The Shape of Things

IMAGE COURTESY OF VICELAND.

In States of Undress, the Viceland show whose second season kicked off in earlier this month, the multihyphenate Hailey Gates—model, actress, writer, muse—travels the world exploring the ways that fashion intersects with politics, religion, and national identity. In the new season, Gates investigates bans on Muslim clothing in France, female lucha libre fighters in Bolivia, and a Thai transgender beauty pageant. “All the countries we visited this year,” she says, “were at these really interesting tipping points, dealing with something historic in their cultural evolution”—and that includes the U.S. In one episode (her first stateside), she visits a concealed-carry fashion show in Independence, Ohio. (“It was … pretty wild,” says Gates—which means something coming from a woman who was once filmed having her body lit on fire.) Her next adventure? Resting at home in New York. “Going downstairs and getting the paper is thrilling at this point.”