Who knew Travis Kelce was so… hairy? The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and Taylor Swift’s beau graces the cover of GQ magazine’s latest edition, which dropped just as the music icon confirmed she’s releasing a brand new album very soon. The cover, released August 12, is a close-up of the NFL star sporting a thick beard and a fuzzy winter hat while staring intently into the camera. It’s one of the many photos taken of Kelce throughout the sticky, grueling 12-hour shoot, where, together with the GQ team, he drove to Everglades National Park in Florida and spent the day “trudging through swamps, cradling alligators, and riding airboats.” Sick.
For the cover, Kelce was styled by Law Roach, the visionary behind many of Zendaya and Anya Taylor-Joy’s memorable red carpet looks. So why do fans hate the shoot? For one, Kelce’s facial and chest hair dominate the frame in many of the shots, in a way that made a lot of viewers (even Swelce fans) squirm. “It’s just… hair… so much of it… everywhere,” one sounded off on X, formerly Twitter. Another simply claimed, “This is the worst magazine cover I’ve ever seen.”
An alternative cover shows Kelce towering over a row of tired, empty bleachers while standing on a flyboard with a huge grin on his face. He wore a red puffer vest left open to reveal his hairy chest, paired with plaid boxer shorts. “Like we get it: you’re big and hairy… but where is the fashun,” one asked. Others wondered whether Roach was even involved. “Law must have just physically put the clothes on that Travis clearly picked out himself cause ain’t no way…” another roasted. Welp. Sorry, Tay!
Roach says it was intentional
Hours after the viral cover dropped, Law Roach spoke to GQ magazine about styling Travis Kelce for his second major magazine shoot (the first was with The Wall Street Journal in November 2023). “We wanted to make sure that the fashion could accentuate his physicality, not the other way around,” said the stylist. Unlike when he’s dressing up models or celebrities like Zendaya, where fashion usually takes precedence, they wanted Kelce’s size and stature to be the highlight of the show. “Usually … It’s more about the fashion. But this time we had to go and reverse it and make it about the physicality and accentuating the physicality and making that just as important to the story,” explains Roach.
Elsewhere, he spoke warmly about what it was like to work with Kelce on-set. “He was so fun,” Roach gushed, noting the NFL star was down to do anything they asked of him — from getting wet to posing with a live alligator. “He’s just f***ing cool. Just a big kind of teddy bear,” he added. “Always smiling, always laughing. He laughed through the whole shoot.”
Travis Kelce shot by Ryan McGinley and styled by @LuxuryLaw for the September issue of GQ pic.twitter.com/Iyuy3AFuHg
— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) August 12, 2025
That contagious cheerfulness was something Kelce reflected on in his profile for GQ magazine as well. “I love being the happiest guy in the world all the f***ing time,” he stressed. But that doesn’t mean he’s bulletproof and immune to criticism. “I’m a guy who doesn’t want anyone to say anything negative about me. Some people don’t give a f**k. I’m someone who does care.” Well, better not check his comments section, then.
