Sooner than you think, the craziness of Men’s Fashion Week will descend upon us and totally consume our lives and thoughts. Style meccas like London, Paris and Milan are going to be absolutely buzzing with menswear activity, and we wanted to do something a little different this year to show you what really goes down. We are pleased to introduce you to dashing Aussie male model, James Gatenby (signed to Soul Artist Management). He’s based in NYC, but when it comes to fashion week and casting for the big shows, the entire globe is his playground. James will be our eyes on the inside this season, and he’ll be giving us direct reports from the menswear frontlines.
See his first entry below as he takes on the casting sessions in Paris …
“A single show can pay for the whole trip, more can be a tidy profit …”
In James own words …
We begin our fashion circuit in Paris – fresh off the red eye from NYC, I’m straight off to my Parisian agency, Bananas, for model orientation. Here, new faces and veterans alike are drilled on how the next few days will work.
There are up to 15 or more appointments each day spread out across the city that need to be hit with finesse and timing to avoid being missed entirely. When your job is to spend all day running around one of the most beautiful cities in the world it is certainly hard to complain!
Lines for castings can be brutal, sometimes hours. Good books, banter or tablets are all great options for surviving the long lines. This week I’m absorbing “Exile and the Kingdom” by Camus.
Once inside, you have only a few seconds to make an impression and book a repeat appearance at a fitting in a few weeks time before snagging the show. A single show can pay for the whole trip, and more add up to a tidy profit. But nothing is guaranteed and even those who walk one season may not make a single show the next.
In the scarce downtime between castings a model be found chilling in the local cafe, bar or lounging about catlike in the parks of Paris. Afterwards, models deal with the exhaustion in one of two ways: sleep it off or party it off! Whether you choose a bed or beer, the next day comes quickly with the promise of repeating the whole process over again.
After a week, London is up next and we depart on the Eurostar (below). It’s sad to say “au revoir” to Paris but we will all be back soon to walk both those elusive shows and those breathtaking streets!
I won’t know what shows I book until I get back in a few weeks – its usually very late notice!….Some of the shows I’ve done in the past include :Louis Vuitton (opened, exclusive), Dries Van Noten (closed), Fendi, Margaret Howell, Daks, Pringle of Scotland, Salvatore Ferragamo, Z zegna, Ports 1961 and Kenzo.
Stay tuned for the next entry from James, and be sure to follow him on twitter: @JimmyGmodel
See a similar feature here
