8/2/06

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Charlie Scheerer

Local boy makes good by baring it (almost) all!

This summer, one of the country's main beefcakes is going to be homegrown.

Palm Beach product Charlie Scheerer, 21, son of the owner of the historic Testa's diner on Royal Poinciana Way, has recently been named the male face of teeny-bopper clothier Abercrombie & Fitch. For the next three months Scheerer's face, and abs, are going to adorn all Abercrombie promotional material, including giant pictures in the chain's 348 U.S. stores, catalog, Web site and even shopping bags.Funny thing about the graduate of Palm Beach Day School and Cardinal Newman High: a few weeks ago, Scheerer was just another anonymous finance major at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Suddenly, he found himself on the beach in Fort Lauderdale - with famed lensman Bruce Weber snapping away.

"Everything went pretty quickly," Scheerer said. "I'm just interested in investment banking. But a friend of mine took some Polaroid shots and next thing I know I'm a model. Whatever."

The friend is Nick Tamposi, a schoolmate of Scheerer's at Newman who set up a local modeling agency, P Models Management. For the past two years, Tamposi has been mining wealthy Palm Beach families for potential fashion models. Scheerer may be his biggest find yet.

"Charlie didn't even have a portfolio," Tamposi said. "They took him from just looking at the Polaroids."

Scheerer will also appear in a Ralph Lauren ad in the fancy tennis program at Wimbledon, as well as a spread in the Italian edition of Vogue - both shot in Palm Beach.

Tamposi didn't comment on the value of Scheerer's Abercrombie contract, but an industry insider said a male model at the heart of a typical three-month campaign can make up to $50,000.

So what's Scheerer doing with the dough? "I've already invested it," he said.

Source: Palm Beach Post, May 7, 2006

No comments: