7/29/06

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Maxwell Zagorski

NEW YORK CITY -- Maxwell Zagorski smiles as he slips his arm around another pretty blonde in a Fifth Avenue clothing store.

The hunky model from East Manatee is the new face of clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. He poses bare-chested, his shorts pulled dangerously low, with hundreds of fully clothed customers a day.

In between photos at the Manhattan store that thumps like a nightclub and smells of cologne, Zagorski struts around flirting, signing autographs and rubbing his killer abs so seductively you have to stare.

But after work ends, and his shirt goes back on, the Lakewood Ranch High School senior suddenly appears lonely, confused and much younger than 18. He trudges along 57th Street, head down, hands thrust into his pockets.

He's tired and wants to crash in his hotel frequented by glitterati, but he still has to put in an hour or two at the gym.

In his gloomy state, he doesn't even notice two New York cuties who stroll by holding Abercrombie & Fitch shopping bags that bear his likeness in black and white.

"I'm alone. It's business now, not all fun," he says.

Modeling is hard work

The life of a model sounds so glamorous, earning fistfuls of Ben Franklins for creating an image of beauty. They fly to exotic locations, party with celebs.

But go behind the lens, and there is another side, filled with 18-hour days and people telling you what to say and do.

Zagorski raced to the top of this fast and fickle business like an Olympic speedskater. Now, he's figuring out how to survive.

Until last month, he was shooting hoops after school and mugging for yearbook photos at Lakewood Ranch High School. He did small-time modeling work for local department stores, including Bealls and Dillard's.

Then international fashion player Abercrombie & Fitch, which sells beat-up (on purpose) jeans and smart-alecky T-shirts like "I broke up with him," plucked Zagorski from Manatee and named him its new face.

These days Zagorski plays out his life in New York, in a swank hotel with black lights under the beds, in an ultra-popular clothing store near Louis Vuitton and Trump Tower.

The other day, several girls recognized him on the street.

"It's funny. Totally crazy," he says.

From Manatee to Hawaii

He was born in New Port Richey and came to Sarasota when he was 12. Three years later, his family moved to East Manatee, where Zagorski attended Lakewood Ranch High and played on the basketball team.

Last year, a modeling agency in Tampa set him up with a photographer in Miami. The photos were sent to Abercrombie & Fitch.

A week later, his phone rang.

"Want to go to Hawaii?" Abercrombie & Fitch asked.

He did, and his meteoric rise since then is almost unheard of in the modeling world, says the company's Tom Goulet.

"He just had it. He's just so natural; you just fall for him automatically," Goulet says.

"And, if I have to say so, I guess his six-pack helped."

Today, photos of Zagorski appear on shopping bags, catalogs and the Internet. Larger than life posters hang in the entrance of 500 Abercrombie & Fitch stores across the U.S.

"Seeing my photo everywhere was, like, crazy. Like that's me," says Zagorski, who has been photographed by famous fashion photographer Bruce Weber.

Nowhere is he more visible than at the New York store, where $198 jeans are displayed in glass cases like works of art at a museum.

Five days a week, Zagorski greets customers, who can take home a free photo of the encounter in a gray cardboard frame.

Girls in winter coats and scarfs scream and jump when they see the half-naked hottie.

Like, ohmygod, it's him!

Even grannies sidle up and flirt like crazy.

He's got "it"

Some people just sparkle in front of the camera.

That's Zagorski.

He's got this wholesome look, like the boy-next-door -- only hotter. His hazel eyes convey a youthful innocence. Teens want to be friends with this guy, or more.

And oh, that body, chiseled to perfection as if by an artist. There's not an extra ounce on his lean frame.

Girls across the globe are eager to take him home, in one way or another. Last month a 9-foot by 4-foot poster of him -- shirtless, of course -- went for $39.99 on eBay.

But face-to-face, he looks pretty ordinary.

In fact, on the hectic streets of New York, he blends in with all the other boys with hair spiked just so and ripped jeans. He even has a few facial blemishes.

His new life is filled with agents, businessmen, managers. At times, he acts like one of the grown-ups.

He shows discipline in his commitment to tanning and working out at a New York sports club for at least an hour most days. He washes his clothes at a midtown Manhattan laundry. He stays away from fried foods because he knows they're bad for his figure.

Then his kid side shines.

This month, as the temperature dipped to 35 degrees, and a blizzard hurtled toward the city, he strolled into a Starbucks -- wearing flip-flops. "Couldn't find socks," he said sheepishly.

For sure, Zagorski is a finicky teen, complete with mood swings and looking all ill-at-ease discussing his feelings.

One moment Zagorski, who calls his parents every day, opens up and talks about how he misses Florida and how, like never before, people want to hang with him because of what he does, not who he is.

He thinks some friends are jealous of the attention he's receiving.

The next moment, he clams up. He starts answering questions with one-syllable words before disappearing down subway stairs to take care of "something that suddenly came up."

He later ditches an appointment. It was like an invisible shield went up and there was no reaching him.

"He's trying to be model, manager, everything up there," says his dad, Paul Zagorski. "He's a little overwhelmed with the whole thing."

Despite it all, he wants more.

He talks of moving to New York, or maybe Los Angeles, after his Abercrombie & Fitch contract runs out in March. He might model. Or maybe he'll act.

For now, he plans to fly back to East Manatee to walk with his class at graduation (he's taking online courses now).

He says he's not yet famous.

"But I'm getting there," he says.

7/14/06

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model Sought for Interview

Campus Men is seeking to interview any Abercrombie & Fitch male model who has posed for A&F's "New Faces" publication.

We will publish this interview on our newsletter located here:

http://abercrombiemodels.blogspot.com

We are increasing our readership each day. Offering interviews with actual Abercrombie & Fitch male models helps us build readership.

We will arrange for our 50 year old seasoned female reporter to phone you and ask questions about your photo shoot - from start to finish, how was clothing handled, how many production staff and models were present, how did you land the modeling gig? What was your call time? What has occured in your modeling career since appearing. No personal information. Just simple questions like these!

What we have to offer Abercrombie & Fitch male models:

1) We offer free publicity to you. We can direct anyone to your agency who wants to book you or promote any sideline business (such as fitness training) you may have.

2) If you do not already have a promotional website, we can help you set up website free of charge. Http://www.Yourname.com (Please note: We do not sell websites. We want an interview with you only and are willing to offer you this to secure interviews with Abercrombie & Fitch male models.) Your promotional website would include a mailing list capability your fans can join to learn more about your modeling career, etc.

Any Abercrombie & Fitch male model who is interested should email Campus Men at Staff@CampusMen.com

Please be prepared to verify your identity - through a professional reference or snapshot that is not available anywhere on the web. (This is so we know we are speaking with a legit Abercrombie & Fitch male model.)

7/12/06

Abercrombie & Fitch on Tribe

For those co-workers and former models, consider joining Abercrombie & Fitch's discussion board on Tribe.net They state they are: A group where all the employees & non- emps can unite and network, to talk about the clothes, the models, to find out what song was playing in the store with our playlists, if you hate A&F (though I can't see why, you are welcome to join too but test our patience and you will be kicked out. We welcome your opinions but if you start attacking members you are out.), make new friends or just for total BS.

Baby Oil Enhances Muscles by catching light

Baby Oil Enhances Muscles by catching light


To make male models seem as muscular as possible, we sometimes add baby oil to crevices of abdominal and pectoral muscles to make these parts as defined as possible for the camera.

It is possible to apply too much baby oil. Do not completely cover your body. Only wipe on baby oil in the crevices of your muscles, such as in between and under your pectorals and in the crevices of your abdominals and triceps.

Oil accents muscles you already have. Sunlight or light from a photography flash catches and shines on the baby oil, producing a reflection. Because the baby oil it not present all over your body, the reflection only shows on the crevices and outer lines of your muscles and abs, fooling the camera into seeing more pronounced muscles.

Read More about this by clicking on this article's headline.

7/11/06

Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly Gave Many College Guys their "Big Break"

Many college student got their "Big Breaks" modeling for the Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly

Abercrombie modeling - as it was done in the world-famous Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly, required a natural, youthful look.
The photographer, Bruce Weber, chose many athletic college guys who had never male modeled before.

Inexperienced college guys who had athletic bodies had a good chance to be selected for Abercrombie modeling because the photographer prefered athletes versus professional male models.

To read more, click on this article's headline.

7/10/06

Becoming an Abercrombie and Fitch Male Model means Being Cloned!

The interesting aspect of most Abercrombie and Fitch male models is that they are everyday All-American college guys: Guys you might see on any campus. And as such, these everyday college guys have college friends. And they have Myspace Profiles - just like every other college student. Trouble is, they get cloned!

Meaning, a "lurker" who can locate readily available photos of an Abercrombie male model, can also create a myspace profile and claim to have appeared in A&F advertisements - even though they have never set foot in a gym! A myspace profile seeks to bust these people out as "fakers". So, check out Myspace Fakers List before you start asking any Abercrombie guys on myspace any tips on how to break in the biz. Otherwise, you might just be talking to a 57 year old balding insurance agent who lives in Detroit.