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Throughout her rising career, Haley Kalil (who you may know as @HaleyBaylee) has worn many hats: medical student, Sports Illustrated model, and now star content creator. Whether she’s on the scene at some of Fashion Week’s biggest parties or walking the red carpet at the Oscars, Emmys, or VMA’s, Kalil approaches every opportunity with enthusiasm for her 9 million-plus followers. Her excitement also stems from a lifetime love of fashion, beginning when she read Vogue issues as a young girl in her native Minnesota. As the red carpet circuit begins again, we caught up with Kalil on her mission to make everyone feel included in the beauty and fashion industries—plus her go-to beauty products, new Valentino Beauty partnership, and surprise friendship with designer Marc Bouwer.
Tell us about your career start in modeling.
I feel like I’ve lived 800 different lives and had 800 different careers! I grew up in Minnesota. I went to school for biomedical sciences and psychology, with a minor in chemistry. I was planning on going into the medical field; I wanted to be a doctor. I got married very young, and that changed that career path. He was an NFL player, so I didn’t have the time—or really, the ability—to apply out of state for medical school since he had to stay in Minnesota. I decided to pursue something different: The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. It was an open casting call, and the year that I quit looking at medical schools—so it was perfect timing. I thought, “You know what, they’re never going to know who I am. I have barely any Instagram followers.” I think my Instagram was private at the time, so I made it public for the swim search. I had always idolized Sports Illustrated, Victoria’s Secret, the whole fashion world. I was a little girl buying Vogue, and my mom was like, “What are you doing?” I was like, “One day, I’ll be a part of this.” I entered, not thinking anything would come out of it, and then two weeks go by and there’s a DM from the official Sports Illustrated Swimsuit account in my DMs. They invited me to do an open casting call with the entire team, with MJ, with Darcy, with all the editing staff, so I flew to New York. I met the entire team. I was Googling how to go to a casting, what to wear, and what to bring, because I’d never really had any experience in fashion. It was an entire year and a half-long, the entire process, and I ended up winning it with Camille Kostick. That set me off on a journey that I never would have expected.
Haley Kalil (Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated)
How did you break out online as a content creator?
I moved to New York part-time. I would fly back and forth between Minnesota, and back and forth between Charlotte, where my ex and I moved together, and then moved here full-time. I was modeling for about five years, and then it got to the point where I was dealing with some heavy ED [eating disorder] stuff. I was slipping into some really bad tendencies with mental health. I thought, “I need to take a step back from this, and really make sure that if I’m in fashion, I’m in it in a way that’s healthy, speaks to who I am, and I don’t try to starve myself into being what I think fashion wants me to be.” The funny thing is, fashion never wanted me to be that—I just thought I needed to be. I took a step back from fashion. I basically quit modeling. I was about to move home to Minnesota, and two weeks before I was about to move home, the content creator Caleb Simpson came to my apartment and did an apartment tour. Within five hours, the video had 55 million views, and it started my career in content. I saw all of the eyes on my page, and I thought, “Oh my gosh, I’ve never had this notoriety. I’ve never had this many views before. This is my chance to live my dream of being in sketch comedy.” So, I started making sketch comedy—I made five videos a day for every single platform. I treated it like a full-time job, and I’ve been doing that ever since.
What was your experience like shooting for Sports Illustrated?
It was my chance to travel the world. I’m so grateful to them, because they took a girl who hadn’t been many places. For my first shoot, I went to Belize with them. Then, the shoot after that, I went to Kenya. It was the most beautiful place. It was so magical. I got to meet so many people there. I got to see the culture, and from there we shot in the British Virgin Isles. I shot in this cave that fills with water during the day, but at night gets empty. It’s so cool. I give them credit for allowing me to travel the world. During that time, when I was dealing with eating disorders, I was not dealing with them because of Sports Illustrated—they were my one savior, in that I felt comfortable no matter what whenever I was on set with them. It’s all women, so you just feel good. You know when girls go and take a bunch of Instagram photos before going out and they’re hyping each other up? That’s what being on set is like. You just feel so comfortable and so good in your own skin, even if you’re wearing the tiniest little swimsuit that would normally make you feel weird. You feel empowered. I am very grateful for my time at Sports Illustrated, because it really prepared me to find the joy in all of these things.
Haley Kalil (Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated)
That sounds really special!
I wish every girl could have that moment where you’re in this crazy, cool, couture swimsuit, you’re on some incredible beach. There’s thirty of some of the most powerful people telling you how beautiful you are, and how you’re slaying it, and showing you pictures of yourself that you would probably nitpick. They’re going, “This is gorgeous.” These are the same people who have seen Heidi Klum, Cindy Crawford, and Tyra Banks do this, so it’s very uplifting.
Your social media content has incorporated more fashion and beauty brands, too. How has it felt to grow your presence in those fields?
I love fashion, so I feel like this is a natural progression. It feels great. Instead of being a young person almost lost in fashion, not knowing who I was and molding myself to be like people that I looked up to…now, I can step into fashion being fully myself and having a clear mind, and not feeling like I have to pretend. Fashion loves individuality, and I can’t believe that I didn’t see that. I think I was just so blown away by even being in the world, that I wanted to do everything to stay in the world. Now, I’m entering it as myself, and it feels so much more fun. Every single day, I’m making stuff, and fashion designers and fashion is the exact same way—everyone’s expressing themselves and their individuality through their art. I have a whole new respect for the fashion world, and I can’t wait to see content and fashion merge.
Pierre Boo, Haley Kalil
Tell us about your Fashion Week this September! What did you go to, and which collections caught your eye?
I was invited to both the Emmys and the VMA’s, which didn’t leave as much time for Fashion Week. I was able to go to Jonathan Simkhai’s show, which was beautiful. I loved the design, the layers, the silky appearance. I went to a lot of events, the ones that fit into my schedule with the VMAs and the Emmys. I went to Vogue x Willy Chavarria, then I also went to House of Champion, Sergio Tacchini, and Louboutin Beauty. I work a lot with Christian Louboutin; I’ve consulted for them, actually, for the launch of their new perfumes—I was one of the consultants for that entire launch. I went to Valentino Beauty’s Studio 54 party.
Haley Kalil (Noam Galai/Courtesy of Valentino Beauty)
Speaking of Valentino Beauty, we hear there’s a new partnership in the works for you.
Yes, we are now on a long-term partnership with Valentino Beauty. It started as a one-off [project]. They really enjoyed my content. I’ve been wearing Born In Roma since forever. It was my college scent, and now it’s gone into my real-life scent. I think they just saw me using the bottle in one of my pieces of content, and the team reached out, and then we did one video together. It did well. We did a few more. they did well. Now, they want to work with me on a long-term partnership. On red carpets, I will be using Valentino Beauty artists doing my makeup, doing my hair. They’re going to have a bigger role in my everyday content. Just so people know, I am a Valentino girl, and I love getting to be in the luxury space. It’s a space growing up in Minnesota that felt very out of reach for me. I’d love to make the luxury beauty space somewhere where girls feel comfortable to play around in, because those products are incredible—and, man, they save your skin! When you use the good ones, your skin will be better for it. It’s worth the investment, trust me.
What are some of your favorite skincare or beauty products in your bag right now?
I use Armani Luminous Silk for my foundation and my blush, I have really dry skin, and if you mix Armani with lotion, it’s fantastic. It goes on super smooth. It’s also non-comedogenic, so it’s great for acne-prone skin, which is what I have. Valentino has amazing lip glosses and lip tints. I like to use a lot of Valentino lipsticks when I go out. They have really, really pretty deep red colors. So does Christian Louboutin—they came to play with their new beauty line. They have new lip liners that are absolutely fantastic. I love to use the Huda Beauty bronzer, Maybelline mascara. Dior absolutely slays it—eyeshadow palettes, bronzers, and blushes.
Haley Kalil (Courtesy of Haley Kalil)
You and Marc Bouwer are very close! How did you meet?
I wouldn’t be here without people who believed in me, and he’s one of them. I could never do the things I do without Marc. He is a visionary. He’s one of the most talented people I’ve ever met. A stylist I was working with pulled a look from Marc Bouwer for Sports Illustrated. It was a look that I never ended up wearing, but I felt so bad about it that, because it was a gorgeous look—it just ended up being too short, because we needed a longer dress. I posted in it, because I was like, “This dress is so beautiful, I’m going to throw it on anyways.” I posted in it, and the post did really, really well. Marc and I just became friends from there. I was like, “Your dresses are amazing, and I love showing them off. I could never get my hands on a $20,000 dress—can I use these in my social media, and can I tag you?” He was like, “Of course.” Then, that just became a friendship, and that went from us going out to dinner, getting drinks, and me coming to a showroom where he would show me the latest thing he made.
Haley Kalil (Courtesy of CBS)
We understand he makes all of your red carpet looks for you.
When I got invited to the Golden Globes, it was four days before the Globes. The only person I knew that made dresses was Marc. How in the world did I get so lucky? This man has designed dresses for Whitney Houston and Angelina Jolie, it’s insane. I asked him, “Hey, Marc, could you do something I could wear to the Golden Globes.?” He was like, “Absolutely” He sprung into action. From that moment on, we have worked together. For every single red carpet, he has handmade the dresses I’ve worn. My notes were “All right, I want it to be red, or I want it to be drop-waisted, or this neckline would look cool.” I’ll send it over to him, and he’ll just go from there. He’ll draw an amazing sketch, he’ll send it to me, and within a couple of weeks there’s a gorgeous gown in front of me that I get to wear. It’s a challenge for us, like, “What haven’t we done, and what can we do? What is the lighting of this event, what are the angles they’re going to film from?” Thankfully, when you go to the carpets a couple different times, I know the stations of the carpet, where you stand, where you pose. I know backdrop colors—they usually don’t change too much. I also know the placement of glambots— is it back lit, is it front-lit, are they doing high-speed? I’ve got friends in the industry like Cole [Walliser], who will tell me the camera movement and where the lights coming from, and then Marc and I just get to play.
Marc Bouwer and Haley Kalil (Courtesy of Haley Kalil)
Do you have a favorite archival Marc Bouwer dress or look over the years?
The one that Sydney Sweeney wore to the Vanity Fair party last year. It was the dress that Angelina Jolie wore, as well, the white one. That is one of my favorite dresses of all time. It is incredible. I’ve gotten the chance to put it on my body, and I was like, “Ah, I don’t want to take this off, but I also do, because I don’t want to rip it or stain it or anything.”
What have been some of your favorite red carpets moments?
The first Golden Globes I went to will always have a place in my mind and in my heart. That’s the first time I got to step into a world that I never thought I’d be in. I watched the Golden Globes on TV every single year. I sat on the couch, I was tuned in, so to actually see it in person and to see all of the hard work that goes into it, to see just how supportive the actors are of other actors and nominees and presenters, and just seeing how it all works is amazing. The Oscars is also unbelievable. When you step foot on the Oscars red carpet, it elicits an emotion you can’t even explain. It’s so calm and serene for a carpet, but it also carries such a long legacy. You have this level of respect for it, where you’re like, “I just want to do right by this.” The Oscars was insane. I got to go to an after party this year for the Emmys, Nicholas Chavez was there with his girlfriend, and there were a ton of other A-list celebrities. I got to see them in such a normal environment, so that was really fun. I think that’s important for the people who grow up idolizing these people to realize: they’re such lovely humans, they’re so nice, and they’re just happy to be making art. The MTV VMA’s was cool for a number of reasons, because I’ve always looked up to that show. The Grammys is cool, because you basically get a free concert with the biggest trending artists in the world. And you get to watch Taylor Swift dance, which is amazing because she’s always dancing to every single performance! She’s standing up with her champagne glass, dancing. It’s just good energy.
Haley Kalil
What are your plans coming up this fall? What are you working on?
I’ll be speaking on a couple panels coming up, which I’m excited for, because you get to touch the other side of fashion. I’ll be speaking at The Gap Inc. international Summit in New York. I’ll be a panelist for that. I’m really excited because I absolutely love Gap, and we saw what they did with KATSEYE. They took over the world! I think they’re one to watch for digital culture. I think they’re changing so much. I’m really going to lean into fashion in my content, you’re going start seeing that soon. I was really inspired by Kristy Sarah Scott—she’s one of my friends, and I’ve loved how she’s balanced being a normal girl from a normal family, but still playing in that fashion world. It’s been fun to watch people find fashion who maybe felt like outsiders for a long time. They didn’t feel like they were chic, they didn’t feel like they were part of the “in” crowd. I want to be that bridge like she is, because fashion is fun and the fashion industry is so cool. I want everyone to feel like they can be a part of it.
All images: Courtesy of Hailey Kalil
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