Taylor! Lana! Channing! See All the Stars Who Modeled for Abercrombie Before Making It Big (2024)

Before these stars were selling out stadiums or bringing home awards, they all had one thing in common: they were faces of Abercrombie & Fitch!

Dating back to the 1990s, some of Hollywood's biggest stars got their starts modeling clothes for the famous brand. A&F, whose controversial history was chronicled in a 2022 Netflix documentary, hired the likes of Taylor Swift, Lindsay Lohan and Lana Del Rey back in the day to show off their latest threads in ad campaigns and catalogues.

From the "Shake It Off" singer herself to half the cast of Gossip Girl, see some of the famous faces whose early careers were helped by this gig.

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Taylor Swift

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Before "Teardrops on My Guitar," Taylor Swift posed fittingly with a guitar as she appeared to wipe away ... teardrops as one of the brand's "Rising Stars" in the early 2000s.

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Lana Del Rey & Lindsay Lohan

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This group photo has not one but two hidden gems hidden in it. Around the time The Parent Trap premiered, Lindsay Lohan (middle) appeared in this Abercrombie & Fitch campaign that was featured on the side of the brand's shopping bag. While she did not specify which of the kids is her when she posted this pic, we have to believe that's Lana Del Rey right there below Lohan, with a soccer ball.

"Me and Lindsay Lohan on a bag when they did a local Abercrombie recruit for kids," Del Rey wrote in an Instagram caption in 2021 when sharing the photo.

In a 2023 chat with Harper's Bazaar, Del Rey explained a bit more about the photo, remembering that her sister is also included in the shoot. "We ere very excited, because also Lindsay went to school with my cousins and at the time they were all in the same play, Cinderella," the singer said, adding that while she wanted to run up to the young actress and share their mutual connection, she refrained. "I played it cool even at 13."

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Channing Tatum

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In a bit of a twist from the role he plays in the Magic Mike films, this job required Channing Tatum to put it all on. And by all, we mean track pants, briefs, a rugby shirt, scarf, wool coat and mascot uniform.

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Jennifer Lawrence

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Jennifer Lawrence might have already thanked MTV for helping her get her start, but we think this adorable shot from an A&F shoot didn't hurt. Now, of course, Lawrence's face is seen on various high fashion campaigns from Christian Dior to Longines.

Malin Akerman & Jamie Dornan

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"I don't really know what we were selling," Malin Akerman told Seth Meyers in 2017, reflecting on the ads she shot with the future Mr. Grey, Jamie Dornan. "We got to set, and after two … shots, the clothes came off. Needless to say we got to know each other very well. Very well."

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Olivia Wilde

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At age 20, Olivia Wilde added posing for Abercrombie to her résumé. Years later, she’s wearing much fancier attire when spotted out and about.

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January Jones

Taylor! Lana! Channing! See All the Stars Who Modeled for Abercrombie Before Making It Big (7)

This shoot was just two years before January Jones transformed into Don Draper’s wife in Mad Men. And while her character would never wear a denim jacket with the collar popped, we’d recognize that determined (and slightly angry) Betty stare anywhere.

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Kellan Lutz

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Remember cutting up the store’s bags and papering your walls with all the hot models? We bet Kellan Lutz was in at least a few of those collages. The actor has gone on to star in the Twilight films as Emmett Cullen and later snagged a recurring role on FBI: Most Wanted.

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Nikki Reed

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And Lutz isn't the only future Twilight star who posed for Abercrombie. As sparkly vampire Rosalie Hale in the vampire flicks, Nikki Reed drives a red Mercedes convertible. But she first broke into the business with a much more modest mode of transportation: a beat-up motorcycle, which was her prop at the shoot.

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Heidi Klum

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Abercrombie & Fitch may be known for its laid-back, all-American styling, but German model Heidi Klum brought a decidedly Euro high-fashion vibe to her shoot, wearing an LBD and posing in a Ferrari in the early 2000s.

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Emma Roberts

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Way back when, a 14-year-old Emma Roberts modeled for the brand around the time her Nickelodeon series Unfabulous first aired. More recently in the fashion space, the multi-hyphenate mom of one has stepped into the role of global ambassador for Kiko Milano.

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Penn Badgley

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No one does brooding quite like Penn Badgley. Perhaps it was his serious gaze in this photo that caught the eye of Gossip Girl casting directors, because just a couple years later, he had tamed that wild hair and was playing opposite S. and B. in N.Y.C.

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Michelle Trachtenberg

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Hmm ... we’re starting to wonder if casting directors just looked at old Abercrombie ads when filling the roles on Gossip Girl, as Badgley's costar Michelle Trachtenberg had a moment, too. Makes sense to us, considering the CW show boasted one of the most attractive casts on TV.

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Taylor Kitsch

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From this photo to Friday Night Lights to John Carter to Savages, Taylor Kitsch has clearly made a career of being shirtless, flexing his muscles and having amazing, flowing hair.

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Chris Carmack

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Though today fans know him as Dr. Atticus Lincoln on Grey's Anatomy, early on in his career, Chris Carmack posed for Abercrombie. In a comedic video shared to his TikTok account, his wife tells him she found something that his mom kept and asks him to put it on. Come to find out, it's an old shopping bag from his modeling days.

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Trevor Donovan

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Blond, buff and not afraid to wear a tank top and dangerously low-riding cargos. Clearly, that’s the kind of can-do attitude that later helped Trevor Donovan land spots on Days of Our Lives and 90210.