During a busy New York Fashion Week AW18 schedule, where she has already walked for Jeremy Scott, Brandon Maxwell, Prabal Gurung and Bottega Veneta, on Sunday evening Gigi Hadid took to Twitter to defend her body against those criticising her weight in a series of candid tweets. The supermodel and current British Vogue cover star revealed that she has struggled with Hashimoto's disease, a chronic lymphocytic illness that can lead to an under-active thyroid.
"For those of you so determined to come up with why my body has changed over the years, you may not know that when I started at 17, I was not yet diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease;" she wrote on the social media site. "Those of you who called me "too big for the industry" were seeing inflammation and water retention due to that."
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For those of you so determined to come up w why my body has changed over the years, you may not know that when I started @ 17 I was not yet diagnosed w/Hashimoto’s disease; those of u who called me “too big for the industry” were seeing inflammation & water retention due to that.
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
Amid a New York Fashion Week in flux, with designers leaving the schedule to show elsewhere, Hadid closed the Bottega Veneta show, which saw a collection inspired by the city's many eclectic characters. Joining her peers Adwoa Aboah and Kaia Gerber on the catwalk, Gigi's look was the most dramatic of the show, featuring a floor-skimming black velvet gown with lace detailing.
It wasn't the only show the eldest Hadid sister closed. She modelled both the opening and closing looks for Jeremy Scott's sci-fi-inspired collection, where pastel-hued bobs and 3D eyeliner took inspiration from The Fifth Element and Closer. To open, Gigi wore what can only be described as silver lederhosen over dusty pink tights, and to close she worked a 1960s Barbarella-esque look made of a metallic mosaic two-piece.
Unfortunately, whenever models are placed on the world's stage during fashion month, they're subjected to criticism from fans and fashionistas alike. Condemning the industry as a whole for its unhealthy representation of women is necessary and important. When dished out to specific models, however, it looks more like bullying.
Gigi opened up further to her 8.5 million Twitter followers, writing: "Over the last few years I’ve been properly medicated to help symptoms including those, as well as extreme fatigue, metabolism issues, body’s ability to retain heat, etc...I was also part of a holistic medical trial that helped my thyroid levels balance out."
She noted that although a model's lifestyle can often lead to neglecting the body, she's as healthy as she's ever been. "Although stress & excessive travel can also affect the body, I have always eaten the same, my body just handles it differently now that my health is better. I may be “too skinny” for you, honestly this skinny isn’t what I want to be, but I feel healthier internally and am still learning and growing with my body everyday, as everyone is."
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She continued:
I will not further explain the way my body looks, just as anyone, with a body type that doesnt suit ur “beauty” expectation, shouldnt have to. Not to judge others, but drugs are not my thing, stop putting me in that box just because u dont understand the way my body has matured.
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
Please, as social media users & human beings in general, learn to have more empathy for others and know that you never really know the whole story. Use your energy to lift those that you admire rather than be cruel to those u don’t.
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
Gigi and sister Bella, who together graced the most recent issue of Edward Enninful's British Vogue, walked for Brandon Maxwell and Prabal Gurung over the past few days in New York. No doubt we'll see the siblings' faces throughout fashion month, hopefully supporting each other through a gruelling and challenging few weeks on the show circuit.