It’s been two long years since Bella Hadid last slinked down the runway, but tonight, in Paris, she was back. The supermodel took a couple of days off from her recently adopted role as queen of the rodeo to join Anthony Vaccarello’s stellar SS25 Saint Laurent line-up, emerging out into the show space looking like she’d just stepped out of a 90s crime thriller in a slouchy power suit, a slicked-back bun, and a pair of chunky black-framed glasses. Sitting somewhere between boss bitch and Yves’ own doppelgänger, Hadid was wedged in between a bunch of other models, and didn’t open or close the show as you might expect of her big comeback moment.
Hadid took some time off to recuperate after a series of Lyme disease-related health issues, and has been open about her struggles with the scrutiny that comes with being the one of the world’s most in-demand models. It’s not like she’s not been busy though: since then, she’s started her own soft drinks brand, as well as a fragrance label, and fallen deeply in love with equestrian Adan Banuelos. Across the last few months, she’s been spotted out and about with Banuelos in matchy-matchy cowbow and cowgirl looks, snogging and staring adoringly into each others’ eyes at horse events, and getting back into the saddle herself. Seriously, were it not actually very cute, it would truly make you sick.
Hadid’s return comes a couple of months after she stepped out at Cannes Film Festival in a hosiery-esque, semi-see-through look comprising a halter-neck top and slinky pencil skirt. The look in question was taken from Vaccarello’s AW24 collection, shown in Paris in February. Her trip to Cannes also marked her first red carpet appearance in around two years, so it makes sense she’s been kitted out in Saint Laurent for her runway comeback, too.
The collection itself transformed much of the show’s cast of girls into more of Yves’ doppelgängers. Vaccarello moved away from the sheer, nipple-baring and knicker-flashing looks of last season’s outing and towards clothes that a lot more women would probably want to wear: from louche, loose-legged trousers, to luxe leather bomber jackets, to hefty trenches cinched severely and securely at the waist.
It was also a game of two-halves. Following all the masc looks came a succession of glistening sweetie-wrapper cropped jackets trimming with shiny crystal buttons, lacy layered slips, and flouncy, diaphanous skirts run through with metallic thread so they glittered when the light hit them. It was a bit of a departure from the very chic, often pretty severe vision of femininity Vaccarello usually serves up, and injected Saint Laurent with some unexpected colour after seasons and seasons of understated neutrals. Don’t worry though: she still looked like a rich bitch despite the kaleidoscopic palette.
Beyond the runway, the likes of Lenny and Zoë Kravitz, Remi Malik, Rosé, and legend Béatrice Dalle all lined up on the front row, and Nicole Richie took a night off filming the Simple Life reunion with Paris Hilton to show up. She told us she was “so excited” for the reboot to land, and also, who would play her in a biopic of her life – apparently, Diana Ross and Jim Carrey need to have a baby, because that’s who she’d cast. Head to our TikTok for that.
Click the video above to take a closer look at Saint Laurent SS25 and keep your eyes peeled for more Bella Hadid runway moments – could the Coperni muse be landing in Disneyland in a few days time? Watch this space.
