Gigi Hadid was told she didn’t have a ‘runway body’ at the start of her modeling career

She has one of the world’s most sought after figures.

But Gigi Hadid revealed that the fashion world hasn’t always been kind about her body in a new cover story for i-D magazine’s spring issue.

The 24-year-old stunner explained how most designers and casting agents were ‘hard on her’ about her lean, athletic body during the start of her career, until icon Jean Paul Gaultier gave her a chance to shine.

Gigi told i-D the fashion set weren’t initially enthused about her high school volleyball-honed curves and muscles. 

‘It was a body that I loved,’ she said. ‘I knew how hard I worked to have those muscles, to be curved in those places—I kind of miss it now. At the time, people were hard on me and tried to say that I didn’t have a runway body.’

But it was Gaultier who gave Gigi her grand introduction to the catwalks of Paris, reinvigorating her faith in modeling.

‘[Jean Paul Gaultier] was the first designer that let me walk on a runway in Paris, it was in his last ready-to-wear show,’ she explained about the Spring/Summer 2015 show.

Even after her big French break with Jean Paul, she had trouble being embraced by other houses.

The elder Hadid sister explained that while she did start getting cast more often, she was still saddled with more conservative and ‘covered’ up looks.

‘…For Jean Paul to have me at his last ready-to-wear show in 2015—not only to have me, but also to put me in an outfit that didn’t cover a lot… like, there were still stylists or designers at that time who were putting me in their shows, but putting me something that really covered my body,’ she continued.. 

‘…So for him to make me feel like he wanted me to shine in that way, it really meant a lot to me as a young model.’

And according to the catwalk queen, she isn’t the only one the designer has advocated for. 

‘I know that he has done that for a lot of people,’ she went on.

This made the model’s place in JPG’s final runway show in mid-January all the more special.

‘I was so honored to be asked to walk in it, because he didn’t just work with the people who he’d worked with for his whole career, but he also streetcast so much of his last couture show,’ Gigi revealed.

‘I think that says so much about who he is as a designer and as a person. He cares so much about the person that’s wearing the look and bringing out something in them.’

But now that Gigi’s solidified her place in the fashion world, she’s ready to expand her horizons.

While fashion will always be in her heart, she admitted she wasn’t sure if she’d ‘always be modeling.’

In fact, Gigi, who recently reunited with on-off beau Zayn Malik, revealed that she plans to start a family ‘one day.’ 

‘I think that as I get older… well one day I’ll start a family and I don’t know if I will always be modeling,’ she said.

‘I love the creative side of fashion, it’s so fulfilling. The people I work with make me so happy, I’m so lucky to be around them. But who knows? Maybe I’ll take up full time cooking!’

Gigi revealed that she and the former One Direction-er had gotten back together during a Valentine’s Day social media post on her alternate Instagram account Gi’sposable, where she shares film photos.

‘HEY VALENTINE,’ she wrote in the caption, then describing the pic saying ‘Z on the farm[.] Dec 2019.’ 

While previous iterations of their relationship failed, the couple are said to be taking things slow this time around. 

‘They got back together very recently,’ a source told Us Weekly shortly after they were spotted together again.

‘They have been trying to make it work for three months but it has been slow and steady.’