Karlie Kloss shows off her significant athletic skills, showcasing the future supermodel’s body for Self Magazine’s August issue. Melissa Ventosa Martin styles Karlie in images by Paola Kudacki.

As Self points out, Karlie Kloss doesn’t apologize for the space she occupies. She owns it. At 6’1”, Karlie is vertical with an elegant bearing, projecting strength, power and even wisdom — writes Self.

Whatever her secret, Kloss has always been a one-woman advertisement for what a body can communicate. She’s become one of the premier catwalkers of her generation, a single namer like Cindy and Gisele, known for a fierce theatricality, a distinctive kick of her heels, a languorous way with her hands when she strikes a pose. But something has changed: Over the past seven years, Kloss has transformed her naturally lanky physique into a lean, formidable machine. Applying herself to pilates and cardio—and any other workout that catches her attention—she’s sculpted acres of sinewy muscle. She is now so precisely defined that she projects a thrillingly restrained power, like a gazelle who could at any moment spring from her 6-inch heels and traverse the runway in one leap. In an industry that once embraced fragile thinness, Kloss has done things her way, helping usher in an age of ripped abs on the Victoria’s Secret runway. You can tell she doesn’t work out to burn off dinner. She works out like she’s training for the Hunger Games.

On the subject of wisdom, Karlie may well have expressed it in walking away from her plum role as a Victoria’s Secret Angel. At 22, that’s an awesome decision to have in her life portfolio. She starts her studies soon at New York University, and is eyeing the philanthropy and social activism world with good friend Christy Turlington who supports Karlie’s priority of education.

Self’s Ambiguous Future

In the coming weeks the future of Self Magazine will be determined, as Conde Nast evaluates twp or three of its underperforming publications. The shift of Self to a more model-centric, fashionable perspective has caused a massive drop in newsstand sales. Read all the details in this weekend’s EYE.