--- title: Gigi Hadid Apologizes For Controversial Vogue Italia Cover description: Gigi Hadid apologized after a recent 'Vogue Italia' cover she modeled for was critiqued for noticeably darkening her skin tone. canonical: https://time.com/5266068/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-04T17:23:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:39.680Z og:title: Gigi Hadid Apologizes for Controversial Vogue Italia Cover og:description: "The concerns that have been brought up are valid” og:url: https://time.com/5266068/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44a0775f1b91c7db/69892f8e97cdffa78b6b522a/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia-cover-blackface.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Celebrity Sightings in New York City - April 26, 2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gigi Hadid Apologizes for Controversial Vogue Italia Cover twitter:description: "The concerns that have been brought up are valid” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44a0775f1b91c7db/69892f8e97cdffa78b6b522a/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia-cover-blackface.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Model Gigi Hadid Apologizes For Controversial _Vogue Italia_ Cover > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=60b97ee8-e6f7-4395-b316-e61eee7c7afc&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 4, 2018 5:23 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 26: Gigi Hadid seen on the streets of Manhattan on April 26, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/GC Images) NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 26: Gigi Hadid seen on the streets of Manhattan on April 26, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/GC Images) James Devaney—GC Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 4, 2018 5:23 PM UTC Model [Gigi Hadid](http://time.com/4884947/gigi-hadid-lookalike-iza-ijerman/) has apologized following critiques leveled at a [_Vogue Italia_](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2093368,00.html) cover that featured her with a noticeably darker skin tone. The Steven Klein-lensed cover debuted on Thursday on _Vogue Italia_‘s Instagram, instantly attracting backlash from social media users who were quick to point out that Hadid’s cover look was drastically different from what she looked like in real life and other editorials. Many felt strongly about the apparent editing of the photo, with some calling out Hadid and the publication for [doing blackface](http://time.com/4039546/christmas-blackface/) due to the extent that her skin tone was darkened in the highly stylized image. > [](https://twitter.com/chloegirI/status/991916422992400384) > [](https://twitter.com/septemburissue/status/991812727088828418) > [](https://twitter.com/dovetomyariana/status/991790177596137474) Hadid took to social media on Thursday to address the backlash and to offer an apology. “Please understand that my control of a shoot 1\. is non existent in terms of creative direction 2\. ends completely when I leave set, and anything done to a photo in post is out of my control fully. The bronzing and photoshop is a style that S.Klein has done for many years and I believe was what was expected from the shoot (to show me in a different way creatively). BUT, although I understand what _Vogue_ _Italia_‘s intentions were, it was not executed correctly, and the concerns that have been brought up are valid. I want to address this for those who were offended by the editing/retouching/coloring of the cover. Please know that things would have been different if my control of the situation was different. Regardless, I want to apologize because my intention is never to diminish those concerns or take opportunities away from anyone else, and I hope this can be an example to other magazines and teams in the future. There are real issues regarding representation in fashion — it’s our responsibility to acknowledge those issues and communicate through them to work towards a more diverse industry.” > [](https://twitter.com/GiGiHadid/status/992114334410117121) Hadid posted her response over a photo of herself leaving the _Vogue Italia_ photoshoot so that her followers could see how much she was bronzed for the shoot. This isn’t the first time that Hadid’s appearance in _Vogue Italia_ has stirred up controversy; in 2015, an editorial of her with deeply tan skin and sporting an afro was also critiqued. > [](https://twitter.com/blancapadillla/status/991797857572282368) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5266068/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5266068/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia/"},"headline":"Model Gigi Hadid Apologizes For Controversial Vogue Italia Cover","datePublished":"2018-05-04T17:23:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:39.680Z","description":"\"The concerns that have been brought up are valid”","url":"https://time.com/5266068/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44a0775f1b91c7db/69892f8e97cdffa78b6b522a/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia-cover-blackface.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44a0775f1b91c7db/69892f8e97cdffa78b6b522a/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia-cover-blackface.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Celebrity Sightings in New York City - April 26, 2018","caption":"Celebrity Sightings in New York City - April 26, 2018","creditText":"James Devaney—GC Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5266068/gigi-hadid-vogue-italia/","name":"Model Gigi Hadid Apologizes For Controversial Vogue Italia Cover"}}]}] ```