Bella Hadid: The new supermodel

In march 1967, just a matter of months after celebrity hairdresser Leonard of Mayfair kickstarted her career with a honey-blonde elfin crop, the teenage model born Lesley Hornby, now rechristened Twiggy, stepped off a plane at New York's John F Kennedy Airport.

The arrival of Swinging London's 5ft 6in pin-up caused a media frenzy, with newsreels, magazines and tabloids detailing her every move. The clicking of cameras accompanied Twiggy as she flitted between press conferences, met the mayor and partied with the NYC elite.

Manhattan-born fashion photographer Melvin Sokolsky sought to convey a city in the grip of 'Twiggymania' by casting her in a series of shots around town. As bystanders threatened to spoil the shoot, Sokolsky decided to include the model's adoring fans, each one wearing a black-and-white Twiggy mask. In Sokolsky's pictures, Twiggy takes a spin down Fifth Avenue, window- shops at FAO Schwarz, and boards a ferry sailing past the city’s skyline, all in the company of her many doppelgangers.

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Five decades on from Twiggy's famous Stateside visit, another model has taken ownership of the Big Apple. While Bella Hadid's presence may not engender the same levels of hysteria, the 20-year-old is the ultimate poster girl of her generation. A giant billboard at JFK Airport, showing Hadid in boxing gloves, gives visitors a taste of what’s to come: the model’s image is all over Manhattan. From Times Square to Park Avenue, she presides over this urban jungle like a modern-day Nefertiti, her perfectly symmetrical looks repeated and again just like Sokolsky's Twiggy lookalikes, only magnified in scale.

Indeed, such is Hadid's popularity that she’s as in demand today as her elder sister Gigi, who had a couple of years' head start on the modelling circuit and was named the fifth highest earning model of 2016 by Forbes. Since signing with IMG Models in 2014, Isabella Khair Hadid – to use her full name – has starred in more than 20 advertising campaigns: Karl Lagerfeld shot a pigtailed Hadid against floral wallpaper matching his SS17 Fendi fabrics; Jamie Hawkesworth cast the model as a screen actress on set for JW Anderson. Since her cover-girl debut for the December 2014 issue of Parisian magazine Jalouse, Hadid has fronted a number of international titles, from Vogue China to Carine Roitfeld's CR Fashion Book, and last year she was named Model of the Year by Models.com (her sister Gigi was runner-up in the Readers' Choice category).

Much to the chagrin of gossip titles, there are no scandalous stories of sibling rivalry to report; Gigi was crowned International Model of The Year at last year’s Fashion Awards in London, so there’s plenty of glory to go around, and the sisters share a close bond. Physically, the two Hadids are very different: Gigi is like a modern take on Botticelli's Venus with her long blonde locks; Bella more Modigliani-like, with feline features and straight brown hair. As such, each has her own very niche in the supermodel universe. They have worked together on occasion: in 2015, the pair were statuesque glamazons in Mario Sorrenti's lavish Balmain campaign; this March, Lagerfeld cast Bella and Gigi as cosmonauts for Chanel's space-inspired show at Paris Fashion Week. Both sisters have a bigger following on Instagram than Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell combined. Bella’s figure of 12.5 million followers may be some way behind Gigi’s staggering 33.6 million, but the younger Hadid had the fastest growing fanbase on social media last year, proving that 'Bellamania' has only just begun.

Little wonder, then, that Swiss luxury watch manufacturer TAG Heuer, which is openly seeking to attract younger customers, signed the model as a brand ambassador this spring. New products such as TAG Heuer's Connected Modular 45 watch, powered by Intel hardware and able to connect to the internet via Wi-Fi, show a decisive embrace of smart technology, and an ambassador such as Bella Hadid sets the tone of this directive: young, ambitious and fearless.

"The choice of ambassador depends on the community we want to talk to, and we want to talk to millennials," explains TAG Heuer’s Jean-Claude Biver, who is in Manhattan to formally announce Hadid as his latest spokesperson. Biver, one of the most charismatic characters in the luxury watch industry, has been CEO since December 2014, in addition to his role as chairman of the LVMH Group's Watches Division. Under his command, TAG Heuer has worked with a roster of luminaries from entertainment, sports and fashion, including chart-topping DJ Martin Garrix, actor Chris Hemsworth and NFL quarterback Tom Brady.

"At TAG Heuer, we want to talk to people who do not buy our watches now, but we want to make them dream, so that in five years, when they graduate, when they have saved some money, they can buy a TAG Heuer watch," explains Biver. At a newly opened designer gym in Lower Manhattan, chosen by TAG Heuer as the location to celebrate its latest recruit, Hadid remembers the moment the brand first approached her. "I felt so honoured,"she says confidently to the room of invited guests. "What is so great about TAG Heuer is every single person that is with the brand is very strong and powerful. They all know what they want. They all work hard. That is why I’m so excited to work with the brand. It feels incredible to be put in a line with all of those people." Honeyed words these may be, but the subtext carries a lot of clout. While purchasing power is fundamental to the buoyancy of a luxury brand, engaging the interest of a young audience is key to future-proofing a business.

Hadid isn’t just being 'put in a line', she’s toeing it. It's New York Fashion Week, and Hadid is the season's most in-demand star. Just hours before her TAG Heuer appearance, the model appeared in Oscar de la Renta's AW17 show, followed by Carolina Herrera's runway, which she walked in a sparkling silver tea dress. Now dressed in simple black leggings, a crop top and suede high heels, Hadid is getting in character for her photocall, swiping at a boxing punch bag and playfully showing Monsieur Biver her right hook. She’s wearing the TAG Heuer Link Lady, an update of the brand’s 1987 design classic. "I would always steal my dad’s watches. He definitely had a bunch of TAG Heuers, but I never really had my own," the model admits, admiring the timepiece’s steel bracelet and diamond bezel. "And now I do! I wear it all the time. It’s so beautiful!"

In magazines and advertising campaigns, Hadid looks older than her years; in the flesh, her bubbly personality and enthusiasm are a reminder that she’s only just out of her teens, still a young girl at heart, though admirably grounded. "Family is my biggest support system," she says of the Hadid clan, which includes two paternal half-sisters, Marielle and Alana. "From a young age, it was always about family and we always were very connected. My parents, my brother and my sisters are my best friends. We support each other and we love each other – I think that’s the greatest thing about family."

The model was born in California to Jordanian-American property developer Mohamed Hadid and his Dutch- American second wife Yolanda. Bella, her younger brother Anwar (who, last year, also signed with IMG Models) and Gigi grew up on a Santa Barbara ranch before relocating to Malibu, where the young family enjoyed a privileged upbringing. In the 1980s, Mohamed Hadid purchased the historic Ritz-Carlton hotels in New York, Aspen, Houston and Washington, DC; the following decade, the tycoon represented Jordan in speed skiing at the 1992 Winter Olympics, racing down the slopes of Albertville, France. A passionate horse-rider who practised the sport at competitive level from her teens, Bella too had her eye set on an Olympic medal. But in 2013 a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease shattered her dreams of competing at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, and she parted ways with her beloved horse, Lego. "I think there have been a lot of moments [where] I’ve had to be strong," says the model, who still battles the condition, which often leaves her tired with flu-like symptoms. "Mostly, you just got to push through it. That’s also what my parents taught me."

With her sights set on becoming a photographer,Hadid moved to New York in 2014 and enrolled at Parsons School of Design, alma mater of Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford and fine artist Ai Weiwei. That same year, industry-leading agency IMG Models signed her to its books. Within a few months, demand for her was so great that Hadid decided to pursue a career in front of the lens rather than behind it. "I think everything is timing. I think that everything happens for a reason," she says, philosophically. Hadid’s career now follows a path first forged by her mother Yolanda. Born and raised in the Netherlands, Yolanda enjoyed a 15-year career as a fashion model, before becoming a star on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Her youngest daughter has appeared in three episodes of the hugely successful reality TV show. "I think it has changed a lot since she was a model," says Hadid about her mother, whom she often refers to as her best friend. "She always taught me about smiling with your eyes, having emotion, being confident. She taught me kindness and respect and integrity. I think I will teach my children that as well; I hope that I portray that."

For Jean-Claude Biver, too, family must always come first. "My major love is the family,"says the avuncular businessman and doting father who, at 67, is irrepressibly cheerful and resolutely young at heart. "I prefer to stay with [them] rather than to go to an event, because I think family life gives me harmony." In fact, it was Biver’s teenage son Pierre who first suggested he approach Hadid. "I said to myself I must listen to him!" chuckles Biver, seated next to the model sensation. "There is only one way not to get old and that is to listen to young people and to understand. If you listen and you understand, then you can learn. And once you learn, you can connect to the future."

Biver fully understands the selling power of brand ambassadors, but he takes an unconventional approach when it comes to contractual agreements, preferring an informal lunch to ‘sign on the dotted line’ board meetings. "An ambassador can only have an authentic relation with you if the chemistry works between two people," he says, describing an ethos he established when first scouting for brand ambassadors as head of watch brand Omega in the early '90s. "I want to see whether the chemistry works, because I want an ambassador who is sincere and who does a job because of her conviction and her sympathy, not because of a contract. And this rule is still true today." As a brand ambassador, Hadid is clearly part of Biver's extended family. A planned trip will soon see her board a plane bound for Switzerland, to visit the TAG Heuer manufacture. "It’s one of our habits," says Biver, describing scenes of watchmakers queuing for autographs. "They [the ambassadors] come to the factory not for the press; they come to the factory for our people."

Now is very much Bella’s time, and if there was any doubt about her potency, there's the giant billboard of the smiling model at JFK Airport to remind a potential audience of 58 million annual passengers that she’s a 21st century icon in the making.