Marc Jacobs Completely Transformed Bella and Gigi Hadid for Fall 2022

For Bella and Gigi Hadid, physical transformations are simply part of the job. The sisters have undergone countless since becoming top models, but the makeover that Marc Jacobs gave them on Monday for his show in New York City really takes the cake. In fact, you’d be forgiven for failing to realize that they were among the cast who presented his fall 2022 collection at the New York Public Library’s main branch. (The designer seems to have begun a tradition of showing in the month of June.) With the help of the mononymous hairstylist Duffy, Jacobs gave every single one of his models a dramatic black hairstyle—in the case of the Hadids, extra short bangs and partially buzzed heads. Between that and their bleached eyebrows, they were almost unrecognizable.

Judging from images taken backstage, the buzzcuts were simulated; Duffy appears to have first given himself a clean slate by applying bald prosthetics which were then topped with black wigs.

But the show was about much more than model makeovers. When guests such as Emily Ratajkowski and Selling Sunset star Christine Quinn took their seats, they found show notes with a quote from the German philosopher Nietzsche: “We have art in order not to die of the truth.” In his own words, Jacobs got equally deep by focusing on the concept of choice. Whether or not he wrote them before the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion, his conclusion took on a new meaning in an America post-Roe v. Wade: “We share our [creative] choices in contrast to the ongoing brutality and ugliness of a world beyond our insulated but not impermeable walls.”

As for how those choices manifested, Jacobs presented a collection that was again filled with exaggerated silhouettes like the gigantic pink sweater swathing Gigi. One model had on jeans with legs as baggy as their torso, while several wore metallic tops and dresses that took puff shoulders to a new extreme. The proportions extended to the accessories—most notably rubber babushkas, towering platforms, and a tote that served as a riposte to the tiny bag. But Jacobs wasn’t just thinking big: A bikini top micro enough to rival the one that Karl Lagerfeld infamously sent down the runway in the mid ’90s was also in the mix. (In case you couldn’t tell, that’s Bella in the top right of the below sampling of looks.)

Jacobs also got inventive with his materials, sourcing everything from paper to plastic to glass. With creative choices like that, the world seems a little lighter.