An Ode to Bella Hadid’s Instagram Photo Dumps
Few celebrities have mastered the art of the Instagram photo dump quite like Bella Hadid. While the 25-year-old supermodel could curate her grid as a shrine to her fashion choices, an ode to her hotness, or just a medium to make a quick buck by posting sponsored content, her preferred method is dumping a curated selection of odds and ends from her camera roll all at once. Visually, it communicates the idea of someone with a rich personal life, one who’s curious about the things around her and taking stock of the little moments—and, notably, a person who’s not caught up in complete vanity. Hadid will leave it up to her fashion spreads and paparazzi photos to show the idealized version of her life. Her Instagram is for sharing the more mundane and human moments behind it all. If the first wave of Millennials used social media to portray a glamorized visual portfolio of their day-to-day, Hadid’s Instagram posting is indicative of a sea change: a desire to show off smaller, raw, and unedited moments.
On Sunday night, the model uploaded two separate posts’ worth of photo dump material to her grid, scattered with images of travel, art, crystals, and a microphone pack tangled up in a barrette. The collection wasn’t more or less notable than any of the other photo dumps Hadid has posted before, which makes them a case study in examining her Instagram.
Take this photo, for example, in which Hadid’s face is marred in what seems like magic marker scribble. Did she fall asleep at a slumber party? Interrupted an aggressive kindergarten class’ arts and crafts time? An attempt to recreate a YouTube beauty guru’s look gone wrong?
Nope. Turns out, it’s just an outtake from a photoshoot she did with photographer Harley Weir from the January 2020 issue of Love. There’s no time limit for inclusion in a photo dump, it seems. Life is sometimes just a blur of vibes, not a linear experience.
In this photo, you’ll find Hadid with an unnamed youngster taking in some art.
(The artist Kaws jumped into the comment section to helpfully point out that it’s Jane Dickson’s Motel, which was part of the Whitney Biennial earlier this year.)
Hadid loves crystals, which isn’t news. But we can vouch for the Jao hand sanitizer seen here in the blue bottle. It makes sense to both cleanse the spirit and your hands before a day on set.
Hadid got right to the point when donning the now-infamous “Miu Miu set.” Although Hadid never wore the outfit publicly, she was photographed in it for an editorial in the April issue of American Vogue. Why pretend the fit is for anything but showing off a bit of subversive underboob?
What’s going on here? Actually, maybe the point is to not think about it too much, aside from the fact that Hadid is a working model who spends a whole lot of time on set, a place that isn’t always particularly glamorous. We’re sure the Madewell jewelry team is pleased for the feature, though.
The great thing about the photo dump is that you can provide reading recommendations and a swimsuit photo all in the same post, without seeming weird.
Taken all together, the effect is a bit of a blur of Hadid’s existence: the downtime on set, the cheeky selfie, the moments with friends, and taking time for culture. Yes, it’s still a curated and edited social media representation of life, but it’s also one free from filters, Photoshop, or even worrying about the perfect caption (both were posted without words). Study the full sets, below.
