Julez Smith Covers Teen Vogue, Talks Modeling & Love for Grandma Tina Knowles

Julez Smith graces the cover of Teen Vogue and gives us a peep into his rising modeling career and love for his grandma Tina Knowles.

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For Julez, modeling was his second love. Before, he was very much into basketball but when only small colleges were reaching out he decided to pivot.

Speaking with the publication, he shared:

“I’ve always been into fashion. I’ve always wanted to take pictures and be fly and all that. So it wasn’t anything brand new, it just was like, now I’m going to shift all this focus I [had] on basketball and I’m putting the same effort into modeling”.

Since then, he’s walked for Luar, Bode, Versace, and at Paris Fashion Week. But, he enjoyed walking at Paris Fashion Week, especially the 424 show. This show was more of a performative show rather than just walking.

Given the model’s famous family ties, he says that it makes his journey both easier and difficult in the modeling world:

“There’s more doors open for sure, but there’s also like, “Oh, this is just a nepo baby. This is a nepo kid.” When in reality I am going to do the same exact process that everybody else is doing, but people don’t know that. They don’t see behind the scenes, they only see what it is.”

But, Solange’s son didn’t shy away about his love for his grandma Tina:

“She taught me how to be a young man. She taught me the rules of the house. She taught me how to be a man of the house. She taught me how to respect others and everything, and she keeps me up on my fly, too. She be sending me clothes and all types of stuff. My grandma, she’s my dog, man.”

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[Photo Credit: Teen Vogue / Getty]