Gigi Hadid says ‘I’m not the best on the runway’, the world replies, ‘We know’

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Gigi Hadid is my favorite of the Instamodels for reasons I don’t really understand. I think she’s beautiful and she photographs well. I like that she fought back when she was being assaulted by an unhinged a—hole. I like that her thighs are somewhat substantial. But even I admit that my girl has some flaws as a model. She can often look dead-eyed in editorials, and she is easily the worst Instamodel for runway work. There are clips and GIFs of Gigi’s terrible runway strut, and it’s become a “thing” on the internet, the fact that she can’t walk to save her life. Well, Gigi was profiled in the new issue of W Magazine and she knows what people have been saying. So she admits it freely: runways are not her thing. As she tells W:

“Before I started modeling, I was more into photographers. I studied a lot how models made pictures in the sense that you have to be a positive part of a picture and make it better. And that’s what is really important for me on set. There’s some people that are bad at looking at monitors and some people that are good looking at monitors. And monitors really help me because I’m able to look at a picture and see where I fit into it, see what I can add to the picture instead of just being a person that’s on the page.

“But the runway thing, it’s funny because obviously I’m not the best on the runway. But what do you do? When you’re the face of a brand you show up to the show. My first show people were already expecting a lot more from me than I [was capable of at the time]. I never was taught how to walk on the runway. And maybe that’s because it moved really quickly for me, that people just assumed that that was something I knew. So, you know, a year and a half later, I’m still learning. I got some compliments on my Tom Ford show, so I’m getting better. I’m working on it, but I’m human. I still get insecure on the runway, but it’s really exciting for me because I want to get better. I love being on the runway.

[From W Magazine]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but in the interview, she talked a lot about how she got her start and how she put in the time going on all these cattle calls in New York and London and she rarely got any work and… maybe she should have spent that time learning how to walk? Maybe she wasn’t being hired that whole time because she couldn’t walk? It’s bizarre that Gigi’s defense is “I didn’t know how to do this vital job requirement for a career that I had been trying to do for a really long time, NO ONE TAUGHT ME!” Like, study for the runway walk like you study how to be an editorial model. While many models have specialties – either editorial work or runway – the best models can and should do both.

Anyway, when JustJared put the “I’m not the best on the runway” quote on Twitter, everybody dragged Gigi. I say this is fair.

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Photos courtesy of W Magazine, WENN.

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46 Responses to “Gigi Hadid says ‘I’m not the best on the runway’, the world replies, ‘We know’”

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  1. Alleycat says:

    “What do you do?” You learn. I know she says she is but it should not take you years to learn how to walk on a runway. She is not working everyday, take a few weeks and train. This is what bothers me about the nepotism models, stuff like this would no flow with anybody else. If I couldn’t do a huge part of my job, I would be out on a warning and then fired if I didn’t learn. Give me regular models any day.

    • LOL says:

      I agree. She should learn. But I’m sure she thinks she doesn’t have to learn… She knows they will always hire her.

      • mbh12 says:

        It took Claudia Schiffer and several other Supermodels awhile to get their walks down.
        Gigi will be fine. She’s in demand and making BANK in print. She’ll be fine. I’m not worried. LOL

        She seems sweet. I like her mom too, she seems to have instilled a good work ethic in Gigi, from the few times I heard her speak on the Bev H.Wives show.

  2. LiterallyaShambles says:

    She still comes off like a real, warm, actual human being unlike her half-functioning robot humanoid sister.

    • milla says:

      her sister is made of plastic.

      I think Gigi is good for Ralph Lauren, Guess, but she is nowhere near supermodel status. And all press is paid to call her supermodel. But then again, compared to lil Kim Jenner, she looks great.

  3. Radley says:

    I think perhaps she doesn’t realize she was born on third base and real effort is typically a thing for most of us career-wise. Everything about her public persona is bought and paid for and PR team negotiated. From her “squad” to her “boyfriend”. She needs to spend more time on actual personal development and less on creating an image. She comes off as quite vacuous.

    tl;dr Get a runway coach girl.

  4. Tris says:

    OMG those “we know” tweets were pretty funny.

  5. justme says:

    nepotism non-model models. boring.

  6. Skins says:

    She is pretty good in Lip Sync Battle though

  7. MissMerry says:

    that first photo of her make it look like shes holding back tears or something…is that just her face? lol.

  8. Lucy says:

    I appreciate her self-awareness. I had some reservations against her but she’s slowly growing on me, nepotism and all (which is all very real, I still must say). Agreed that she should definitely do something to improve her walk, though.

  9. Mindy says:

    I’m not into fashion at all… BUT…

    If it’s already taken years and you still can’t do your job correctly, maybe it’s time to find another line of work?

  10. Selma says:

    To be fair her walk has greatly improved. I saw her walk at the last fashion week for Tom Ford, Versace and others and it was perfectly fine. These gifs people use are not from last season.
    I like her but she doesn’t captivate me as a model. The last model who used to make me buy magazines was Kate Moss. There’s currently no-one that stands out for me. But the most boring one is by far Kendall. I have nothing against her but she just doesn’t do it for me.

    • Sam says:

      Kendall is the most boring person ever. I have no idea how she became a model. There is nothing interesting about her, what she says, what she does, how she looks etc. I recently watched her 73 Questions with Vogue and it was so terrible. So forced. So boring. I ended up re-watching Blake Lively’s just to get Kendall’s out of my memory.

  11. Sam says:

    Those “we know” comments are hilarious. Anyways I have always liked Gigi. I know she is privileged and she has had a lot given to her but I also appreciate the fact that she stands for who she is. I don’t want to get into the politics or anything like that but I’ve always liked the fact that she’s talked about her Palestinian side. It sounds stupid for a lot of people but as someone who is Palestinian themself, it’s nice to see her open up about it and not hide it away because a lot of times it can be hard simply because you have no idea how the person you’re talking to is going to react. Like sometimes I tell people I’m Palestinian and they side eye me so I will always appreciate Gigi for opening up about the fact that she’s half-Palestinian and appreciating her dad’s culture.

    • Leen says:

      Co-sign. I’m Palestinian too and i really appreciate the fact that Gigi never shies away from her identity, and is openly proud of her Palestinian heritage. It is refreshing.

    • Val says:

      I didn’t even know that she had opened up about it! That’s great. I’ve always liked her, she comes across as someone who is down to earth and grateful (rather than entitled) for what she has.
      She photographs beautifully and I love seeing her spreads. The Tommy Hilfiger collab was on point too, and shows that she’s not “above” doing less luxe than usual.

  12. anniefannie says:

    I’va always had a soft spot for Gigi, particularly after she wrote that tweet of support for Zayn after he cancelled an appearance due to anxiety. It was thoughtful and supportive. Walking a runway isn’t everything

    • HK9 says:

      It is when it’s your job.

    • Selma says:

      Me too. She got a lot of flack for it, people saying she wanted to bring attention to herself as she could have just texted him. But by making her support public she helped raise awareness, encouraged sufferers, especially men, to open up about it by saying it was brave, plus it validated his version of events for those who doubted him. Maybe I’m naive but I didn’t see it as a way to draw attention to herself – she’s already very famous and popular.

      • Radley says:

        Pretty sure that’s just a PR relationship. There’s rumors that even the cancellation was a dirty trick engineered by Simon Cowell who is actively trying to sabotage his solo career for having the audacity to leave his record label. Look at the shady things he’s said about the other boys who’ve also gone solo. Simon is very bitter and not a nice man.

        I’m sure Gigi’s mission was to attempt to make lemonade out of that lemon. But it’s really a mistake to think much of anything coming from the high profile young adult celeb set is authentic. They’re faker than the older stars. Blame Taylor Swift and Robsten and Jelena. The success of their fakery has led to more fakery. The kids are not alright.

  13. Angel says:

    She still getting paid! $$$

  14. Dominique says:

    She is beautiful. But wow is that annoying that she gets to learn as she goes. Other girls practice for years to perfect this craft and are never given the opportunities. Other girls are naturally gifted and even have agents but are bumped aside for girls like Gigi with a famous last name. Such a shame.

  15. buttercup says:

    Even Kendall learned how to walk after people criticized her first appearance for Marc Jacobs, and she’s actually pretty good now (she could starting practicing her poses for pics though). Gigi just has to practice, but it just seems like she won’t? Maybe she wants to make the bad walk her “thing” like Claudia Schiffer who . But I mean… Claudia Schiffer is one in a million, so just start practicing, Gigi.

  16. Sarah says:

    To be fair, I really dont think of Gigi as an insta model. I save that term for girls like Alexis Ren and other girls who dont work in high fashion and girls who’s income is mostly from posting on instagram with products in their frame. Gigi and her beautiful sister bella have broken into high fashion and I think they are killing it!

  17. Sarah says:

    I think she can look good in some photos but- can’t most women? Certainly most models can. She has a huge amount of publicity and press, and that’s partly what makes her bookable (along with Kendall, Bella Hadid, etc). She’s everywhere lately but at least she’s not as dead-eyed as Kendall and Bella. Still, I see her as a much more commercial model than couture.

  18. bcgirl says:

    I know why she’s your favorite!
    $$

  19. MellyMel says:

    I really like Gigi now. Especially after the “prankster” incident. And I noticed during the spring 17 shows a few weeks ago her walk has definitely gotten better. But she is much better in print than the runway. I just saw pictures from vogue or Harper bazar & she looked gorgeous.

    • tmot says:

      She may not be the best on the runway, but she sure is the best if yr getting mugged! I loved her for that. Moxie! Too bad they pulled her off him so quickly. I was hoping she’d kick him in the crotch.

  20. TOPgirl says:

    We Know.

  21. Clairej says:

    Yes find her so sweet for some reason. Out of all of them (although I think Cara takes amazing photographs) she is so much easier to stomach. Bella and Kendall only manage one facial expression. Plus Bella isn’t quite as bad as Kylie Jenner, but she does look rather different to her old self.

  22. Haidja says:

    The runway walk isn’t easy to master or there would be a lot more women out there doing it – you kind of have it or you don’t. She was probably told to stick to photo work because the campaigns would pay more – I like her but she gets a hall pass in the industry because of “who she is”

  23. Nev says:

    Awwwww I really miss Naomi, Yasmeen Ghauri, Meghan Douglas, McNenamy, Christy, Linda. Real runway icons.

    • HK9 says:

      It’s a bad situation if you can’t learn anything from Naomi. Does no one know when they need to call J Alexander?

  24. MinnFinn says:

    Does she have Type 1 Diabetes aka Juvenile Diabetes? Gigi has the torso and leg shape of someone with this disease i.e. thick torso and legs that are out of proportion with the torso in that they are very skinny plus zero calf muscle/definition. Some call this an apple shaped physique. Anyway, a dear friend from college and also one of my nieces who was diagnosed age 13 and is now 16 both have legs shaped exactly like Gigi and they both also walk just like her.

  25. iralagi says:

    Me too Kaiser. I have irrational fondness toward Gigi Hadid. I think it’s her green almond-shaped arab eyes that makes me fall for her.

  26. Aren says:

    It’s not just the walking though. Her facial skin sags, that’s not common for her age, so either she’s much older or she’s not a good model.
    I don’t know why ugly girls with money insist on modelling, they could be actresses or singers and nobody would care if they lack talent.

    • Human2.0 says:

      Apparently she’s lost a lot of weight in the last six months; perhaps that explains her face sagging, which I agree on. She looks under the weather these days, like she’s really tired. She used to be prettier.

  27. Minina says:

    Runway walking is probably the least important thing a model does, if she’s not just a “runway model.”

    Like, do you think they would put a less attractive person up there just because they can do the model walk?

    It seems like they find the model they want, then they make her learn how to walk. If you want to become a model so the first thing you do is start practicing your runway walk, you’re kinda putting the cart before the horse, no?

  28. Human2.0 says:

    I honestly don’t find her that pretty/attractive at all and her meandering philosophising about her walk in every second interview is irritating. You can’t really say that much about a walk, can you? Aside, apparently Kendall got booked for just one show in France and these two Instagram friends are no longer hanging out together.