Slowly but surely, Julez Smith is establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with in the modeling world. Since making his runway debut at Luar's fall 2024 show during NYFW, he has gone on to book gigs with Versace, Bluemarble, Off-White, and KidSuper across New York, Milan, and Paris.
At only 20, his résumé is more than impressive — but admittedly, Smith's got a bit of a tough crowd to impress at home. Just a little reminder: his mom is Solange, his grandma is Tina Knowles, his aunt is Beyoncé, and his cousins are Blue Ivy, Rumi, and Sir Carter. However, slowly but surely, Smith's fashion prowess is wowing the fam.
In a new MOMENT by Teen Vogue cover interview, Smith opened up about a cute little bonding moment with his “baby cousin Rumi” from just before he jetted off to Paris Fashion Week this season, where he was pleasantly taken aback after the 7-year-old showed genuine appreciation for his line of work.
“I was packing my bag and she was like, ‘Where are you going?’ I was like, 'I'm going to Paris.' She was like, 'Oh, you're going to work.' And that was my first time where any of my cousins or siblings was like, 'Okay, yeah, he got a job now. My cousin's going to work,'” Smith told Teen Vogue's Aiyana Ishmael.
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It seems like it was only yesterday that Smith was six, standing onstage with Beyoncé and Tina at the BBMAs, but time flies, and the whole family is feeling it. “They’re asking me questions like, ‘You drive now?’ And I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm 20 now. I ain't the same 15-year-old when you were born, you feel me,'” he continued. “But that type of stuff warms my heart, just knowing that my younger folks in my family look up to me and I'm a role model to them.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Smith opened up further about being the oldest of the cousins and leading by example. “It's been protector mode since everybody was born. Just trying to be a positive role model as they get older,” he explained. “I think that's been my main goal. And it's cool, they know their cousin is a model now, so it's like, all right, that might rub off on one of the kids… I'm really close to my family, so being the oldest is like, I got to set the tone, set the standard for them, make sure I'm in the same direction that I would want them to go.”
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