Australian swimwear designer reveals what Kendall Jenner is REALLY like to work with

Australian swimwear designer Leah Madden has candidly revealed what it was like working with top model Kendall Jenner. 

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia this week, Leah recalled the time she cast the 25-year-old in a campaign for her brand, White Sands. 

The design director and founder said that at the time of booking Kendall for the job, the reality star was 15-years-old and determined to make a name for herself in the modelling industry. 

Leah added that despite not knowing who Kendall was at the time, despite the success of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, she knew straight away that Kendall had that star quality.  

‘Way back then in 2010, was when I first saw her, I was in Miami casting for our runway show as part of Fashion Week and the coming collection,’ Leah explained. 

‘And I saw this girl on the board… I knew I was looking for someone very, very fresh. It was a very feminine collection and I saw this face, this beautiful, beautiful girl and on her model card she was smiling… and I said, “she is amazing, I would love her, who is that?” And they all laughed at me.’

Leah said she was told about Kendall’s link to the Kardashians, but she had never once watched the show so had no idea and thought she was ‘genuinely so beautiful.’

‘I do try to book models who are 16, it’s swimwear, so we organised to shoot as close to her 16th birthday as we could,’ she said. 

‘But it was a really easy process,’ Leah said, saying the shoot took place in Los Angeles. 

She went on to praise Kendall, saying she was ‘softly spoken,’ ‘professional’ a little ‘nervous,’ but ‘friendly.’

‘She turned up ready to go, she was very friendly, very professional, she’s a softly spoken person, very demure, really impeccable manners, so lovely and friendly,’ Leah said.

‘She was nervous… she was very, very new to the industry. They were booking her for the upcoming fashion week in LA. She was really nervous about that. She took direction well.’

She added: ‘She was obviously very driven and really serious about her modelling career. Straight away, I knew she was going to be big from then.’

Kendall has since forged a successful modelling career for herself and is said to be one of the highest paid models. 

She has walked for the likes of Chanel, Oscar de la Renta and Vera Wang and has posed for the likes of Vogue.  

Leah founded White Sands in 2008 and is celebrating 13 years of the brand. 

White Sands will be showcasing their new collection at the Afterpay Australian Fashion Week next month at Sydney’s Carriageworks. 

About the new collection, Leah said it’s a rather ‘personal’ collection and she feels like she’s ‘getting back to her roots’ with the new range.     

‘I’m happy to be back and showing again, it’s a lot of work,’ she said with a laugh.  

‘It’s very Australian inspired, I travel a lot and I’m usually inspired by those destinations… this past year I found myself appreciating our beautiful country and those destinations I’ve taken for granted for so long, like Byron Bay.’

She said she started the brand as a ‘passion project’ at first because she could never really find swimwear she liked in Australia that was ‘surf-focused,’ and it’s gone from strength to strength ever since. 

The brand has been seen on the likes of models Georgia Fowler, Miranda Kerr and even Kendall’s sister, Kylie Jenner.