Bella de Jour
For Bella Hadid, modeling was never just a possibility—it’s in her DNA. In the ‘80s, mother Yolanda Foster (née Yolanda van den Herik) was discovered as a Dutch teenager by Eileen Ford, which led to a successful career in print. Three decades later, older sister Gigi stormed the industry snagging contracts with Maybelline and Tom Ford. But in recent months, the younger Hadid sister—18-years-old, to be exact—has quietly ascended as this season’s breakout star.
To simply glance at Hadid’s seductively melancholic beauty (one might say, evocative of a young Helena Christensen) with her striking blue-gray eyes, high cheekbones and shock of dark hair, proves a fate in front of the lens was simply in the cards. So it’s no surprise then, after logging in photography credits as a freshman at Parson’s The New School for Design that she decided to pursue modeling full time. “I said to myself if I’m going to do school or modeling, I’m going to do 100%,” explains Hadid. “But I can’t do both.”
So far that wager has paid off. In the past eight months, the newcomer has appeared on several magazine covers from the avant-garde V Magazine to France’s Jalouse, walked in runway shows for Tom Ford and Sonia Rykiel and was dubbed One of Nine Rising Model Stars To Watch by American Vogue. “Bella is both edgy and sophisticated in an understated way,” says Monica Botkier, creative director of handbag line Botkier New York, who hired Hadid for her spring ad campaign. “She has a fresh look that is so full of life, which makes her a force to be reckoned with.”
To be fair, Hadid’s story is not your average-small- town-rookie-plucked-from-a-mall-in-middle-America tale. Her mother, a bona fide Real Housewife, is married to celebrity composer David Foster and father is real estate development tycoon Mohamed Hadid—both of whom are regulars in the Beverly Hills social circuit; then there’s older sister Gigi who is besties with Taylor Swift and has been romantically linked to a Jonas brother. But despite a privileged pedigree, Bella has incredulously managed to dodge the paparazzi scrum since moving to Manhattan last year. “In Malibu, you can’t really walk places but here you can stop and get a juice or a slice of pizza,” muses Hadid, whose favorite activity is strolling through SoHo and nibbling on avocado toast at Café Gitane with friends.
When asked what she misses most about home, she cites her mom’s spaghetti, the beach and “just being a kid.”
Still, that relative anonymity is not likely to last. Hadid has already become tabloid fodder—from she and Gigi’s supposed rivalry to her speculated relationship with R&B singer The Weeknd. Then there are her online fans. To date, she has nearly 1 million Instagram and over 100,000 Twitter followers who “like” her every move whether it’s facemask slumber parties with pal Miley Cyrus, fêting the Cannes Film Festival with the Jenners or hitting Coachella with BFF, singer and Chrome Hearts scion Jesse Jo Stark. “I used to post a lot of me and my friends but it got really personal,” she explains. “Now I just try to base it off of work.”
On social media propelling her career, “It’s such a big part of so many things right now. Back in the day, you really had to hustle, but these days you don’t need a portfolio. You can just look up someone’s Instagram.”
Despite sounding like a seasoned veteran, the trained equestrian wasn’t always this confident. “I was so nervous in the beginning, I would wear heels to everything,” says Hadid on her early round of go-sees. (Today she is channeling quintessential model-off-duty in black RtA ripped jeans, a rib-grazing vintage Gucci tee, love-worn Zara booties and a metallic J Brand motorcycle jacket as she rummages through her mom’s now-vintage Chanel backpack for a stick of Big Red.) “I’ve always been really hard on myself. If I didn’t book a job, I would cry.” She also knocks down any hint of sibling rivalry. “Gigi really helped me,” she says. “She would say, ‘It’s not about you. Maybe they don’t want a brown haired, blue-eyed girl, they want a blonde haired, brown-eyed girl. It’ll all happen the way it’s supposed to happen.’” When the sisters do get to work together, it’s a bonus. “During one shoot, we literally sang Broadway songs the
whole time,” she laughs.
It’s this positive attitude coupled with a devout work ethic that has made Hadid a muse for designers like Prabal Gurung, who invited her to the Tony Awards earlier this year. “I was quite awestruck by Bella,” says Gurung. “She has such incredible maturity and depth that’s well beyond her years. What I find so intoxicating about her look is her ability to balance utter femininity with a modern edge.”
Growing up as a brooding teen in sunny Southern California, eccentricity always distinguished Hadid. At 13, she dyed her from natural blonde to brown, experimented with blue locks and snuck in extra piercings. “I had a weird style for Malibu,” she concedes. “There was one point where my mom realized, ‘Ok, Bella is going to do what she wants.’” On her being pegged as “goth” by the media: “People think because I say I’m the black sheep that I’m a rebel or this crazy person that does drugs,” groans Hadid. “I promise I’m a good girl. I never do drugs. I literally order sushi, watch Law & Order and go to sleep at nine-o’clock every night. I’m a grandmother.”
Sartorially speaking, since transplanting to the East Coast, Hadid has refined her look. “In L.A., I did a lot of vintage flea market dresses and Doc Martens,” she says. “My mom was like, ‘You’re going to need to tone it down with those floral dresses when you go to New York.’” The result? A covetable look that straddles the line between edgy and glam. Think: Alaïa heels, Reformation catsuits, Calvin Klein pastel coats and rocker-chic Chrome Hearts baubles. “I have this Saint Laurent thin scarf that I throw around my neck,” she adds.
What does the future hold for Hadid? Her bucket list includes working with photographers Patrick Demarchelier and Mario Testino as well as landing a perfume campaign, but she also has ambitions beyond the catwalk. “I eventually want to act,” she muses. Her Hollywood role model: doppelganger Jennifer Lawrence. “It’s funny, people say we look like each other but I really admire her as an actress because she has so much range,” she says. On her style icon, she cites Kate Moss. Or more specifically, “The no makeup, Johnny Depp phase with slip dresses and nothing underneath—just mellow.”
As for now, Hadid maintains she is perfectly happy living in the moment. “My mom and I were Facetiming the other day and she said, ‘It’s so crazy how much you’ve done in such a short time that others don’t get to do in a lifetime,’” recounts Hadid. “It was a really gratifying moment because I look up to her so much and since I’ve started modeling, it hit me. I love this and I want to do it for a really long time.”
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