Tommy Hilfiger clarifies his comments about Gigi Hadid’s body

Tommy Hilfiger would like everyone to know that he never had a problem with Gigi Hadid’s figure. 

In an interview with Yahoo! Style earlier this week, the designer explained why Hadid donned a poncho for his New York Fashion Week show in February. 

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“Our casting director said, ‘She doesn’t really fit because she’s not quite as tall as the other girls. She’s not quite as thin,’ so they put a red, white and blue poncho on her. Covered a lot of her body, unfortunately, but it received millions of hits,” the designer revealed.

That “not quite as thin” wording set off a slew of backlash online, prompting Hilfiger to clarify his remarks, calling her “the epitome of perfection” as far as figures go.

“The casting people put Gigi in the poncho, and I was not happy,” he told Page Six. “I was saying, ‘Don’t hide her body.’ The suggestion that I thought she wasn’t thin enough upsets me to no end. Gigi is the epitome of perfection.”

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“There’s no other girl like her in the fashion world -- not only because of her beauty, but because of her style,” he said. “She would not be the Tommy girl if I didn’t think she was perfection, the It Girl of today -- not just because of her face, not just because of her body, but because of who she is.”