I LOVE THIS COVER. Bella Hadid covers the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and man, this cover is great. Of course, I’m a bit of a magpie – I’ll generally love any fashion photography if it involves giant jewels. Bazaar Arabia shot Bella in Venice, and the whole shoot is rather lovely – a combination of a great location, good makeup and good angles. You can see the cover package here. Surprisingly, the interview is pretty great too. The Hadid sisters have come a long way in a short time – not too long ago, both Bella and Gigi were giving some really basic-bitch interviews, neither of them saying much about anything. In this piece, Bella talks about politics, Islam, Donald Trump and her hero, Michelle Obama. Some highlights:

On Trump’s Muslim Ban: “My dad was a refugee. He came from Palestine to America when he was a baby. Thankfully, he was able to come, but it was very hard and now it’s probably 100 times harder. It makes me sad that power is getting taken from a lot of people and they’re not able to make a new life for their children and their families. It’s crazy to me that one person can tell you whether or not you can have a better life.”

Taking part in the “No Ban, No Wall” protest: “I just wanted to stand up for what I felt was right and I really didn’t care if I was with 100,000 other people because, with or without security, I wanted to go and stand for something I believe in. Nobody was even looking…. If I can’t talk about something that I’m passionate about, why even be here? Why even do any of the stuff that I’m doing if I can’t make a better purpose for the world, or make a difference, or try to put light on a situation that is obviously so dark? It’s all really scary.”

She finds it advantageous to be a model with a personality: “What’s so beautiful about the time that we live in right now is that it’s not all about the face any more. You have to be more than that. You have to have a personality and you have to be able to go out there and have a conversation with somebody and not be a blank face.”

Crying over news stories: “I’m definitely an empath. I’m very emotional but I’m also very strong. I’ll stand up for myself but I cry at everything.”

Work ethic & money: “Everybody has a different opinion of what hard work is. At the end of the day, if you’re exhausted, you worked hard. I’m definitely tired most of the time… It never felt right to me to ask my parents for money. I never spent money. It still to this day freaks me out to spend money. It would make me happy to buy a really cute $5 T-shirt instead of a designer piece. I never bought anything designer until I was 18 and could buy it on my own. I bought my first pair of Louboutins and that was a very big moment for me. People always think that my parents would buy us stuff. My mom never bought me anything designer. My dad would buy me little things that are more meaningful than a designer purse. I would rather have riding boots. That was what made me so happy…. I think that a work ethic is not only one of the most attractive things in a woman, but it’s one of the most humbling things to be a woman and to be completely independent.”

Her connection to Islam: “That was the best day of my life, when I went and saw the mosque in Abu Dhabi,” Bella recalls of visiting Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque back in April. “I was talking to all of these Arab women and men, and finally understanding the culture a lot more than I ever really have. [My dad] would teach us about it and we would go and do Eid with my family and we would do Ramadan – I did that since I was a kid. Once I got older I was working and going to school so I couldn’t fast for as long. My dad, he’s so passionate about it, and that’s what kept me very passionate and excited about my roots.”

On Michelle Obama: “I met Michelle Obama recently, she is one of the strongest women ever and so inspirational, educated, beautiful. A good wife, a good woman, a good person. I think she’s the epitome of an incredible woman.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

Who’s your favorite Hadid sister? Mine used to be Gigi but I have to admit, Bella is growing on me. She seems more content to be politically active, and to talk about her Palestinian roots, her experiences in Islam. While I will always think of the Hadid sisters as nepotism models, I’m also totally fine with letting them grow up and develop into more interesting young women, women who have sh-t to say about the world. I hope Bella keeps talking. It’s amazing to think that there are little girls out there who idolize Bella and Gigi, two daughters of a Palestinian refugee, sisters who raised in Islam and still identify as modern Muslim women. This is what all-American girls look like now. And that’s important.

Photos courtesy of Victor Demarchelier for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia.