In case you’re curious, yes, Vinnie Hacker still wears your bracelet. Gifted to him by one of his 25 million followers, the gesture speaks directly to the kind of guy Hacker is. For the 20-year-old creator, who skyrocketed to TikTok fame in 2020 and has since cemented his name in Gen Z digital lore, it’s always been about the people, not the numbers. “It feels good being able to meet fans because I’m working half the time, so when I do get to go out and meet them, it’s awesome,” he says from his home in Los Angeles.

Before he was jet-setting to Paris for Fashion Week and signing contracts with global agencies, Hacker was your typical high school student. He played baseball, spent time with his friends, and streamed himself playing video games. However, unlike some of his peers–who recorded themselves on TikTok in the hopes of instant fame–the Seattle native never went looking for the hype. The hype found him.

“I actually got my social media start by streaming. I started posting on TikTok and other social media to see if I could get people to come over to my stream that way,” Hacker explains. One day during his junior year of high school, a video of him standing in the mirror went viral– catapulting his follower count from 20,000 into the hundreds of thousands. What began as a casual attempt at boosting his gaming stream snowballed into a full-blown career with a platform well beyond any teenage dream. Overnight, Hacker went from boy-next-door to verified digital heartthrob.

Three years and approximately a billion likes later, he has his eyes on more than just social media stardom, which he himself understands to be fleeting, a springboard of sorts. Governed by his personal goals–which he’s confessed have been made thanks to his newfound maturity–Hacker has the world at his hands. And he’s well on his way.

Earlier this year, he signed with IMG Models, plunging headfirst into an industry he’s had a hand in since his adolescence. “I’ve been modeling since I was about 15, but for about two or three years, I wasn’t really getting anything. So being able to finally go into this space and learn it, as I’m going to all these shows–it’s really fun for me,” he says, his enthusiasm palpable. From Saint Laurent to Dior, he’s captured the attention of fashion houses across the business, marking his presence at Fashion Week shows, and fueling the multi-hyphenate to design his own signature pieces.

Whether it be founding his clothing line, Purgatory, or meeting with acting coaches, or fixing up his own vintage cars, he is charting a path to becoming Gen Z’s jack-of-all-trades. “I’m the type of person to go into all kinds of different areas,” he shares. “I like to start up a bunch of different things and then bring everything together.” As a man of many interests–and just as many ambitions–Vinnie Hacker proves he lives up to the hype.

This feature appears in the pages of V142: now available to purchase!

Photography Dennis Leupold

Fashion Christopher Campbell

Makeup Yasuko Shapiro (A-Frame)

Hair Patricia Morales (The Visionaries)

Executive producer Johnny Pascucci (Photobomb)

Production coordinator Merry Nestor (Photobomb)

Photo assistant Charles Brown

Stylist assistant Alexis Kossel

Make up assistant Gabriela Vega

Hair assistants Jessica Arriaga, Luna Vela

Location Dust Studios