Bella Hadid is the first non-athlete to front a Nike campaign, and she looks badass
Nike has been wracking up tons of great press over the last few months, both for the brand’s gotta-have-it collabs and its commitment to inclusivity. But Nike’s latest news might also be its greatest — and that’s the fact that Bella Hadid is Nike’s first non-athlete to front a campaign.
The model is one of our fave athleisure-loving queens. So her November announcement that she’d been chosen as the new face of Nike wasn’t a huge shock. At the time, not much info was released about what exactly Hadid’s role would be with the famous sportswear brand.
But now we know exactly what’s up. Hadid is starring in Nike’s Beautiful x Powerful campaign, and is the first non-athlete model to do so.
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In the campaign photos, Hadid models the Nike Cortez sneaker, the brand’s classic shoe, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. In an interview with Vogue, Hadid got real about why she’s so honored to be fronting a Nike campaign and gushed about how much she’s always loved the company’s products.
"Growing up, Nike was pretty much all that I wore," she said. "What is so amazing about Nike is that they always choose powerful women, and I'm one of the first models to do the campaign...I feel really lucky to be able to shoot this after so many amazing people."
Hadid cited Elaine Thompson — a 24-year-old two-time Olympic gold medalist from Jamaica and her co-star in the campaign — and Serena Williams as two examples of the “most incredible, powerful athletes” she’s honored to join as a Nike model.
This is definitely a significant departure from Hadid’s Giuseppe Zanotti fall 2017 campaign, modeling luxury shoes. But one thing’s for sure — Hadid rocks high fashion and Nike’s casual athleisure equally as hard.
