Model Gigi Hadid has graced the pages of Vogue many times since becoming a professional model at 17. To date, she has appeared on five American Vogue covers alone. It’s a statistic that’s all the more impressive considering that not so long ago, many people had never heard of her (save for fans of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, filmed in the company of her mother Yolanda, sister Bella, now a supermodel in her own right, and brother Anwar).
With her quintessentially Californian good looks—see the sandy blonde hair, pillowy lips, and five-foot-ten frame—Hadid was destined for modeling from the start. Discovered at age 2 by Paul Marciano, a wee Hadid shot campaigns for Baby Guess and Guess Kids before putting modeling aside to focus on athletic ambitions, like playing volleyball and riding horses. Both skill sets would come in handy when she was signed by IMG Models at 17. As Hadid has said herself: “I came along at a time when fashion was ready for me.”
Hadid made her debut in the magazine in August 2014, recreating Anna Wintour’s first Vogue cover from November 1988 featuring model Michaela Bercu, who famously wore an embellished Christian Lacroix jacket and Guess jeans—a watershed moment in high-low fashion. Two years later, and after many more turns inside the magazine, Hadid landed the cover of the August 2016 issue. Hadid was photographed with Olympic decathlete Ashton Eaton doing everything from high-jumps to javelin throws. As she told Vogue, she had nearly quit modeling for volleyball and made it as far as the Junior Olympic qualifiers, and the competitive streak runs in her family: her father, Mohamed Hadid, competed in speed skiing for Jordan in the 1992 Winter Olympic Games.
But at the end of the day, modeling still allows Hadid to show off her sporty side—among countless others. Her runway career is stellar and her collaborations with designers—capsules with Tommy Hilfiger, campaigns with Tom Ford and Donatella Versace—prolific, but her ability to play seemingly infinite roles in the magazine has truly set her apart. Annie Leibovitz, Greg Harris, and more are among the fashion power photographers who have showcased her pinch-hitting versatility in Vogue editorials. And while all are worth a second look, we’ve rounded up Hadid’s 10 best moments in the magazine, as seen in the slideshow below.
Gigi Hadid Ranks Taylor Swift Songs, Paints, and Plays Volleyball