Gigi Hadid Returns to New York Fashion Week Runway 1 Year After Welcoming Daughter Khai

Gigi Hadid's back on the New York Fashion Week catwalk.

Fashion Week returned with a bang in N.Y.C. on September 8 after a year and a half of COVID-19 lockdowns, restrictions and uncertainties. Hadid, 26, helped kick off the week of shows (N.Y.C. requires proof of vaccination for all indoor events) with her exciting return to the NYFW runway at Wednesday's Proenza Schouler show.

Almost exactly one year since giving birth to daughter Khai, Hadid showed off her modeling prowess as she strutted across the runway. The supermodel rocked a flowing, printed maxi dress worn under a half-zip vest while walking in the outdoor show.

Hadid appears to be excited to be back at work after taking the past year to soak in new mom life. Before the Proenza Schouler show, the star posted a photo on Instagram sitting in a window that overlooked the N.Y.C. street writing, "fashion month begins !"

Last March, Hadid made her first return to the high-fashion runway at Versace's Fall/Winter 2021 show (which was streamed live amid the coronavirus pandemic).

Hadid opened the socially distant show in a chic cropped bustier, skirt and blazer combo. She changed into a cap-sleeve printed mini dress, accessorized with tights, platform shoes and a wide belt for her second look. Then closed out the event in a sheer long-sleeve black gown covered in a subtle monogram motif.

This past year, Hadid opened up about her journey to motherhood, revealing to fans that she discovered she was pregnant on "the day before the Tom Ford show" during Paris Fashion Week.

"I was so nauseous backstage 😅 but I learned I could kinda control it if I continuously ate, so my mom would pack me snacks before each show 🥖 🧀 bless," she tweeted, adding in another tweet, "Backstage at Burberry was the hardest day with the nausea, I remember."

Hadid and boyfriend Zayn Malik kept her pregnancy under wraps until August, when she shared the first photos of her baby bump. "Our baby girl is here, healthy & beautiful," Malik wrote on Twitter at the time. "To try put into words how i am feeling right now would be an impossible task."