Prime Time
With
Gigi Hadid
She’s the model-turned-designer who successfully launched her own fashion brand, Guest In Residence, back in 2022. Here, GIGI HADID explains why she finally feels like she’s come into her own, as she models her vibrant new collection and talks to MARJON CARLOS about learning to be more assertive, the joys of motherhood, her burgeoning Hollywood ambitions, and why she’s most definitely available for Barbie the sequel…
There are two sides to Gigi Hadid – at least when it comes to her wardrobe. There’s the high-octane glamour we see the model ooze on endless red carpets, and then there’s her own personal style, which is completely pared back by comparison. After all, Hadid is a Cali girl at heart, as well as a mom to her three-year-old daughter, Khai. Comfort is key.
This is a rule that Hadid has applied to her latest career move – her business ‘baby’ – as creative director of kaleidoscopic cashmere knitwear brand Guest In Residence. “When I design, I don’t just think about myself as this flashy public figure that everyone sees, because that’s not what I am most of the time,” she says. “I borrow a lot of those glamourous, amazing things that I wear; I rarely get to keep them. What my wardrobe is, and why I started a company like this, is what I know well and love: it’s all about classic basics – and making those fun.”
Before our introductions are out of the way, we’re both delighted to find we’re twinning in equally vibrant hues – Hadid is a self-proclaimed lover of color. Today, she has tossed on a sunny ‘Daisy’ shade knit from Guest In Residence’s summer collection, while I pulled on a rose-pink button-down. At the helm of her own fashion brand (which boasts a small but mighty team of industry vets, such as The Row’s Sijeo Kim and stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson), Hadid is gaining knowledge in the nuts and bolts of fashion production. Being in charge still feels “surreal”, she says. “I still have to consciously step into it, like, ‘OK, you need to be a boss when you walk into this room.’” And, as the boss, she has learnt to assert her vision, while remaining collaborative.
“I have learnt a lot about being ASSERTIVE, which doesn’t make you a bitch… As long as you do what comes NATURALLY, which is not to be rude, you can say how you FEEL”
“I think I learnt a lot about myself in terms of, I can be a bit of a people-pleaser,” she considers. “I have learnt a lot about being assertive, which doesn’t make you a bitch… As long as you do what comes naturally, which is not to be rude, you can say how you feel – and sometimes you have to do that to get things done in time.”
She prides her line on being reliable, precious, but still playful. It’s an assortment of signature shapes that customers can rely on as wardrobe mainstays and re-up each year. At its foundation lies the core collection of joggers, hoodies, tanks, scarves, beanies, even boxers, all awash with exuberant hues like bubblegum pink or emerald green, and primed for the soft life.
Hadid has dominated the runway since signing with IMG in 2013, when she was still a Malibu High student. Someone who always believed she would be a natural businesswoman was her friend, the late Virgil Abloh of Off-White and Louis Vuitton, who passed away in 2021 from a private battle with cancer. She immediately namechecks the visionary when I ask who, professionally, she has admired the most. Hadid deeply appreciated Abloh’s ability to be inspired by anyone or anything. “I think about him a lot in this Guest In Residence job,” she reflects. “He was someone who really encouraged me – and made me feel more confident that I was capable to be a creative director.”
Heirloom-potential pieces are at the heart of the brand. Take her favorite from the latest collection: a beautifully braided grandpa sweater in a cherry red that looks like the rarest of archival pieces sourced from the back of a family member’s closet. “It’s something we talk about in the office a lot. I want it to be like you walked into your grandpa’s closet and found the best, coolest, most timeless thing… and you’re, like, ‘What?! Grandpa?!’ Because that’s what I want in my family: for these things to live on.”
“I’ve probably worn almost every TYPE of clothing you could ever wear… I think I UNDERSTAND what works for PEOPLE in their lives and what they want”
She also wants to build a long-term relationship with her customer (“I’ll close my eyes and think about someone putting [a sweater] on, thinking about them tying it a different way. If they’re at the airport, can they roll this up and put it in a bag?”). But lest you worry that Guest In Residence is another hurriedly made celebrity brand saturating the market, know that the model-turned-creative director spent three years in development before launching the line last year. She has applied the second education she gained from nearly a decade of working the top runways with fashion giants, fronting campaigns for the likes of Versace and Givenchy as one of the most eminent and highest-paid models, and co-hosting reality design competition Next In Fashion.
This kind of exposure has made Hadid adept at construction, fit and textiles, having spent most of her career wiggling in and out of couture. “I’ve probably worn almost every type of clothing you could ever wear, and the most bizarre ones, too, like the craziest fastenings, details and technical work,” she explains. My mind immediately goes to the Versace oxblood floor-length puffer jacket and matching latex jumpsuit she donned in 2022 to the Met Gala. Its outsized proportions took over the Met steps. It’s a far cry from a slip-over crewneck – and that type of intimacy with such technical garments has made her sensitive to simple, everyday luxuries. “I think I understand what works for people in their lives and what they want. And that starts with… these weird, crazy couture things I wear,” she says with a laugh.
Despite her brand’s success, Hadid’s first love for modeling has never wavered. But she is much more intentional about the jobs she takes on now. “I think when you are a parent, you have to be intentional because, now, I literally have half the time. I work when my daughter is with her dad [musician Zayn Malik, with whom Hadid co-parents], and that’s the time I have. And the jobs I choose to fill that time with have to be ones that are fulfilling to me. I will literally fit in as many jobs as I can on those days. I’m sometimes a crazy person, but if it means a lot to me, then I do it.”
“I’ve seen so many photos of myself. There’s no need to go do an editorial if I feel like it’s a waste of everyone’s time,” she continues. “I want to do things that are new and feel exciting; where everyone is going to leave feeling fulfilled and that they did something fun that day.” That might involve photographing a shoot herself, which is a passion she’s been trying to pick up again since giving birth in the middle of the Covid pandemic.
A former ‘theater kid’, Hadid also has aspirations away from the fashion world. “If and when the right script comes around, I’d still like to do a movie one day,” she shares. “I took acting classes for a few years in New York. But a lot of scripts that I’ve gotten over the years are just the most obvious roles for me to play. It is what it is, but I’ve only auditioned for the ones that I didn’t feel were obvious.” (She would, however, have been thrilled by a role in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, had it come her way – “I would’ve loved to be even a background character!”)
Now that her daughter is getting older, Hadid is carving out the time to rekindle old hobbies and take up some new ones. She’s building an in-home ceramics studio and has started crocheting at the behest of her toddler. Recently, she spent six hours on a flight to LA, needling together a unicorn that Hadid assures me is unsightly but that Khai adores. “It’s just a blob with a horn and eyes. It’s hilarious.”
“I want to do things that are NEW and feel exciting; where everyone is going to leave FEELING fulfilled and that they did something FUN that day”
Maybe Khai’s cuddly toy could be a test drive for a Guest In Residence crochet drop next season, I suggest? They’ve definitely considered the idea, she replies. “Oh, also we have a kids’ collection coming soon!”
“Khai and her best friend are our fit models. They come into the office, Khai tries on one dress and then she’s like, ‘Do you want to go to the donut store?’”
Hadid, though, has found her comfort zone in the studio, enjoying getting into the intricacies of the process. “We put out every color sample on the floor in rows and I’ll just go quiet and start piecing together little groups, and everyone’s trying to look over my shoulder. I love it.” Her creation is a collection filled with heirloom-potential pieces awash with unexpected colorways that reimagine the possibilities of cashmere and knitwear. “Something I really love is taking obviously-not-cashmere concepts and doing them in cashmere.” There was even talk of a thong at one point, but Hadid laughs that it was tabled: “Some things really don’t work.”
The Fashion Challenge with Gigi Hadid
From the perfect workday-to-dinner look for a fun night out with friends to her ultimate off-duty outfit for a Sunday to herself – watch as Gigi Hadid puts her styling skills to the test for each sartorial scenario…
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