‘Next in Fashion’ Winner Was Starstruck by Gigi Hadid: ‘I Couldn’t Even Listen to What She Was Saying’
Netflix’s popular reality TV series, Next in Fashion, is back and better than ever. The reality show follows a crop of talented designers who compete to see who is the next big thing in the fashion world. With $200,000 on the line, the designers were willing to pull out all the stops to showcase their best work. However, there was no shortage of challenges for the competitors to overcome in order to claim the top prize. The Next in Fashion winner had to contend with long days, tight deadlines, and restrictions in order to win the sophomore season. They also had to overcome how starstruck they were around Gigi Hadid.
Gigi Hadid replaced Alexa Chung as the ‘Next in Fashion’ co-host for season 2
Next in Fashion fans will recall that Tan France and Alexa Chung were the original hosts of the show. The celebrities served as mentors to the contestants and judged their runway looks. But while France returned for the sophomore season of the show, Chung was noticeably absent. Instead, France’s real-life bestie, Hadid, stepped in to co-host the series. And it seems that some people found it a wee bit difficult to adjust to having the well-known supermodel around.
‘Next in Fashion’ winner, Nigel Xavier, admits he was starstruck by the supermodel
One person who was starstruck by Hadid was Nigel Xavier. Xavier is, of course, the winner of Next in Fashion Season 2. He managed to wow both Hadid and France with his commitment to creating custom garments using unique (often upcycled) textiles. Hadid seemed to take a liking to Xavier early on, something that seemed to surprise the designer. But it took a bit for the Alantan to get used to Hadid’s praise. For a while, he was simply overwhelmed by the fact that he was in her presence.
“Her being so accepting of my style was very empowering and motivated me to show more of what I had and give her a little versatility,” Xavier told Netflix’s Tudum about Gigi’s support of him on Next in Fashion. “I was so stressed out in [the beginning] I couldn’t even listen to what she was saying half the time. I was just still like, ‘This is Gigi in front of me.’ But there were these key little things she told me like, ‘You should do this’ or ‘Don’t worry about that.’ I would go home, re-evaluate and go back the next day and just really just tackle it. Take the advice, and don’t be closed-minded to it.”
Hadid’s advice helped push Xavier’s designs to new heights
Listening to Hadid’s advice certainly paid off for Xavier. For example, the mom of one was constantly telling him that he was not merely a menswear designer. The supermodel pushed him to stop restricting himself, often telling him that she would happily don some of his creations. This ultimately led to Xavier doing more looks for women than men in his final runway look. The judges reacted positively to his growth and vision, and he was declared the Next in Fashion winner for season 2. Clearly, the rapport between Xavier and Hadid was a positive one. We’re sure the designer is pleased he eventually was able to really listen to Hadid’s advice instead of simply being in awe of her.
