sydney and raised in Gunnedah, New South Wales. She is the daughter of Therese and John Kerr. Her mother was 17 years old when she gave birth. She has a brother, Matthew, who is two years younger. Kerr is of English ancestry, with smaller amounts of Scottish and French. During her childhood, Kerr raced motorbikes and rode horses on her grandmother’s farm. She describes her early life in the Australian countryside as very grounding, without any pretentiousness and no one really caring about what you were wearing.
Her family moved to Brisbane to allow Kerr and her brother to experience city life. She graduated from All Hallows’ School in 2000. Kerr studied nutrition and health psychology before pursuing modeling.
Kerr signed to Chic Management’s Sydney division. She received considerable commercial exposure after a series of beachwear ads predominantly for Australian surf chain Billabong, in which Kerr modeled surf brands Tigerlily, Roxy, Billabong Girls, and One Teaspoon.
Kerr was also the brand ambassador of Australia’s most recognized swimwear brand, Seafolly in 2001. This increased her profile in the Australian and Asian markets, after which Kerr relocated to New York where she became co-owner of the Bowery Ballroom.
In New York, Kerr had a multitude of runway appearances and then signed with NEXT Model Management in early 2004. From there, she was booked for runway and print campaigns for labels, including Alex Perry, Baby Phat, Lisa Ho, Voodoo Dolls, Levi’s, Bettina Liano, Nicola Finetti, L.A.M.B., Heatherette, Betsey Johnson, Trelise Cooper, Jets, John Richmond, Blumarine Swimwear, Neiman Marcus, Seafolly Swimwear, Anna Molinari, Rock and Republic, Roberto Cavalli, and Ober Jeans.
Kerr was also booked for print in magazines such as Elle, Australian Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and was featured in Australian television advertisements for clothing and hair-removal products.
In early 2006, Kerr appeared on the TV show Project Runway, modeling clothes for contestant Daniel Vosovic’s final collection. She signed a contract with cosmetics firm Maybelline New York. Along with several other Victoria’s Secret and Next agency models, Kerr was also featured in a music video for the single “Number One” by artists Kanye West and Pharrell.
Following her success with Maybelline, Kerr became the first Australian model to be offered a contract with Victoria’s Secret in 2007. Upon her acceptance, she became the first ever Australian Victoria’s Secret Angel joining models Alessandra Ambrosio, Karolína Kurková, Adriana Lima, Selita Ebanks, Izabel Goulart, and Heidi Klum.
Before becoming an Angel in 2007, Kerr was already picked to become the successor of Alessandra Ambrosio as the face of PINK in 2006. Kerr’s popularity continued to increase as one of the globally recognized Angels when she appeared in the Victoria’s Secret 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 televised runway shows, which aired on four continents.
In 2008, Kerr became the new face of the fragrance Clinique Happy and signed a six-figure deal to be the new face of Australian department store David Jones, replacing model Megan Gale.
In June 2009, Kerr posed naked, chained to a tree, for an issue of Rolling Stone Australia, to raise awareness for the endangered koalas. In August, Kerr released an inspirational self-esteem, self-help book, Treasure Yourself.
In October, Kerr launched her own brand of organic skincare products, KORA Organics and became the face for the company.
Kerr appeared in the 2010 Pirelli Calendar, photographed by Terry Richardson in Bahia, Brazil. Previously better known for her Victoria’s Secret status rather than her high fashion work, Balenciaga is credited for launching her high fashion modeling career when casting directors Ashley Brokaw and Nicolas Ghesquière chose her to walk exclusively for the brand’s spring 2010 runway show. It was her first designer fashion show, aside from Victoria’s Secret, since 2007.
A season later she walked for design company Prada for their fall 2010 collection in Milan alongside fellow Angels Doutzen Kroes and Alessandra Ambrosio. Kerr then modelled for campaigns for Prada and Jil Sander, and was shot by Steven Meisel for the cover of Italian Vogue for September.
In January 2011, Kerr became the first pregnant model for Vogue when featured in Vogue Australia, being six months pregnant at the time of the shoot. In March she hit the catwalk for Balenciaga’s fall 2011 ready-to-wear collection as part of Paris Fashion Week, two months after giving birth. Kerr also posed nude for a 2011 Harper’s Bazaar photo shoot. In October at Paris Fashion Week SS12, Kerr walked for Dior, Lanvin, Chanel, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Viktor & Rolf and Loewe. Kerr was chosen to present the $2.5 million Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Treasure Bra for their fashion show in November 2011. Kerr then featured in the Spring 2012 campaign for Bally alongside Julia Stegner.
In January 2012, she was named ambassador for Qantas. In March, Kerr walked for Chanel and Miu Miu at Fall/Winter Paris Fashion Week. In August, she was named the new face of high street brand Mango, replacing Kate Moss for its spring/summer 2013 campaign.
In March 2013, negotiations to renew her five-year contract with David Jones “fell through,” leading to a peaceful split between the two parties. The following month, it was reported that Kerr’s three-year, $1-million contract with Victoria’s Secret was not being renewed. Anonymous sources claimed Kerr had a “difficult reputation” and was not “a big seller for VS”; however, Kerr’s camp stated she was unable to commit the necessary time to the brand. In response, Victoria’s Secret chief marketing officer Ed Razek stated he had already invited Kerr to walk in that year’s fashion show.
In October, Kerr was named the face of Austrian crystal house Swarovski for their fall 2013 campaign, and that December she starred in social shopping website ShopStyle’s first national campaign.
In February 2014, Kerr became the face of Swedish clothing brand H&M. She then featured in high-profile campaigns for Reebok and Wonderbra. In March, Kerr opened and closed for Sonia Rykiel at Fall/Winter Paris Fashion Week.
Kerr was the cover model for the February 2015 issue of American Harper’s Bazaar, shot by Richardson. She also covered the March issue of Australian Harper’s Bazaar, shot by Kai Z Feng. In July, Kerr designed a jewelry line with Swarovski, having served as the face of the brand since 2013.
Kerr began 2016 fronting Riccardo Tisci’s Spring/Summer campaign for Givenchy, alongside models including Joan Smalls, Natalia Vodianova and fellow Australian, Gemma Ward. In March, Kerr was announced as the face of Joe Fresh’s fall campaign. She also featured on international covers of Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Madame Figaro and L’Officiel. In June, she opened Jeremy Scott’s Resort 2017 show for Moschino, alongside veteran models including Devon Aoki and fellow Victoria’s Secret Angels Chanel Iman and Alessandra Ambrosio. The same month, Kerr filmed a guest mentor role on cycle 10 of Australia’s Next Top Model.
In February 2017, Kerr featured in a commercial for Buick, alongside Cam Newton, which aired during Super Bowl LI. In July, she appeared in a video campaign for Louis Vuitton entitled Connected Journeys, celebrating the launch of the brand’s Tambour Horizon smartwatch, which also featured celebrities including Jennifer Connelly, Doona Bae, Jaden Smith and Catherine Deneuve.
She credits meditation, speaking with friends, and writing as ways of dealing with challenges such as the death of her then-boyfriend at age 15, and she makes it a priority to pray about forgiving herself and others.
