From Gigi Hadid to Madeline Poole, why beauty’s new stars are all on Instagram

A photo posted by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on

Gigi Hadid

With a Calvin Klein contract already under her belt, supermodel Christy Turlington landed her first Maybelline New York deal in the early ’90s after years of runway and editorial work. In 2015, Palestinian-American model Gigi Hadid already had a staggering Instagram and Twitter following when she signed on with the beauty brand—not long before, she was just a high school senior, filling out college applications in between volleyball practices. Welcome to the era of the social media models, where followers and likes trump magazine covers and experience, and a new breed of supes — like Hadid and her close friend Kendall Jenner—are poised to become the Christy, Naomi or Linda of their generation.

“[Kendall and I] started in the modelling world at the same time, and it’s been really awesome to experience it together,” says Hadid. Her CV is already stacked—a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit gig, walking in Chanel’s runway protest (“I held a sign that said ‘Boys Should Get Pregnant too!’”) and a Tom Ford campaign, which she landed with a little help from her “fashion fairy godmother” Carine Roitfeld. When Hadid’s agent emailed her about a meeting with the former French Vogue editor, “I kind of thought he sent it to the wrong person,” says Hadid.

It seems she is acutely aware of the cultural significance of this moment. “I feel really lucky to be a model in the time of social media. We’re not just someone that a girl likes because she saw her once in a magazine. We get to be the models that people like because they like the same bands and pizza and mascara as us—that’s stuff that we can share through social media. I think that’s really cool.”

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