Girl On Top

Supermodel GIGI HADID is at the peak of her powers — but as she nestles into global stardom, her priorities are shifting, finds GRACE O’NEILL

- Grace O’Neill

It’s testament to the enduring appeal of The Supermodel that Gigi Hadid’s arrival in Sydney recently was marked by a media-wide near-meltdown. Hadid was only in town for 48 hours, to launch her collaboration with Reebok and promote the brand’s new #BeMoreHuman campaign, but her appearance had magazine colleagues in-fighting about who would get to attend her sole media event — a breakfast panel at Eveleigh’s arts hub Carriageworks — and many of those who did get to go tried, and failed, to nab selfies with her.

It’s not difficult to see why. Alongside her best friend, Kendall Jenner, and younger sister, Bella, Hadid makes up one third of a trio of the world’s biggest new-gen supers. Her appeal spans high-concept European fashion editorials and walking for the likes of Chanel and Valentino, and hitting the runway for the Victoria’s Secret show and fronting campaigns for Moschino’s high-street collaboration with H&M. She’s the fifth-highest-paid model in the world (her income clocked in at a cool $13 million in 2017); her network of girlfriends includes Taylor Swift and Serena Williams; and she’s the 39th-most-popular person on Instagram, with more than 45 million followers, sitting neatly above Lady Gaga, adidas and NASA.