Gigi Hadid Says Going Nude Helped Fashion Brands Take Her More Seriously

Gigi Hadid is undoubtedly one of fashion’s hottest “It-Girls.” While the 20-year-old has appeared in campaigns for Guess and Maybelline and walked numerous Fashion Week runways, the young model says that wasn’t always the case.

Appearing on the cover of W magazine for the very first time, Hadid says in her accompanying cover story that famous labels started to take notice only after she appeared nude in Tom Ford’s Velvet Orchid fragrance campaign.

“Yes, I was nude, but nude works with fragrance!” she explains. “I’ve never been scared of being naked in pictures, but I wouldn’t do naked for naked’s sake. With Tom, it was an easy decision: When you think of scent, you don’t think of clothes.”

She continues, “In the beginning, I thought Tom would not want to know my name. But he made a space for me in the high-fashion world. When Tom liked me, other jobs followed.”