Here’s The Real Story Behind Bella Hadid’s VS Casting

"You can't always get what you want," sang a young Mick Jagger to a yet-unborn, soon-to-be Angel, Bella Hadid. We're joking, of course. But we imagine this was the tune the world's tiniest violin played when the budding model was passed over by the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show last year. That's right: Even the most popular don't always get to wear their crown (er, wings) right away. And it turns out Bella Hadid's turn on this year's catwalk in Paris was a much longer audition process than we realized. In her latest editorial, Hadid posed for Paper looking very unlike her usual Carla Bruni-twinning self, and the result is (of course) really, really rad. Styled by Farren Fucci and shot by Nicolas Moore, the model wears this season's latest offerings from the likes of Gucci and Balmain in the spread. But it's the photo shoot's accompanying feature that has us buzzing. Hadid didn't walk last year's show with sister Gigi because, well, she simply didn't make the cut. "I tried last year [to be cast in] the show, but I think everything happens for a reason," she told the magazine. Thanks to the swift rise in celeb-model hybrids on the VS Fashion Show catwalk, there's been much ado about who deserves a set of wings and who doesn't. Ever since the show's taping last week, the Twittersphere has been aflame with unofficial model documentarians sharing their two cents on this year's lineup, and some of that unsolicited commentary is just unnecessarily nasty. But controversy aside, the path to becoming an Angel comes with its own ups and downs, no matter how long or short the journey. So, what's the most important lesson to learn here? Rejection doesn't hurt less if you're famous (or infamous) — and, model or not, it's just a part of life.