In the past year, the cultural zeitgeist has, quite literally, found its way to Gigi Hadid's doorstep. On the morning of our shoot, there are three paparazzi waiting outside her New York home. Her security team manages to lose them while winding their way through SoHo, but it doesn't take long before they track down our setup outside the Mercer hotel. Not only have they found us, but they've also multiplied. At one point I count 20 jockeying for position in their own Gigi-fied trance. "It's so crazy, I know," she tells me later. Such is the life of the new breed of supermodel, especially one whose close friends and family are also pop-culture catnip. (At press time in August, Hadid had 21.4 million Instagram followers—more than double the number she had in December of last year.) Aside from her undeniable Cali-girl good looks and delightful demeanor, Hadid's social media pull certainly influenced Tommy Hilfiger's decision to ask her to codesign a new nautical-inspired capsule collection. (He also made her the face of his new fragrance, the Girl.) The resulting Tommy x Gigi clothes—high-waisted jeans adorned with oversize silver buttons, cropped fisherman's sweaters, peacoats with patches, Breton tops, and a bomber jacket that is sure to be a hit—are perfect for an autumnal stroll or, in Hadid's case, dodging the paps. Here, she gives us an exclusive look at the collection, in stores now, while taking us along on her ideal off-duty day.
7:00 A.M. I work almost every day, so I usually wake up around 7 A.M. On my days off I try to sleep in, which is my guilty pleasure. I will sleep past noon on some days but then wish that I had gotten up earlier. But I also love waking up early when the city is still quiet. I usually eat breakfast or have coffee before I do anything. I live near the Smile, and I love their scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. I drink orange juice and coffee always. At home I love scrambled eggs and toast; it's just an easy go-to. My boyfriend, being British, got me into breakfast beans, so that's what I've been eating lately. Then I'll go to Twitter for news. It's so easy—you just enter a keyword and it's done.
BEAUTY BAZAAR Spritz on the Girl fragrance by Tommy Hilfiger for a burst of fresh, fruity scent ($45).
9:00 A.M. I rode horses and played volleyball back home, so when I came to New York it was hard for me to just go to the gym. I need to have a sport that wakes me up and that I can get better at, and boxing does that for me. I usually go to Gotham Gym in the West Village. My boxing trainer has become my coach. The coach-player thing has been really important my whole life. My work ethic obviously comes from my parents, but it was really pounded into me by my coaches, so it's key that I have that to feel good in the city and at home. They're like my brothers. It's great.
12:00 P.M. My personal motto is "Eat clean to stay fit, have a burger to stay sane," so if I'm in the mood I'll go to JG Melon in the West Village. Again, I love the Smile. They have a little arugula salad that I could eat every day.
1:00 P.M. I had my birthday parties at a Color Me Mine [pottery studio] in L.A. when I was a kid, so now on my days off in New York I'll get coffee with some friends and go to Color Me Mine and sit there for, like, five hours and paint really detailed mugs or whatever. They're good birthday presents or presents for yourself, and it's really relaxing. I do a lot of art at home, like painting, drawing, sometimes working with clay. I build a lot of Lego sets. That's art, I guess!
3:00 P.M. My favorite places in New York are the South Street Seaport and any spot with a skyscraper-type view to look out over the city. There used to be an Emack & Bolio's on Houston Street, which is my favorite ice-cream place—I love the Grasshopper Pie—and I would walk past it on my way to the gym every day, but one day it was closed and I almost cried. Now I'll just Postmate pints of it to my apartment. If I'm going shopping, I'll go to Saks because I want everything to be in one store. I also love Topshop. I like to buy pieces, go home, try them on, and return what I don't want because the lines are usually way too long. My job is to try things on, so I try not to do it too much of it on my day off.
4:00 P.M. When I was working with Tommy Hilfiger on the collection, I was contracted to stay for only one hour for each design meeting, but I ended up staying seven or eight hours sometimes. It was so much fun. We would literally close down the Tommy building in Midtown, like they were trying to kick us out. They thought of everything; they even made me cupcakes with my name on them. They made it very welcoming. They made a sign that read, GIGI'S STUDIO, for my first design studio. I worked a lot with the textures first before we started getting into shapes because I wanted the clothes to feel good. I wanted the sweaters to be soft, and the coats to be a good thickness, and all of the little things. The second and third meetings were more about the details, like picking the buttons and putting the patches in the right places and fitting the clothes the way I wanted them to fit. I hope that people will feel the time we put into it when they put on the clothes because the quality was really important to us.
My favorites from the collection are the long gray sweater with white stripes—I want to wear it all the time—and the bomber jacket. Designing with Tommy was an incredible experience. Every time I see him it reminds me that being positive is so important. He's always happy and welcoming and warm, and it trickles down to his entire company. Being nice is so important. It's something I think Tommy appreciates in me and something I appreciate in him, so that's why we work well together. He even hired Tui Lifestyle to build a closet in my new apartment as my Christmas present. He's so thoughtful. What's funny is that no one knows this, but my brother, Anwar, designs clothes too and is really, really talented. He works a lot with denim and pattern stitching—custom jean jackets and stuff like that. It's very exclusive to our family right now, but my mom has been taking pictures of his stuff to use for his college applications. It's cute, and I'm really excited for him. It's cool that he doesn't feel the need to be the next big male model, you know?
9:00 P.M. If I'm going out, I like to go for dinner and drinks with friends. I love Bond Street for sushi. For a night in, I love to cook and watch a movie. If I were ever to play a character, I would want to be some sort of action hero. Not necessarily a superhero but something along those lines, like action-driven. Maybe the first female president! I also love to sing Broadway show tunes at home, which makes me the worst neighbor but is a good stress reliever. I love "Popular" from Wicked. That's the only one I'll tell you about because I know at some point someone's going to ask me to do this, and that's the only one I'm willing to do publicly. My boyfriend gets into it too. He's a big goofball—we laugh a lot.
11:30 P.M. My sheets are Cloud Nine, but before I go to bed I like to watch Girls. I also loved Prison Break. I studied criminal psychology in school, so one day I hope I can use my studies to be on Law & Order: SVU.
See a behind-the-scenes look at BAZAAR's day with Gigi here:
[youtube ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbHQnzLKVus&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
All clothing and accessories, Tommy Hilfiger, Tommy x Gigi.
Hair: Jennifer Yepez; makeup: Kabuki at kabukimagic.com; Manicure: Bethany Newell; Production: Joey Battaglia at Rosco Production; Prop styling: Bette Adams for Mary Howard Studio. Special thanks to Color Me Mine Tribeca, Gotham Gym, and the Mercer hotel, NYC.
The article originally appeared in the October 2016 issue of Harper's BAZAAR.
