If your internet is running at a slow crawl this morning, blame leaked pictures of a nude Kendall Jenner horse riding on the beach and sprinting naked along the same shoreline, which have been shared millions of times on social-media networks.
The 22-year-old model is wearing absolutely nothing in the two photographs to have surfaced online, and TMZ reports they have been “stolen from photographer Russell James without permission.”
Stolen they may be, but the timing is excellent.
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James is best known for his work documenting backstage fashion, and it appears the images have been taken from a new book called Angels, which conveniently comes out in the next few days, and features images and erotic portraits of models who have walked in the Victoria’s Secret shows. It’s the second time he has released a book with the same title and theme.
Jenner herself has not yet commented on the pictures or their early release.
Both the images of Jenner are from that book, although it is being reported that the book also contains pictures of her engaged in other activities traditionally undertaken with clothes on, such as tree-climbing.
Although The Daily Beast is not linking to or republishing the images, they are being widely reposted on social networks.
The sprinting picture has already been built into dozens of memes, while the horse picture has also provoked stunned reactions.
There is also an unpleasant element to some of the reaction unfolding online, with some trolls seeking to body-shame Kendall for her lack of curves, and this looks set to be a key talking point as the pictures continue to circulate today.
Although Kendall has taken part in her fair share of risqué photo shoots in her time, images like these have never been seen before. The pictures appear not to have been extensively edited or retouched.
James, an Australian by birth, built a career as a fashion and beauty photographer but has become most well known in recent years for his work with the Victoria’s Secret brand. His glossy photographs of the “Angels,” as the models are marketed, have been key to extending the brand and building it into the fashion behemoth it is today.
A launch party for the Angels book was held in New York’s West Village last week during Fashion Week, and although the book is not on general release there are plenty of people who would have had access to it by now in the fashion world who could have leaked the shots. The book is available for pre-order on the photographer’s website.
The party was hosted by Cindy Crawford and Candice Swanepoel, and models including Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima were among those who turned out to support James. He told WWD at the party: “We’ve been through massive social change in the last few years, so it was also reflecting on that, on why would we do that in this climate. So it was really driven by the girls; that whatever is happening socially is really about not banning this genre that is about them choosing what they’re doing and what they do it for.”
As well as boosting sales, the controversy looks set to sweep away any lingering memories of Kendall’s unfortunate interview with Love magazine in which she said: “I was never one of those girls who would do, like, 30 shows a season or whatever the fuck those girls do.”
