How Bella won over the fashion world
Bella Hadid is the ultimate overachiever. The middle child of the Hadid clan - which also includes 17-year-old Anwar, who’s been clocking up some serious miles on the catwalk at Men’s Fashion month - has carved the modelling career of dreams, and she's just 19-years-old. In a matter of months, Bella has become a Chanel-walking, Givenchy-campaign-fronting, bona fide super-model.
The raven-haired beauty’s first brush with fame was as a background player, when her mother Yolanda Hadid - herself a former model - appeared on the US reality TV series Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. An accomplished equestrian, Bella was due to compete at the 2016 Olympics but battling with the severe symptoms of Lyme disease (which she contracted as a child), Bella was forced to give up on her lifelong dream. Bella turned her focus to a new direction and concentrated on nailing her modelling career.
As her star continues to rise, we’ve put together a helpful Bella Hadid cheat sheet, for anyone still wondering where she and her chiselled cheekbones sprang from and how she’s landing all the coolest ad campaigns.
Catwalk CV
Global modelling agency IMG signed Bella up in August 2014, and by February 2015, she was slinking down the catwalk in her signature laid back gait for Tom Ford, Diane von Fürstenberg, Tommy Hilfiger, Jeremy Scott, Balmain, and Marc Jacobs. At London Fashion Week, she walked for Topshop Unique and Giles, and then jetted over to Milan for Moschino, Missoni, and Bottega Veneta. Phew!
In December 2015, Karl Lagerfeld then cast her in his lavish Métiers d'Art show in Rome and in January, Kaizer Karl called upon her once again for his Chanel Couture show and Bella graduated from one-to-watch, to impossible-to-book, walking exclusively for Givenchy, Chanel and Miu Miu at Paris Fashion Week in March.
In New York, she solidified her ‘cool girl’ status with an appearance at Rihnna’s FentyxPuma show and Kanye’s Yeezy presentation. As well as campaigns for Marc Jacobs and Topshop, Bella has become Givenchy’s go-to girl - appearing in consecutive campaigns for the brand and taking over it’s Instagram - and is the new face of Dior Beauty.
The Look
Bella's is known for her pouty and poised persona. She dyed her naturally blonde hair jet black, and is mystifyingly never caught without it looking perma-polished. With the help of stylist-slash-fashion-editor Elizabeth Sulcer (who also dresses Vanessa Paradis, Karlie Kloss and Cate Blanchett) she honed a model-off-duty formula involving lots of leather, and plenty of skin. She keeps it classy by countering anything potentially trashy with a baggy sportswear, an oversized bomber, a well-tailored coat or cool kicks.
Cannes and That Red Dress
Just as the world became acquainted with the breakout face of 2016, Bella familiarised us with That Red Dress at the premiere of The Unknown Girl, at Cannes Film Festival in May. When photos emerged of Bella in the crimson Alexandre Vauthier Couture gown - which clung to her lithe limbs in a way that suggested a swift gust of wind could result in an accidental bare-all - the Internet duly broke down. The look has been filed away with Elizabeth Hurley’s Versace safety pin dress under iconic red carpet moments.
A-List Bae
Bella’s boyfriend The Weeknd – real name Abel Tesfaye – is an Oscar-nominated, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter who Bella began dating over a year ago. The Canadian-born 26-year-old wooed her by asking her to appear in the artwork for his 2015 album, Beauty Behind the Madness (which ultimately entered the charts at number one in nearly 50 countries, and includes play-on-repeat hits The Hills and Can't Feel My Face). Though she declined that request, by December he’d convinced her to star as the femme fatale in his video for In the Night, and seemingly to be his girlfriend. Keeping a relatively low profile, they are prone to the occasional cute Instagram.