Just a few days after celebrating her 27th birthday with a stylish, celebrity-filled party in downtown New York, Gigi Hadid has announced a new project: instead of modelling another designer’s clothes as is her usual day job, she’s instead modelling a collection she designed herself with It girl swimwear brand, Frankies Bikinis.
Unlike any old celebrity fusion line, this one has a personal story behind it: Hadid and Frankies Bikinis founder, Francesca Aiello, grew up together in Malibu and have been close friends since they met on the primary school playground.
“For those who don’t know, Gigi and Francesca grew up together spending most of their free time at the beach,” the brand’s Instagram account captioned the announcement of the collaboration. “Their simple days in Malibu shaped their appreciation for the strong friendship they would develop over the years. They’ve supported each other since the beginning, which is why coming together to design a collection all these years later is a full-circle moment for them.”
Frankies Bikinis also noted the collection is “rooted in friendship and inspired by Gigi’s care-free days at her family’s dreamy countryside home, full of sentiment and nostalgia🪵🌳🌾💫.” This dreamy countryside home is of course Hadid’s Pennsylvania farm, which both she and her younger sister, Bella, have often spoken about in interviews as being incredibly meaningful to them: it’s where Gigi moved to raise her daughter Khai during the pandemic and where Bella has all of her beloved horses.
Naturally, given the inspiration being the outdoors, the collection has many cottagecore notes to it: there are pastel colours and ruffles, woodland creatures printed across pieces and a recurring print of a tree inscribed with a G+F heart in honour of Gigi and Francesca’s friendship.
To mark the collection’s first drop – 56 different styles of swimwear and loungewear which are released May 11th – Hadid and Aiello tapped their friend, photographer Alana O’Herlihy, to shoot a campaign. “This collection was so special to create with my hometown girlie @francescaaiello and shoot with our sister @lilmami_lani,” Hadid wrote on Instagram alongside a video. “I wish we could do this day over & over.”
Prices of the collection range from $45 – $185. Plus, there’s, quite literally, more! On Thursday, June 2, there’s going to be a second drop of the collab, with 41 additional styles to choose from.
Bring on Hot Girl Countryside Cottagecore Summer.
