Celebs Who Were Abercrombie & Fitch Models Before They Were Famous: Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum and More

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Celebs Who Were Abercrombie & Fitch Models Before They Were Famous: Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum and More

The early days! Plenty of celebrities dabbled in modeling before making it big — and a shocking number of them worked for Abercrombie & Fitch. The sportswear brand found itself back in the spotlight after the April 2022 release of Netflix's documentary White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, which explores what happened after Michael Jeffries became the company's CEO in 1992. The businessman stepped down in 2014 amid declining sales and accusations of racism within the company, but the many photos of pre-fame stars modeling for the brand live on. "I was actually one of the guys in the catalog," Channing Tatum told Interview magazine in April 2009, noting that he was not one of the shirtless guys who stood outside the store. "I had to put on a chicken suit at one point. I was like a mascot. We were in a locker room, and there were a bunch of dudes with abs all the way down to their ... whatever the hell — their perineums? And then I was in the chicken suit standing next to them." [jwplayer SbNLW0Cn-zhNYySv2] Jennifer Lawrence, for her part, participated in a football-themed photo shoot before she became an Oscar-winning actress. The pictures never saw the light of day, however, because she was too invested in winning the pretend game. "All the other models are, like, playing football in a pretty way, but not me," the Joy star said during a December 2015 appearance on The Graham Norton Show. “[In] all of the photos, I’ve got a red face, [I'm] covered in sweat, my nostrils are flaring. ... At one point, a girl yelled, 'Just get her away from me.'” When the Kentucky native realized that she'd never seen any snaps from the shoot, her team helped her investigate. “My agent wrote and asked why, and they literally only responded with the photos," she recalled. Though A&F is an apparel brand, some of their '90s and early aughts campaigns made headlines for featuring very few actual clothes. Malin Akerman, for one, posed topless with a young Jamie Dornan circa 2002. “I don’t really know what we were selling,” the 27 Dresses star joked during a February 2017 interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers. “We got to set and after two shots, the clothes came off. [The photographer] didn’t want any clothes on us. ... Needless to say, we got to know each other very well." Keep scrolling to see which celebrities got their start modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch. [podcast_block]

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Penn Badgley

The You actor appeared in an issue of A&F's magazine in the early 2000s, but his photos weren't used in any marketing campaigns.

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Olivia Wilde

The Booksmart director modeled for A&F in 2004 shortly before landing a recurring role as Alex on The O.C.

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Tom Welling

Before he played Clark Kent on Smallville, the New York native modeled for A&F as well as Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.

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Jennifer Lawrence

The American Hustle star tried her hand at Abercrombie modeling before she began landing early roles in TV series including Medium and The Bill Engvall Show.

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Jamie Dornan

The Belfast actor appeared nude in a campaign with Akerman. During his modeling days, Dornan was nicknamed "The Golden Torso" by a magazine editor.

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Heidi Klum

The supermodel is well-known for her work with Victoria's Secret, but in 2002, she posed for the A&F Quarterly.

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Channing Tatum

The Magic Mike XXL star modeled for Abercrombie in 2001.

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January Jones

In 2018, the Mad Men alum shared a throwback photo from her A&F days via Instagram — and mocked her posing skills. "This is when I was an Abercrombie and Fitch model, and a pose I created called the 'gut-itch,'" she joked via Instagram. "Probably sold several couple white tanks with that gut-itch pose. I try not to do it anymore, I can’t handle the attention."

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Kellan Lutz

"Throwing it back to the good old Abercrombie days," the Twilight star joked in a December 2015 Facebook post alongside a vintage photo of his artfully tousled A&F coif. "Look at that hair haha!!! Who wore it better? #taylorswift, #kellanlutz, or #jenniferlawrence ? I think my bed head ['do] was on point! Or at least my mom did!"

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Nikki Reed

Like her Twilight costar Lutz, Reed did some modeling work for A&F in 2004.

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Taylor Kitsch

Before he was Tim Riggins, the Friday Night Lights alum struck a pose for Abercrombie.

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Emma Roberts

The Scream Queens alum appeared in an A&F ad in 2005, one year before the movie Aquamarine made her a star.

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Chris Carmack

Shortly before landing the role of Luke on The O.C., the Nashville alum dressed in football gear for an Abercrombie ad.

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Michelle Trachtenberg

The Gossip Girl alum modeled for A&F in 2004, though she was already famous at that point after appearing in Harriet the Spy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

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Scott Eastwood

The Flags of Our Fathers actor was named one of Abercrombie & Fitch's Stars on the Rise in 2013.

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Karlie Kloss

Before she was landing Vogue covers, the supermodel starred in an Abercrombie Kids ad in 2007.

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Ashton Kutcher

The No Strings Attached star modeled for A&F in 1998 before his role as Kelso on That '70s Show catapulted him to stardom.

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Taylor Swift

The "Lover" songstress posed with her guitar for a 2003 Abercrombie ad three years before she released her self-titled debut album. Ten years later, the company faced backlash for selling a T-shirt that read, "More boyfriends than T.S." After outcry from fans, A&F pulled the garment from shelves.

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Jesse McCartney

The Masked Singer alum starred in an A&F ad in 2005.

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Lindsay Lohan

The Mean Girls actress appeared alongside Lana Del Rey in a late '90s ad for Abercrombie Kids.

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Sienna Miller

The Alfie star modeled for Abercrombie in 2002. Five years later, she landed the Vogue cover that became the subject of the documentary The September Issue.