Gigi Hadid Photographs Bella In Fenty For Elle’s August Cover

Bella Hadid has graced the cover of Vogue more times than we can count — not to mention other prominent fashion publications like Harper’s Bazaar, Paper, and Allure. Just since quarantine began, the 23-year-old supermodel has been photographed through FaceTime for campaigns with Jacquemus and Zoom for shoots with Vogue Italia. But her latest, the cover of Elle, was photographed via iPhone 11 by her older sister and fellow supermodel, Gigi. And it’s shaping up to be her most personal shoot yet.

On Monday, Elle released its August issue — the first-ever digital issue for the publication — which, as longtime Editor-in-Chief Nina Garcia explained, focuses on friends and family. On its “cover” is Bella, sprawled poolside at her family’s farm in Pennsylvania, wearing an unbuttoned red tulle gown by Fenty with nothing but a matching pair of underwear underneath. 

This isn’t the first time that Gigi and Bella have worked together since they began quarantining together. In March, both sisters posed alongside a tractor and two large cows for Vogue’s Postcard From Home series. Months later in July, Gigi used a Polaroid camera to shoot her sister for i-d’s coverage of Bottega Veneta’s pre-fall ‘20 collection. Today’s Elle shoot, though, is a step above the rest. 

In other photos, Gigi captures Bella dressed in Chanel and Hunter boots while sitting on a bale of hay and holding a baby goat. In yet another snap, she’s seen wearing a Victorian blouse-and-jacket-ensemble courtesy of Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, and lounging in the grass in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton. Later on, the youngest Hadid sister is seen atop a horse wearing Hermès chaps. 

For the story, Elle’s fashion features director Véronique Hyland talked with the model about isolation and the changes she’d like to see in the fashion industry following the Black Lives Matter movement. “I hate that some of my Black friends feel the way they do,” she said. “Even if they’re sitting front row, they’re not feeling accepted. Our industry is supposed to be about expression and individuality, but the reality is that [many people] still discriminate because of exactly [those differences].” 

The August “Friends and Family” issue also highlights the quarantine stories of Ashley Graham, who was photographed in bed alongside her son Isaac by her husband Justin Ervin, and Yara Shahidi, whose father Afshin Shahidi captured photos of the Grown-ish actress in their family’s backyard.