The magazine, a property of WWD, features West wearing a shimmery coral dress with iridescent Doc Martens and orange eyeshadow. While there isn’t an interview with her inside the magazine, West was dubbed the ambassador for Generation Alpha. The succeeding generation to Gen Z, which encompasses people born in the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, is mostly too young to wear makeup (they are…toddlers) but the cover story examines their potential spending power.
The article also mentions Eva Chen’s daughter Ren Bannister and Luna Stephens, daughter of Chrissy Teigen and John Legend. It includes a surprising stat that will make you feel quite old: By 2025, people under the age of 17 will apparently make up almost half the U.S. population.
“Without a public Instagram or YouTube channel of her own, she’s too young to fully understand what a digital footprint is. And yet, hers is already wildly popular,” writes Alexa Tietjen of West. “Gen Z and Alphas… have been plugged in since birth. They’re the first people whose lives are fully integrated with tech. They are fluent in the internet.”
And while it feels a bit nuts, and somehow not entirely healthy—and admittedly envy-inducing—to refer to a 5-year-old as an influencer, that fact is a bit undeniable. West does, after all, have killer style, as evidenced by the accompanying Beauty Inc. photos of her flashing a peace sign in a purple, holographic crop top and holding a parasol wearing slim ‘90s computer hacker shades.
Her proud mom reposted the photos, captioning them with “My most stylish and beautiful baby girl North shot her 1st cover for @wwd !!!! She loves fashion & beauty and has so much fun doing this!” And while a first magazine cover is certainly a huge deal, modeling might be a bit old hat at this point for West. She scored her first Fendi campaign in July, and in September, she walked her first fashion show for children’s toy brand L.O.L. Surprise wearing a Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”-inspired outfit.
West has already been thrust into opportunities at age 5 that the rest of us may only dream of. Oh, to be the progeny of a Kardashian!