Maybe she’ll write a children’s book one day. A story about a visit to the aquarium or a pastoral adventure set on her family farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, among the miniature goats, the horses, and her mother’s lavender garden. It seems like a plausible turn for Gigi Hadid, the model and mother to 10-month-old Khai, who has been spending much of the pandemic squirreled away at her mother’s rural 32-acre property. For the majority of our time together, she clutched a small bouquet of colorful felt-tip pens, her elbows firmly resting on the table. One gets the sense that crafting materials are never far and that she’d sooner reach for an activity like that—tactile, with little pressure to perform and instead make, as she says, “the shittiest pot ever”—than do anything else. “It’s a memory of something that you tried,” Gigi adds. “That’s a good kind of creativity.” On Instagram, she follows many Etsy-type decorative-craft accounts, like a crepe-paper florist, a glass-bead slow-fashion jeweler, artisanal bakers, and small-batch ceramicists. I’m reminded of her New York apartment, which she finished redesigning last year and shared with her followers. Gigi’s kitchen, with its dyed-pasta-facade cabinetry, was just part of a larger bricolage motif that included a bathroom plastered with New Yorker magazine covers.
There is, inherent to Gigi’s manner, a sort of Malibu-forever finish—a sporty glow as if she’s standing by, set to dust off any sand and join a match. She’s wearing a cropped white T-shirt, a gold chain, and a loose-fitting, striped, multicolored Ralph Lauren Oxford shirt, unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up. Her recently dyed rusty-red hair—adding a touch of grunge to her prep—is pulled back into a bun. She’s every bit horse girl by way of California, and new mother with an intuition for multitasking extreme presence (our interview) with relaxed watchfulness (hopping off camera to tend to Khai when she started crying).
Gigi seems drawn to the idyllic, content with time away from all the noise. “It’s peaceful and recharging for me,” she notes. “I deal with a lot of things through just sitting and thinking and writing. People made jokes when Covid hit, like, ‘Oh, Gigi, you’ve been practicing quarantine for years now,’ because when I had a few days off, I would drive to the farm from the city and be with myself in my little cabin, making a resin chair or drying flowers.” Currently, Gigi is happily rediscovering her surroundings through someone else’s point of view, her daughter, born last September, who is noticing the arrival of summer and staring off at familiar trees, no longer bare but thick with summer leaves.
Gigi and her partner, Zayn Malik, the British Pakistani singer, songwriter, and former member of One Direction, have their own place now, a short walk from Gigi’s mother, Yolanda, whose 18th-century stone farmhouse and surrounding acreage provided an Eden-like hamlet for her children and their partners during quarantine. Glimpses of their hashtag #FarmLife were shared on Instagram by Yolanda: Her youngest, son Anwar, and his girlfriend, pop star Dua Lipa, Sunday-ing, for instance, on horseback with middle child Bella. Dinners by the fire pit, silver Mylar balloons celebrating Gigi’s 25th birthday, a wobbly calf, freshly cut hydrangeas, and plenty of bright puffer jackets. The family grew. Gigi gave birth to Khai at home, and for Christmas, Lipa gifted Anwar two pygmy goats named Funky and Bam-Bam.
Gigi describes her role during lively family dinners as practical and even-tempered. Everyone plays their part. “This is not to say that I don’t have a heart or Bella doesn’t have a brain, but when dealing with family stuff and world issues, my mom calls me the brain and Bella the heart,” she says. “My brother is half and half. Whatever the family dinner-table discussion is, Bella will be very emotional and compassionate, and I’m sitting there pulling up charts and infographics, speaking very calmly. My mom is just very Dutch and to the point. And my dad’s a storyteller—a bit goofy, but always connecting it back to, ‘Oh, you’ve heard the old Palestinian saying ...’”
Zayn, Gigi says, has found a diplomatic way to navigate Hadid gatherings. “At first he was like, ‘How do I get a word in edgewise?’ But now he is very comfortable. He speaks his mind. When he’s in the middle of a family thing and everyone’s like, ‘Zayn, whose side are you on?’ he’s charming,” she says. “He’s usually on my mom's side,” she adds. “So he's smart in that sense.”
When it comes to speaking her mind, Gigi tends to be a bit more cautious—deliberate, though never categorical. As we talk, I learn quickly that hers is a recurrent mannerism of steadiness that doesn’t soft-pedal with a smile. Like most people, she does better around those who know her. “I feel like context has to do with knowing the person whose perspective it is and having a backstory. You learn the hard way to be really careful with your words.” I wonder if Gigi is referring to, in recent months, having been vocal on social media—along with Bella and Anwar—in their support of their father’s homeland. Gigi wouldn’t address the subject specifically, though she has made her sentiments and solidarity plain on Instagram. Perhaps her reluctance has something to do with the countless bullying comments on her Instagram posts or the full-page ad that ran in The New York Times that condemned Gigi, Bella, and Dua Lipa for their support of Palestine. “Anyone who is multiracial, or even if you aren’t, can feel different pressures from each community,” she responds when I ask her if she feels a responsibility to say something, given the size of her platform.
Gigi’s way of doing things involves remaining in harmony with herself and knowing what’s right for her so she might stay in what she calls a “safe mental and physical space.” She counts therapy as partly responsible for guiding her emotional rationale, as well as seeking out peaceful moments that are far removed from the intricacies of her colossal influence. “This year I’ve talked to a lot of people who have been speaking, using their platforms,” she says. “It’s nice when you get that kind of validation from friends for speaking on what you believe in. But then also not feeling a responsibility to do something that makes you feel unsafe.”
Nowadays, Gigi, Zayn, and Khai continue to spend time going on little hikes in the woods or listening to Bollywood music or singing one Arabic nursery rhyme in particular that Khai enjoys.“She loves the birds, the animals,” Gigi says. “It’s nice to be outside after a long winter.” Now that some of the world has reopened, the couple have also taken Khai to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History in New York where Khai stared fixedly at the dinosaur displays with the same wonder she has for, Gigi notes, buildings or cars and other big things. It was at home that Zayn took notice of his daughter’s enthusiasm for their television’s screen saver, particularly the jellyfish. “Zayn had the idea, he’s like, ‘We should take her to the aquarium.’” Those umbrella-shaped marine animals were Khai’s favorite in real life as well.
I ask Gigi if Khai, like her mother, will ride horses. “Yes. She will one day definitely be on a horse.” I ask Gigi to describe the feeling. “It’s pretty spiritual,” she says, her tone switching, as if accessing an interior, well-observed wisdom. “They are some of the most intuitive animals, and to be able to sit on top of a being that’s so much bigger than you ... You have to give in to the fact that the energies you give off, the horse is going to feel. So even if you’re nervous, breathe through it. Talk to them. Use your eyes for where you want to go. There has to be mutual respect. That’s why I love it. It’s an animal that if they wanted to, could destroy you in a second.”
She keeps multiple journals to take stock of her emotions. “During my pregnancy, I had one journal that I called my good journal and one journal that I called my bad journal. They weren’t that literal, but one was more for the memories, for Khai. Maybe one day I’ll give her the bad journal just to be real about it.”
What was inside the “bad” journal?
“Anxieties and days where I felt like, ‘Am I good enough to be a mom?’” she says. “I didn’t want to feel guilty about feeling those things or writing those things down. I just liked the separation. I also have sketch pads where I’ll watercolor-sketch, and sometimes I end up writing there too. I write on the back of receipts and keep those in a notebook. I’m not particular about it, and my journals are everywhere around the house. I just pick up whichever one is closest to me and write.”
With more than 67 million followers on Instagram, model-of-the-year awards, innumerable magazine covers globally, brand collaborations, and high-fashion campaigns, having opened and closed runway shows for Versace, Chanel, and Tom Ford, among others, Gigi’s rise since 2014—she made her debut at New York Fashion Week—has been spectacular and in some manner dependable. There she is ... everywhere! A multiplicity of Gigi, as though demand could—but never did—outstrip supply. Ubiquity of the supermodel kind is to be expected, and Gigi’s version of that offered a type of dominance that was matter-of-fact and hardworking. A total ascendancy delivered uncomplicatedly with a look that seemed capable of various dials of glamour, from 1960s-inspired Anna Sui to Moschino bridal to Riccardo Tisci Burberry muse and even barefoot for Marc Jacobs. And a face—well, a face that has surface area. Like a pouting light bulb. It’s both round and long, with cheeks that bring to mind Dorothy Lamour or a Bratz doll. Her blue-green hooded eyes are sleepy and catlike, and her wattage—let’s call it—operates on a luminous unit of power, easily dimmed or brightened depending on the intended beauty look.
As for her modeling style: systems-ready and contender-like, practiced and on the ball. Gigi’s got a sweetheart, almost conciliatory professionalism (swiftly confronting a Chanel runway crasher in 2019) that is perhaps symptomatic of being the eldest (though comparisons to Bella are ineffectual; sisters are too easily placed on arbitrary spectrums). Gigi does, however, disclose that her sense of achievement has, especially in the past, been keenly linked to her perfectionism, a quality that has its place in her industry, certainly, but isn’t everything for the model who cites the pure joy she gains from making art in private that she might “throw against the wall after, if you want.” She has controlled her image in such a way that even when paparazzi try to catch a glimpse of, say, her 26th birthday this past April in New York, they are invited into a world of flashing peace signs and PG pleasures like themed fondant cakes, balloon deliveries, and a grilled-cheese food truck.
I do wonder, then, what it means to her when photographers say, “We just want Gigi!” Or what she taps into in order to perform and create a character. “It’s not my job to have an opinion on what I’m wearing [on set],” she says. “It’s my job to wear what I wear and have enough of a photographic mind to understand how to make that piece look good, sellable, and give the feeling that is wanted by the creative team.” I ask her if there’s one photographer in particular whose notes or suggestions have stayed with her. “Steven Meisel is someone who realized my interest early on. He lets me shoot with a mirror behind him. And he says he often starts with letting models do that. The point is not to be distracted by yourself or even look at yourself in the mirror. It’s about being able to look at the camera, and then, kind of in your out-of-focus vision, is the shape of you. It’s training a model to understand how she fits into the photo, which is why I became a model. Obviously, I’m not saying this as anything disrespectful against women, but you have to look at yourself like an object or a fashion object or a sculpture.” She shrugs when I ask her about her relationship to mirrors. “I don’t spend a lot of time in the mirror at all. I brush my teeth in the shower in the morning. Or I usually look out the window.”
Hair: Bob Recine; Makeup: Dick Page; Manicure: Alicia Torello; Production: Eric Jacobson at Hen’s Tooth Productions; Set Design: Andrea Stanley; Director of Photography: Angel Zinovieff.
