How Supermodel Hunter McGrady Got Ready for Fashion Week

Preparing for New York Fashion Week can be a stressful time, but for supermodel and activist Hunter McGrady, the key is having her sister, Michaela, by her side.

“Getting ready together and doing our own hair and makeup is our self-care really,” Hunter tells Teen Vogue. “I love lighting a candle, putting music on, sitting in front of my mirror — doing the whole thing makes me and Michaela so happy.”

Their pre-show ritual goes back to when they were teenagers living in Thousand Oaks, California, strengthening their sisterly bond through makeup and styling. Now, though living in different cities, New York Fashion Week always brings them together for days filled with laughs, — in addition to being top models, they’re both basically stellar comedians — many glamorous looks and memories about fighting for inclusivity that they’ll share with their own children someday.

Teen Vogue followed Hunter and Michaela as they got ready to attend the Tadashi Shoji show at New York Fashion Week 2020. At Hunter’s home in New Jersey, they dressed in matching pajamas as they did their hair, decided on makeup looks, and filmed their first Tik Tok video together, followed by a session of learning how to do the “woah.”

First step: Makeup. Hunter used 11 products in total to achieve her desired look to match the black and white Tadashi Shoji dress she was wearing to the show. Before anything, she used the Benefit Porefessional Primer to prep her skin. Then for foundation, she loves both the Makeup Forever HD foundation and Cle De Peau Foundation. She then uses the Benefit Hoola Bronzer and Charlotte Tilbury Contour and Highlight to chisel her face before moving on to her eyes. To set it all in place, she opts for the Laura Mercier Setting Powder.

Hunter first preps her eyes with the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer before using the KKW Matte Icon Eyeshadow Palette — KKW Beauty is a favorite brand for both her and Michaela — which she applies using the Jaclyn Hill for Morphe Brushes. For her brows, Hunter uses the Benefit Goof Proof Eyebrow Pencil and finishes her look off with the Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb highlighter. And finally, to make sure the stunning look stays on while she’s running around fashion week, Hunter uses the Morphe Continuous Setting Spray to lock it all in place.

Attending the Tadashi Shoji show isn’t just an honor for Hunter: It’s part of her mission to only support inclusive designers. She takes her dedication to inclusivity incredibly seriously, and it sets her apart from many others within the fashion industry as a leading advocate for change. In fact, even when a designer that sells plus-sizes invited her to sit front row at his show this season with the offer to dress her, she declined after finding out that no curve models would be used on the runway.

“At this point, we have to band together because the demand is just so outweighing the supply and is now becoming detrimental. Change doesn't come from being comfortable,” she says. “I may not be able to go to every Fashion Week party for the season, or I may not get to go to some of my dream shows, but I'm taking a stand for the future. I'm taking a stand for like daughter, and my future children and the next generation.”

Hunter doesn’t take her platform lightly. In fact, multiple times in the discussion, instead of saying “I want to take this stand,” she says “I have to.” And not just for the plus-size community: Hunter is learning to fight for all marginalized groups, from those of different races, genders, and sexualities. Because to her, inclusivity is not a dream. It’s not a buzzword or surface-level topic. To Hunter, inclusivity is a basic human right.

“There are so many incredible models out there who just don't get the time of day because they're not given the chance,” Hunter says, talking about the lack of body diversity at fashion week and the fact that so often, the same curvy models are used. She stresses the point that no designer has nailed body diversity yet; Everyone — even those who do have curve models on the runway — need to continue to push themselves and show a more accurate representation of what it means to be plus.

“It can't just be me. It can't just be another model. We have to be supporting each other and lifting each other up,” she adds.

Michaela — also a model — uses her platform in a similar light, being transparent on her feelings about body diversity. And the two sisters couldn’t be in further sync.

“Hunter has been such an amazing trailblazer,” Michaela says, “and it's just always so inspiring for me to come out here and to be a part of everything with her, and I feel like we're like a little team out there fighting together for inclusivity.”

She adds, “A lot of what we're trying to stand for is to positively affect our future children. [If we have to keep turning down jobs], we’re down to take the hit it’s because it's for something so much bigger and so much more beautiful. And it's just going to create a bigger world and I feel like it's such responsibility for us if we're given any kind of platform.”

After digging deep into the topic on inclusivity while sprawled across Michaela’s room, both girls finished up their hair (using the T3 Twirl Trio Curler) and then got dressed, Hunter in her black and white ensemble and Michaela in a pink sequin gown that’s beauty perfectly showed Tadashi Shoji’s incredible skills.

All ready and set to go, Hunter and Michaela filmed some quick videos for Instagram, said goodbye to Hunter’s little pup, and headed onto their drive into Manhattan, arriving at the Tadashi Shoji show in full glam and ready to see the new collection — which was, as expected, breathtaking.

“In 30 years, this is what we're going to look back on and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, remember when we were running around New York for fashion week?’ We’ll have our kids and we’re just silly little ladies talking to each other,” says Michaela. “And we're just gonna be like, ‘Oh my God, we were running around New York, going to shows and trying to do what we can for this industry.”

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue