The results are in, and Gigi Hadid has been officially crowned ‘International Model’ of the year at the 2016 Fashion Awards, retaining her place at the very top of the fashion food chain. How does she do it? We take a look at five moments she dominated the fashion game over the past 12 months.
There’s no doubt her social media presence has lent Gigi Hadid an appearance of intimacy with her fans which earlier generations of supermodels could never hope to achieve. But to dismiss Gigi’s power as purely a result of the ‘likes’ she can acquire on social media would be unfair. This year alone, she’s showed serious prowess on the catwalk. Walking down the Bottega Veneta catwalk hand in hand with Lauren Hutton was one of the biggest moments of Milan Fashion Week. And Gigi’s see-now-buy-now collection for Tommy Hilfiger, which the model debuted at New York Fashion Week, a massive commercial success.
Balmain brunette
Having been somewhat typecast as a ‘curvy’ blonde (by supermodel standards at least), Gigi sent shockwaves rippling through the fashion world when she stepped out onto the Balmain Fall/Winter 2016 catwalk as a brunette for Paris Fashion Week. The drastic image overhaul turned out to be due to a couture wig, but the savvy move kept both her and Balmain’s names in the headlines.
Anchors away
Starring in Tommy Hilfiger’s fragrance campaign ‘The Girl’ in July, Gigi showed off her playful side, as well as offering a glimpse of the nautical theme that would run through her debut fashion collection, TommyxGigi, launched with the designer in September.
Disco diva
Gigi popped up on all the major catwalks during the Spring/Summer 2017 ready-to-wear shows, but her defining fashion week moment came when she walked the runway for Fendi in Milan sporting a glittery metallic disco lip that became one of the main beauty trends of the season.
Fitness first
The star scored her first major fitness campaign in October, when she was signed up as the ambassador of the brand’s #PerfectNever movement. She donned her boxing gloves for a quick promo video shoot, giving us a glimpse at the hard work that goes into maintaining that supermodel physique.
Booting up
Gigi’s love of a heeled bootie is well documented, so it was only a matter of time before she created her own. Stuart Weitzman released the ‘Gigi’ in three different colours ” copper, silver and black ” this fall, with sales proceeds donated to the education charity Pencils of Promise.
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Who is Gigi Hadid?
• 1. Gigi’s real name is Jelena Noura Hadid. Her mother, Yolanda Foster (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star and former Ford model), came up with the nickname when Gigi was just starting grade school
• Though Hadid signed with IMG Models when she was 17 years old, her modeling career began well before then. “I was discovered by Paul Marciano, of Guess, when I was actually, like, 2 years old,” she told Vanity Fair in 2014. “And so I started with Baby Guess; I did Guess Kids. . . . Since I started with IMG, I’ve done three Guess campaigns.”
• In fall 2013, Hadid began her studies at New York City’s New School, studying criminal psychology. She once said that she hopes to graduate college by the time she’s 23 years old
