Gigi Hadid Opens Up About Being Told She Didn’t Have A ‘Runway Body’
Gigi Hadid might have walked for luxury brands like Burberry and The Row this season, but her runway career might never have come to fruition if she had given into her critics.
In a new interview with i-D magazine, the 24-year-old opened up about being told that she didn’t have a ‘body’ for the catwalk and the designer who took a chance on her at her first Paris Fashion Week.
‘[Jean Paul Gaultier] was the first designer that let me walk on a runway in Paris, it was in his last ready-to-wear show,’ Hadid told the publication of her first PFW runway experience in 2015.
‘At the time, I was still starting out in my career, I was coming out of high school, I still had my volleyball body.’
The model continued, explaining that she ‘loved’ her volleyball body. ‘I knew how hard I worked to have those muscles, to be curved in those places—I kind of miss it now,’ she added.
‘At the time, people were hard on me and tried to say that I didn't have a runway body.’
While some designers invited her to walk in more shows after her work with Gaultier, the model said that many still put her in clothes that ‘covered’ up her body.
‘So for Jean Paul to have me at his last ready-to-wear show in 2015—not only to have me, but also to put me in an outfit that didn't cover a lot... like, there were still stylists or designers at that time who were putting me in their shows, but putting me in something that really covered my body,’ she said.
‘And so for him to make me feel like he wanted me to shine in that way, it really meant a lot to me as a young model.’
In December 2016, the model revealed that she’d been secretly experiencing a debilitating thyroid condition.
'My metabolism actually changed like crazy this year,' she revealed during a Reebok panel in New York, referencing rumours about her changing body shape.
'I have Hashimoto's disease. It's a thyroid disease, and it's now been two years since taking the medication for it.'
According to the Mayo Clinic, the disease is a condition in which your immune system attacks your thyroid gland – that small gland at the base of your neck below your Adam's apple, which produces hormones that coordinate many of your body's functions.
Symptoms of the condition include fatigue, increased sensitivity to cold, muscle weakness, depression and memory lapses.
Speaking to i-D, the model also opened up about pulling back on her high-profile status in the media and on the fashion circuit in the years to come.
‘I think that as I get older... well one day I'll start a family and I don't know if I will always be modelling,’ she said.
‘I love the creative side of fashion, it's so fulfilling. The people I work with make me so happy, I'm so lucky to be around them. But who knows? Maybe I'll take up full time cooking!’
besties for a decade- coast to coast !
A post shared by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on Nov 10, 2019 at 2:24pm PST
The model regularly shows off her culinary creations on social media, from baking with her famous siblings Bella and Anwar, and cooking chicken with her boyfriend Zayn Malik.
‘I think that the weird and wonderfulness of it comes from also being in isolation,’ Hadid said of her mother Yolanda’s farm on the outskirts of New York City.
‘A lot of the time, I'll have friends and family at the farm, but there are a lot of days where I'm there just by myself, and I sit in my little cottage in silence and just doing these little things for myself. I think that also gives me the energy and the love for what I do. It recharges my batteries.’
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
You Might Also Like
