I never thought I would be the mother of a gorgeous group of Kardashian stunners! But last week I got an email asking if I was available to do a shoot with The Face magazine.

Of course I said yes, and a couple of days later, there I was on a set in mid-town. You may recall the disappointing and humbling experience I had at the Vogue shoot. This time, I was a named talent on the call sheet, and central to the story of the shoot. I was the glamorous mother (and grandmother!) of some of the most high-profile sisters of all time: Kim, Khloé, Kourtney, Kylie, and Kendall. What an amazing turn of events!

The Wizardry of Transformation

I got to the shoot about 15 minutes before my call time, but they sent me to hair and make-up right away. This was an area at the back, next to floor-to-ceiling windows with a view facing south over Manhattan. There was a long table with three or four chairs and lightbulbs all along the top of the mirror. The table was covered with all the fascinating tools of transformation.

Nails

I’d researched my character ahead of time and had a manicure the day before, with the white nail polish that Kris seems to prefer. But the manicurist, Eri, a true artist, had a different shade of white in mind. She did my fingers and toes with a base of white and a layer of translucent pink on top. Gorgeous.

Hair (Wig, Actually)

While Eri was working on my digits, the hair stylist, Lucas, and his assistant, Mark, prepared my hair for the wig. This involved spraying tons of product on my hair to flatten it to my head. Next they put the wig on and trimmed it to fine-tune the shape, especially the wisps across my forehead. Then they took the wig off and I moved one chair over, into make-up.

Make-Up

Two different make-up artists worked on me, Asami and Wakana, sometimes separately and sometimes together. They consulted a photo of Kris on their iPhone, and slowly changed me from Karen into Kris. The eyebrows were crucial, of course. And they painstakingly applied clumps of lashes to my lower lids. I’d had my upper lashes touched up the day before, so they were (almost) good to go. Asami used an eyelash curler on them for even more length.

The last step after they did foundation, lips, cheeks, brows, lids, and lower lashes, was for me to apply some of my own mascara to my upper lashes. Since I use extensions, I have a particular mascara that I like to use on them, Covergirl Clump Crusher.

After two hours in hair and make-up, the transformation was complete!

It Takes a Village

Although the crew for this shoot wasn’t quite as big as the Vogue shoot I was on a few weeks ago, which had a crew of 51 people on the call sheet (not counting 1 talent, 20+ extras, and 12+ security guards for the jewelry, which added about 40 people), the Face crew was still pretty impressive:

• Make-up (3)
• Hair (2)
• Nails (1)
• Stylist and assistants (3)
• Photographer and assistants (4)
• Art Director, Fashion Director, Editor and assistants
• On set production and set design

Altogether, the crew on the call sheet was 22, plus 8 adult models and 3 children. The actual crew was bigger, as there were additional assistants in each area, plus staff who work at the studio where the shoot was held.

First Shot Is the Money Shot

Once my hair and make-up were done, I went over to the styling area to find out what they wanted me to wear. I had noticed all the other models were wearing white undies, and one of the styling assistants gave me a white Perla bra and panties set to wear. Wha? What’s this?

I thought they were just going to show glimpses of undies, but it turns out the first shot was going to be all of us in white lingerie on a giant king-size bed with white satin sheets!

Underwear Approval

I am still fairly new as a model, but I thought the protocol is that the casting director is supposed to ask me whether I am willing to do underwear before she books me. But whatever, I was game. I have a great bod, and am not afraid to show it. However, I wouldn’t have worn tight jeans to the shoot if I’d known my flesh would be exposed! (Jeans that left red crease marks on my thighs and belly! Aargh!!)

New learning: Wear loose pants to the shoot! Lucas was super-nice and suggested I tried blow-drying my flesh with his blow-dryer to make the lines go away. So sweet! It didn’t work that great, but I appreciate his empathy.

Change That

Luckily, at that point the head stylist, Ai Kamoshita, came over. She saw what I was wearing and said “Kris would never be photographed wearing that. Never! Put something else on her.” The styling assistants, Megan and Anya, looked through the racks of designer clothes and found me a white silk blouse and cream shorts. They paired that with some striking knee-high black leather boots with square silver toes, and a white floppy hat. From one extreme to the other.

I was glad when Ai came over and took the hat off, I must admit!

OK Bitches, Let’s Do This!

I strode in my high black boots over to the area where they were doing the shot. The other models were all gathered in their white undies, and I said “OK bitches, let’s do this!” I thought this was the kind of thing Kris might say to her daughters, and I was getting into character. Luckily, a few of the models laughed. I said, “I’m so proud of all my beautiful daughters.” It was a very surreal moment, and I swear I was channeling a combination of Cher and my mom!

Lights, Camera, Action

Kim was at the center of the shot, sitting at the front of the bed, with Kylie and Kourtney behind her on the bed and Khloe on the left side. I stood on the right side. And the fun really began!

The photographer, Heji Shin, was really great, and she had two assistants helping, Justin and Nate. Heji was friendly, and gave instructions in a helpful way, plus she kept the tone light and fun, to help us all express the playfulness of what we were doing. They shot us from all angles, using digital cameras and iPhones. There was natural light coming in from the south and west through the high windows, as well as a few light umbrellas casting more light. The set was wrapped in white paper, and with the white bed and white undies, I am sure the photos are going to look striking.

Your Eyes Are So Blue!

Unfortunately, my eyes looked very blue in the light on set, and Kris’s eyes are dark brown. (The light in the selfie to the right was different, and my eyes look like they could be brown.) We couldn’t get colored contact lenses in time for the shoot, so for the white undie scene they asked me to look down or to the side in all the shots, so my blue eyes wouldn’t show. For the later shots I wore giant sunglasses to enhance the Kris illusion.

More Clothes, More Fun, More Kids

After the first scene, we had lunch and lounged around. One of the assistants had personally taken our lunch orders (from Sweetgreen), and we had salads with different varieties of protein on top. Falafel, in my case. Yum!

We did a few more scenes as a group. In the next one, I was in a coral turtle-neck, an enormous faux leopard coat fully lined in leather, and a cute olive skirt with the waistband of my Gucci tights sticking out above. Check out these cute leopard cowboy boots! Kudos to the stylists, this is Kris Jenner (formerly Kardashian) to the bone—quirky style with distinctive personality.

I made friends with Khloé Kardashian, aka Drew Davis, Director of Marketing and PR and Creative Director for Rizzieri Salon, Spa, and Schools. She was a real sweetheart, a mother of four and an amazing person. We commiserated throughout the second shot, as we were both wearing very warm coats.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

For the second shot, we started out on the bed, but this time the grandkids were in the mix. It was me, Khloé, Kim, and one other sister, plus three of the cutest kids. Soon we were all on the floor, and the grown-ups were trying to make the kids look at the camera and, in one recalcitrant case, stop howling. It was hilarious. The prime motivator was chocolate covered pretzels. I don’t think I did very well as a grandmother, but I did manage to get one of the kids to sit on my lap for about 30 seconds.

Kris & Khloé. She looks like she really could be my daughter, right?

Saving the Best for Last

The final outfit I wore was even more fantastic than the others. I have to tell you, this day was such a dream come true! Wearing these gorgeous clothes and being photographed and fussed over is a very nice way to spend the day.

It’s really fun to be someone else for the day, and take on some characteristics that I don’t normally display. As the matriarch of the Kardashian clan, Kris is known to be tough (but compassionate), and it was a growing edge for me to bring some of that toughness up to the front of my being. I like it! I need more of that!

Hijinks with Kim and Khloé

The final scene of the day was Kris, Kim, and Khloé. The bed had been replaced with a long white couch. We did some shots with the three of us on the couch and the late afternoon sun shining in. Then we did some solo shots, both on the couch and on a leopard print chair. I will be over the moon if one of these appears in the magazine! Quirky style and then some…

Taking It to the Street

Then we went downstairs to West 31st Street, and did some shooting with passersby on the sidewalk. Khloé and I strolled arm-in-arm and chatted, while crowds of people kept walking past in the other direction. We did it about eight times, because Heji wanted the pedestrians in the shot but they kept walking around us. We did look pretty fierce, I must say! So that was the fun note that we finished the day with. We all rode back up in the silver freight elevator feeling elated and satiated from a job well done.

About Face

Newly relaunched, The Face magazine is a British music, fashion, and culture monthly magazine. It was originally founded in 1980 by Nick Logan, the British journalist who had previously been editor of New Musical Express. The magazine shot Kate Moss to supermodel stardom in 1990. Shuttered in 2004, the mag was rebooted this April by current owner Wasted Talent, which also publishes Kerrang! Big names in music mags, wow!

The first print issue of the reboot hit the stands in New York last month, in September 2019. My fashion shoot will be in the January or February 2020 issue. Stay tuned for that!