Abercrombie & Fitch Male Models

Hot Guys Blogs

2009-10-25T14:15:00.001-07:00

If you want to see who are the hot guys on the Internet, the best source is to check out one of the many bloggers who highlight hot guys. Many of these bloggers make it their duty to inform the world about "who" is hot or attractive. They seem to have their finger on the pulse of all the hotness out there.

Some bloggers simply post photos they find and do not give their readers the names of the guy in the photo. We think that is lazy. The best bloggers include the name of the guy, source of the photo and add a bit of commentary of why they think the guy is hot.

We wonder who is behind all these blogs? Are they bored office workers who want to tell the world about the male pulchritude they find (while the boss is not looking)? ...or are they retired workers - looking for a pastime? Do any blog full time and make their living at writing about hotties?

Check out this list of "hot guy blogs". Are there any blogs you read on a daily basis that should be included in the list?

How to Get Big Biceps

2009-10-12T18:15:00.001-07:00

Having muscle tone is essential to getting ahead in male modeling. And biceps - one of the two muscle groups in the upper arms - is a muscle that is often seen outside of short-sleeve shirts.

We have compiled a list of advice for guys who are seeking to get big biceps. Included are the basic supplies each guy needs and books and DVDs that can motivate male models to achieve the arms they want. Check out our article on How to Get Big Biceps here.

Make Yourself Famous

2009-09-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

We recently met a talented college student from Ohio State who had a lot of potential to become a male model.

Unfortunately, he stubbornly believed the only way he could become a model was to get a contract from a modeling agency. This route to fame has changed over the years. Now, students can make themselves famous.

There have been many students who missed out on fame because they insisted on relying on some magic person or organization to make them famous. We compiled this article to explain why a student these days can make himself famous and why relying on others to do your work is a mistake.

What do you think - can people become famous on their own? Is it better to do your own work - or to spend your time looking for someone else to "help" you?

Hot Towson University Guy

2009-08-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Corey, a sophomore from Towson University, is currently competing to become a Campus Man. He needs people to "vote" for him on the site to qualify. He has very ripped abs and uploaded a great shirtless photo. Check him out. and give him a vote...

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Gray Smith

2007-03-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

Gray Smith, a 19-year-old freshman at Harvard University, was chosen based for the Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly, among other things, on his high school prom picture. "This is one of those things you don't expect to happen in the real world," says the 6-1 hazel-eyed blond.

The Abercrombie & Fitch clothing catalog - called the A&F Quarterly - is a magazine-style catalog that includes clothing for sale as well as articles on topics such as "cool summer internships." The $6 book is available in Abercrombie stores and via subscription.

In the past, issues have included sex tips from a porn star, cocktail recipes, and game suggestions like Naked Twister. Two female models in the summer 2000 issue are shown in skimpy bikinis and a T-shirt, pulling down the bikini briefs of a male model. Another scene depicts four young women surrounding a man at the beach. His pants are unzipped and pulled down to his thighs, revealing his red underwear.

Such content has sparked parental protests in numerous states, including Massachusetts. As a result, Abercrombie - based in Reynoldsburg, Ohio - began carding catalog buyers in stores nationwide last November, requiring them to prove with a photo ID that they are at least 18 years old.

This kind of restriction has made the retailer only that much more appealing to some teens. According to an April study by Teenage Research Unlimited Inc., a Northbrook, Ill., marketing research firm, Abercrombie is rated the second-"coolest" brand (after Nike) among 12- to 19-year-olds surveyed.

Career cultivation

From a modeling perspective, appearing in such a hot book can only boost one's career, especially when the photographer is Weber. "It's like the ultimate," says Suzy Marden, director of Click Models Boston. "Everyone who sees that catalog all over the nation will see these kids. This is a biggie."

Ironically, Smith, an Atlanta native, could care less about career possibilities or any controversy surrounding the fall A&F, which will be released in July. He's more concerned about declaring a major at Harvard. "I don't see much future in a career as a famous model," he says. "I wouldn't want a career where you're too old at 27. . . . I want to start my own company and move back to Atlanta."

Smith, a self-described poor college student, is modeling only for the pocket change, he says. He's not into fashion, and he never shops. Instead, he waits for his family to give him clothing, such as jeans and Polo shirts, as gifts. Although he likes Abercrombie's style, he says the brand is too expensive for his budget. "I usually wear whatever I can find on the floor that's clean," he says.

Smith fell into modeling as a fluke, after he accompanied a friend to pick up a paycheck at Click and the agency recruited him.

His first job was in March, posing as a delivery man for the Internet shopping service ShopLink.com. He then appeared in a spring clothing catalog for New Hampshire-based retailer Poore Simon's. In April, Click asked him to attend a casting for Abercrombie at the Sheraton Hotel. More than 60 potential models showed up, but he got the slot. Says Smith, who used to work at Abercrombie as a sales clerk in high school, "I never expected this to happen."

Kelly Donovan, a female model, arrived at the Abercrombie shoot two days before Smith. For her first assignment, she was asked - of all things - to play basketball with another woman against four young men. Her outfit? Something really familiar. Gray sweat pants, a yellow T-shirt, and sneakers. "My hair was in a ponytail and I had no makeup on," she recalls.

Later, Donovan participated in a jazz club scene where she danced in a red wool plaid dress. "Bruce made me dance by myself in front of everyone."

On her second day, Donovan met a group of about 15 other models in her Manhattan hotel lobby at 6 a.m. to take a bus to Princeton University in New Jersey. Donovan's role for this campus scene was to "jump a lot. Throw books up in the air, throw basketballs. They brought in three golden retriever puppies and we played with them. It was more acting than posing."

On her third day of work, Donovan met Smith. The two spent more than nine hours waiting at a Harlem nightclub with about 25 other models for their chance to appear in a college party scene. "My role was to just talk, standing up, with a couple of kids. I had a glass of juice in my hand," says Donovan.

Smith says his assignment was to stand behind two young men arm-wrestling at a table, cheering them on. He wore a red T-shirt and blue-and-white Hawaiian-print shorts. In another scene, he stood at a bar drinking soda and tossing popcorn in his mouth. "Once he started taking pictures, I got real comfortable with it," says Smith, who was paid $500 for a day's work.

Smith's second scene was a cocktail party at a jazz club where he sat on a bed surrounded by several women. He says it's "strange" that the company placed a bed in the scene, but he didn't question it. "We were all just talking, drinking fake cocktails. . . . Our conversation was `Where are you from? What do you do?' It was kind of surreal."

At home, discomfort

Donovan's and Smith's mothers weren't thrilled about their children appearing in the catalog. Says Donna Smith, who owns an art store in an Atanta suburb, "We were stockholders" in Abercrombie & Fitch. "We sold the stock when we saw the catalog a couple of years ago. We haven't stepped foot in the store since. . . . It bothers me that they promote underage drinking and, in the current climate of AIDS, promiscuity."

Says Nancy Donovan, a social worker in Falmouth, "I think the catalog is very sexualized. I said to Kell, `Your grandfather will be looking at this. You need to realize that what you do impacts your family.' "

Both parents stress that they trust their children and give them freedom to do what they want. Gray is "completely an adult," says Donna. "We don't tell him what to do at this point." Says Nancy, "We've warned [Kelly]. You hope that what you've been teaching her has taken hold."

For his part, Gray is preparing to return to Atlanta during Harvard's summer break, and plans to work for the local Click office. "It's easy money," he says. Still, come September, Gray promises he'll be back at Harvard. "I'd probably like being a famous model for a week or a month. But I don't want that life. I want to start my own business in school, some sort of Internet consumer service."

Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly

2007-03-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

There's one company that knows precisely how — and where — to goose the nation's teens.

Not the Gap. Not Nintendo. Not even Tommy Hilfiger. It's Abercrombie &
Fitch. So, watch it, because this is the season when that ultra-cool retailer and cataloger of outdoorsy apparel typically likes to do its most over-the-top goosing.

A&F's sexually suggestive catalog hits stores this week. How suggestive? Well, it comes shrink-wrapped in plastic. And you have to prove that you're 18 years old to buy it.

While the photos in the newest issue might be a tad tame by A&F standards, this holiday catalog still is destined to cause commotion. It features a lesbian wedding, a naked male mounting an outdoor fountain and, oh yes, an interview with Brady Bunch mom Florence Henderson commenting on penis size.

Teens love it. Parents hate it. Some lawmakers have even tried to ban it.

And it is more important than ever for A&F to stir the pot. At a time when the retailer's cachet may have peaked and sales growth is slowing, Abercrombie is clawing to stay on top as King of Cool.

What's behind all the buzz? USA TODAY was given the first-ever
behind-the-scenes look at the making and marketing of what is arguably the most provocative of retail catalogs.

Until now, the secretive company, which evolved from a decades-old stodgy maker of travel gear into an edgy seller of teen apparel, has never publicly discussed the planning process behind its quarterlies. Instead, it has quietly gathered cult-like status.

So, what gives? Is this holiday issue of the A&F quarterly tamer by design? "It probably will be regarded as less controversial than last Christmas," CEO Michael Jeffries says. "But that wasn't purposeful. I didn't give anyone direction to tone it down."

Previous catalogs raised eyebrows. Last year's holiday book featured an interview with a female porn star and photos of male and female models naked on horseback. The fall issue showed a naked male lap dancer on a female customer's lap. And one past issue featured binge-drinking recipes that raised the wrath of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. (Jeffries admits, "I made a big mistake on that one.)

So provocative is the brand, conservative Bob Jones University banned A&F clothing on campus. Some students are hiding A&F logos by sticking bandages over baseball caps or electrical tape on jackets.

Any teenager with a credit card knows exactly what the expression "That's so Abercrombie" means: stylish, edgy and expensive.

An A&F canvas jacket will set you back $139. And one pair of its men's boxer shorts fetches $18.50 — about the price of a Jockey three-pack.

But is "edginess," as embodied by the catalog, the main ingredient in A&F's success?

"I don't think it stimulates business to be controversial," Jeffries insists. "It's unpleasant to be attacked and vilified when all you're doing is creating a magazine that respects its readers."

For all the hoopla it receives, the quarterly catalog itself basically breaks even, he says. About 200,000 are sold, at $6 a pop. Catalog sales account for less than 5% of the company's overall apparel sales, which topped $1 billion last year. The purpose of the quarterly catalog is simple, says Jeffries: "To help communicate the image of the brand."

He says that image is about college kids having fun. Critics contend it appears more to be about pre-college kids occasionally doing kinky stuff. In either case, it's a long way from its roots as the retailer that for decades sold travel gear to the high-society crowd.

Not that everyone is pleased with the change in direction. Jim Secreto may own a pair or two of Abercrombie boxer shorts, but he says those were gifts and swears he doesn't buy the brand. "They're a good thing gone bad," says the twentysomething government worker from Woodstock, N.Y.

But these days, it's hard to find a teen closet or dresser without an A&F shirt, sweater or sweatshirt stuffed somewhere inside.

Naomi Jodre, an 18-year-old photography major at New York University,
doesn't hesitate to brag that she owns at least 15 Abercrombie sweaters worth upward of $1,000. "It doesn't matter to me what kind of photos they put in their catalogs," she says. "I like the clothes."

The appeal goes beyond teens. Despite dozens of requests, A&F refuses to supply free clothing to celebrities. Yet everyone from Tom Cruise to Brad Pitt to Jennifer Lopez wears the brand. And the brand has already been enshrined into the world of rap. Lyte Funkie Ones recorded a No. 1 hit with this lyric: "When I met you I said my name was Rich;/You look like a girl from Abercrombie & Fitch."

With coolness, however, comes controversy.

After last year's sexually explicit holiday catalog came out, the attorney general for the state of Michigan succeeded in prodding A&F to stop peddling it to youths under 18. She's got her eye on them this year, too. "They are marketing a lifestyle that screams to children: Promiscuity is cool," Jennifer Granholm says. "Believe me, we'll be monitoring how they distribute their catalogs."

Stock problems, slow sales

That may be the least of A&F's problems. Its stock is down about 19% for the year. Same-store sales growth has slowed dramatically. Its wild popularity with teens and college students has begun to ebb. ("They're so 1980s," says teen marketing guru Marian Salzman.) And the brand is trying to be all things to all generations of youth.

The 20,000 or so college kids who work in its stores often look more like customers than employees. That's the way A&F wants it. And the music in A&F shops is intentionally played just loud enough to keep out the grown-ups. Now, in a bid to extend the brand, the company has begun to test new retail stores under the name Hollister, aimed at high school teens. It also is targeting kids as young as seven with its Abercrombie stores.

Has A&F lost a step?

Worse than that, Salzman says, it's losing its cool. "It's overdone. The current trend among teens is sensual, not sexual."

Not so, says Michael Wood, vice president of Teenage Research Unlimited. "This age group is hormonally driven. And more than anyone else, A&F is the teen lifestyle manual."

At first blush, the 280-page Christmas book being distributed nationwide this week looks, well, tame. The cover shows a handful of siblings about to decorate their New England home for Christmas.

The paper on which the magazine is printed is among the finest available. The photos are shot by one of the world's top fashion photographers. And the images — the majority of which are not blatantly sexual — show college kids at their frolicking best.

"Abercrombie & Fitch is today's Norman Rockwell," says a smirking Sam Shahid, the New York-based agency chief and creative mastermind behind the quarterly magazines.

What's this 57-year-old doing setting the coolness agenda for the nation's youth?

In two words: loving it.

Each catalog, Shahid says, is quite simply, a collection of photos that show how much college kids love to play. "The world of Abercrombie," he says, "is very physical."

Right. Like the guy in the latest catalog who has a Christmas card sticking out of his briefs. And the two-page spread of the nearly naked guy smirking in bed while his knockout wife (she's wearing a ring) pokes his groin with a ski pole. "Redefining the use of ski equipment," says the caption to the photo.

Provocative pictures aside, this Christmas issue also has a controversial story that weaves through it: "A Very Emerson Christmas." It's about four brothers and a sister who return home at Christmas for a double wedding for one brother and one sister. Never mind that the sister is marrying a woman.

Working spontaneously

Sound a bit over-the-top?

Well, one day spent at the company's Manhattan ad agency with its key creative staff makes one thing crystal clear: Much of this book is done on the fly.

Oh, sure, there are planning sessions. And heated discussions. And costly photo shoots. But, in the end, a good chunk of this catalog is the result of whimsy. And last-minute decision-making.

Case in point: There's the humorous invitation to the lesbian wedding in the newest edition. (The response card offers the option: "No, I'm liberal but not that liberal.") But that wasn't some stroke of creative genius at A&F. Far from it. The invitation duplicates a real one received by an A&F staffer shortly before the magazine went to print.

And the San Francisco-based freelance writer who penned the offbeat storyline was an 11th-hour choice who had only one week to write it.

This is not to say there's not detailed planning. Discussion about the December catalog began in early July. The entire catalog was shot over six days in late July and early August, in Hamilton, Mass., about 40 miles west of Boston.

A&F is big on scouting out things.

The 35 college students featured in the holiday issue didn't get there by accident. A&F has talent scouts at schools nationwide. They're at Yale and Princeton. And at UCLA and the University of California at Berkley. But they don't just hit campuses. In search of new faces, A&F sends scouts to Xtreme Games, polo matches and in-line skating competitions.

To keep each issue fresh, the same model is never used in more than one issue. And some who were initially photographed for the most recent issue didn't make the final cut. Even when they look perfect, "You get some in front of the camera, and they act like robots," Shahid says.

Back in late July, the student models were gathered in tiny Hamilton. All were sworn to secrecy. None were even allowed to bring their own cameras.

"If the competition finds out," Shahid explains, "they go there and film, too."

All the students are individually introduced to Bruce Weber, the world-class fashion photographer who has helped to reinvent A&F with his often-provocative work.

"We're not trying to shock anybody," Weber says. "We're basically saying: Open your eyes and have some patience with each other."

Before the shoots begin, the students all are worked over by hair stylists and make-up artists. "You'd be surprised how many of them don't look like what we groom them to be," Shahid says.

Typically, the crew does two or three shoots a day. "It's a lot like making a movie," Shahid says. But there are no scripts. Although the students are put into a setting — like a Christmas-tree-decked living room inside a New England home — it's generally up to them what they do there.

The shoots typically stretch from about 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. Then, they do it again the next day.

Before the lesbian wedding scene was shot, only the two models who played the brides were told in advance that they would marry, and kiss. When they kissed, Shahid says, applause broke out.

"Until then, everyone was wondering, why are there so many brides at this wedding?" Shahid says.

Passionate catalog editor

The actual editing of the new catalog didn't begin until mid-August. The editor is a 27-year-old who less than five years ago was an agency assistant hired out of college to basically fetch coffee and file documents.

But now, Savas Abadsidis edits the quarterly magazine. He's passionate about it, too. "College years are the time of your life. It's a coming of age. It's about rebellion and about fighting the system," he says. "Our book isn't just about sex. You have to look at it as a whole book. It's intelligent. And it's honest."

But in today's culture, honesty is a matter of semantics.

Do college kids really look like this? Gorgeous women without an ounce of body fat? Pretty men without a hair on their waxed and bulging chests? Aspirational perhaps, but not your typical college crowd.

Yet the stuff the kids are doing in many of the photos is mostly for real. The guy and gal wrestling half-naked in the grass. The kiss under the mistletoe where the sneaky guy has one hand down the gal's pants. And that shirtless romp under the Christmas tree. This is as hormonally real as it gets.

Better perhaps than anyone else, A&F knows hormones.

When 55-year-old CEO Jeffries needs inter-generational advice, he doesn't consult his marketing director. Or call his brand manager. He simply phones or e-mails his 20-year old son, Andrew, who is still trying to decide his major at Claremont McKenna College, a small liberal arts school about 20 miles east of Los Angeles. That's where Jeffries went to college, too.

"We're raising a great generation of kids," Jeffries says. "The trick is not to treat them as children, but as intelligent, caring people."

"And to make them laugh," he adds.

All the way to the ATM.

USA Today, November 8, 2000

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Tyler Scevers

2007-03-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

Tyler Scevers has got "the look."

Since entering the modeling industry two years ago, the Roseburg teenager flew to Hawaii to model the spring line for Abercrombie & Fitch. He appeared in GQ magazine, and he's now leaving for Miami -- where he will be in a photo shoot with supermodel Kate Moss for the French edition of Vogue.

What can only be described as a whirlwind experience has opened doors Scevers never knew were there. Now, the 16-year-old is embracing his new career and is ready to tackle new challenges -- be it attending fashion shows in Paris or trying his hand at acting.

"I'm always told I'm too young, and that can be frustrating," Scevers said about receiving rejections. "That just tells me I'll be there someday."

GOING WITH THE FLOW

Scevers didn't set out to be a model. But through encouragement from his friends and family, who touted modeling's earning potential, Scevers agreed to give it a shot. He had a friend who worked with Image & Modeling Development in Medford, so he and his parents decided to check out that place first.

His agent, Teresa Pollman of IMD, said she looked at Scevers and immediately knew he had something special. Scevers, she said, is destined to go big.

"He was very shy when he came to us," she said. "He is one of those people who would never say they want to be a model. It took a little bit of convincing."

After an in-depth discussion with his parents, Joe and Pam Scevers of Roseburg, Scevers signed with IMD and embarked on a new and unfamiliar journey.

His first big step was winning a scholarship from his agency to attend the International Models & Talent Association's competition in New York City last summer. At the Hilton hotel, Scevers was one of 20,000 aspiring models who strode the runway and auditioned for commercials -- all in the hopes of being discovered.

"It was insane," Scevers said about the weeklong experience. "I was pretty nervous, but more excited. It was the first time I got up onstage. My heart was beating pretty fast."

For the competition, Scevers auditioned for two commercials -- for Schick Quattro razors and Hostess Cakes. He also modeled jeans and swimwear, an act he describes as being different between men and women.

"It's a lot harder for girls," said Scevers, who is also studying for his GED at Phoenix School in Roseburg. "The guys just sit there and look cool, I guess."

Men, he said, have to match their stride to the beat of the music. They must look cool and collected, and they can't smile -- as that would detract attention from the clothes. Women must abide by these same rules, but they also have to worry about holding their shoulders back and kicking their legs forward to effectively "trot" down the runway.

Although he didn't land any commercials, Scevers did obtain a New York agent -- Major Model Management. Through prompting from this agent, he recently returned to New York for a three-month stay. He lived in a house with 10 roommates, and he was on his own to maneuver New York's subway system and meet people in the industry.

The time spent in New York, Scevers said, was devoted to work. He attended an average of four casting calls a day, an activity that entailed a brief interview and showing potential employers his book of photos. It was a simple process, and he learned how it worked rather quickly.

His parents, meanwhile, stayed behind while their son tried to make a name for himself. Scevers' father, Joe, works for Roseburg Forest Products, and his mother, Pam, is a waitress at Casey's Restaurant in Roseburg. Scevers also has an older brother who lives in Portland.

Both Pam and Joe admit to having serious reservations about their son's adventure, but they agreed it was something he needed to experience.

"It was kind of nerve-wracking," Joe said. "You have your kid at 16 in New York City. Most parents wouldn't let their kids do that. ... I had a lot of faith in him. It's scary. You just have to trust in God and let him go."

Pam agrees. When IMD signed him, she knew their lives would drastically change. She did not like the idea of Scevers riding the subway at night or wandering the streets alone. But he has proven himself to be a responsible and mature individual, and she knew this was something he needed to try.

"Everything I didn't want, he ended up doing," she said about his exploration of New York City. "He really took it in and became a man. He's handled it really well."

BIG TIME

In New York, Scevers said he learned a lot of the basics -- how to do his own laundry, how to organize his time, how to budget money. He even went so far as to set a $1 limit for hot dogs, and he went to numerous stands until he found ones where the price was right.

A bit intimidated at first, Scevers soon adjusted to big city life and succeeded in landing jobs. Later this spring, his image will be seen in advertisements for United Colors of Benetton, and it will appear in such magazines as British GQ, Vogue and L'uomo Vogue.

Each shoot, Scevers said, has a memory. He rode in a BMW and hung out with a bunch of girls in swimwear for one spread, and for another, he wore three pairs of shoes around his neck.

Scevers said he's learned to take direction, and he tries to improvise as well -- trusting his intuition in what will make an appealing photo.

"The hardest part is probably getting in the (right) frame of mind," Scevers said. "It's like acting."

Because Scevers is new in the business, he makes anywhere from $150 an hour to $1,000 a day. The price is dictated on who wants the photo and how the photo will be used. If he were an exclusive model for a campaign, for example, he could net as much as $100,000.

Scevers is not at that level yet, but he'd like to be. To that end, he's working on getting his name out there. If people want to hire him, great. If not, that's fine too. That's the nature of the business.

"I just try to be myself," Scevers said. "You can't give anything except yourself. ... You never know what they are looking for. If you fit it, you fit it."

Scevers' childhood friend, Melanie McManus, has no doubt that Scevers will succeed at his goals. In fact, she takes credit for "discovering" him in middle school.

"In the seventh grade, I saw a picture of him and knew he would be a model," the 17-year-old Roseburg High School junior said. "When he told me about Medford, I knew he would go somewhere. ... He just has that unique look to him, and he has really captivating eyes. His eyes are really stunning."

Describing Scevers as the next Calvin Klein model, McManus said modeling has transformed Scevers into a more outgoing and confident person.

"Before, he used to be really shy, and he stuck to himself," she said. "(Modeling) has made him a lot more confident. ... He doesn't let this get to his head. He's still really down to earth."

His parents agree that they've seen changes in their son. Not only is he much more patient and responsible, he's grown in maturity. Still, they added, he's a "normal" teenager who hangs out with his friends, goes fishing with his dad and plays the guitar.

They don't believe Scevers is giving up anything by pursuing his career at such a young age, and Scevers doesn't either.

"My parents raised me to be pretty humble," Scevers said, adding that he's glad he can jump-start his career at such a young age. "I'm kind of tired of this place. I like traveling a lot."

Proud of all their son has accomplished, Joe and Pam said they know Scevers will stay true to himself as his career blossoms.

"When he's (modeling) he seems more alive," Pam said. "It gives him a lot more of a purpose. ... There is something about him. I don't know what it is, but everybody likes it. I have no doubt he'll make it."

Scevers, who returned from New York before Christmas, is now juggling his time between modeling assignments and studying for the GED exam. He later wants to take drama and speech classes at Umpqua Community College. He also hopes to branch out into acting in the next five years.

Modeling, Scevers learned, is not what he expected it to be. Luckily, he took the time -- and the chance -- to discover how it could enrich his life.

"I thought it was girly, that it was for people who were full of themselves," Scevers said about his initial thoughts of the modeling industry. "Now I know differently. You get to travel and meet people all over the world. It's crazy." ----

SCEVERS profile
WHO: Tyler Scevers, a 16-year-old Roseburg resident. He’s being represented by IMD Modeling in Medford and Major Model Management in New York City.

WHAT: Scevers has modeled for numerous publications, including V magazine, British GQ, L’uomo Vogue and GQ. He also modeled for United Colors of Benetton and Abercrombie and Fitch. Most of his ads will appear this spring, although a spread featuring Scevers was recently released in GQ.

GOALS: Scevers wants to earn his GED later this year. He also hopes to branch out to acting within the next five years.

QUOTE: “The shape is most important,” Scevers said about what potential employers want. “I try to eat well and swim and run for tone, nothing too big.”

Abercrombie & Fitch Photo Shoot at UC Berkeley

2007-03-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

UC Berkeley students got a sneak preview of Abercrombie and Fitch's fall 2001 catalog when models and photographers visited campus this week. For the past week, Berkeley has served as a backdrop for the clothing company's popular quarterly catalog, a publication with over 350,000 subscribers across the nation.

The models made their statement in suit jackets with multiple layers of button-up shirts and wool sweaters over each other. Bundled up in several layers of chunky turtlenecks, one model commented that she fit right in with the layered look of UC Berkeley students.

"We wanted to go to the West Coast and Berkeley felt like it just fit," says Sam Shahid, creative advertising director for the company. "This was more what we wanted than Stanford, which didn't have the architectural feel that we were going for. The atmosphere here is just great and it's about the emotion that you get from the place."

Shahid, who has used campuses like Princeton University and the University of Virginia in previous issues of the catalog, says UC Berkeley's unique history rooted in the Free Speech Movement captivates the "aggressive" essence of this season's quarterly.

"Berkeley helped to find a voice for youth and that is what Abercrombie and Fitch does today," Shahid explains. "It's about feeling good and having a good time and having a statement to make."

While the female models wore somewhat conventional clothing, most of the male models sported more risque ensembles. One wore loafers, argyle socks, shorts and a trench coat while others posed in cut-off T-shirts emblazoned with words like "tease" and "easy." For the models, the shoot is a bonding experience.

"At the end of a shoot everyone is crying and exchanging phone numbers," Shahid says. "I look at them and say 'Oh my God, this is so great,' because they get so close-it's like summer camp."

To the delight of a gathering crowd, male models in boxer briefs paddled each other on the front lawn of Theta Delta Chi, a fraternity house on Durant Avenue.

Aside from the social fraternity portrait, catalog photographers also captured the campus side of college life.

Photographer Bruce Weber used Doe Library as the backdrop for a mock poetry reading and took pictures of models horsing around in Memorial Stadium and the locker room. Models also posed in a picnic on College Avenue.

Company policy, however, forbids the catalog makers from showcasing campus landmarks like the Campanile and Sather Gate in the catalogue.

Although no UC Berkeley students were in the modeling cast, photographers invited members of the Cal band, Cal dance team and the rugby team to the shoots. For several of the rugby players who posed with the cast, the shoot was not as much about glamour as it was just having a good time.

"It was funny because these people are so pretty and us rugby guys are nothing special," admits Elliot Geidt, a UC Berkeley rugby player. "A lot of these guys are 'pro-models' and real uptight, but we just jerked around and had fun with it."

Geidt laughingly says how, after the first day of shooting, the rugby players were eagerly anticipating the catered lunch that they had been promised for posing in the shoot. What they got, however, was not what they had expected.

"We walked in there, and there were like seven different types of salad and carrots and stuff," Geidt says. "I mean, we're a bunch of rugby players-are you kidding me? So we had to sneak out to a vending machine and get food. I don't know about those models." Although Abercrombie ads capture an all-American athletic "look," Shahid says that the clothes create the look more than the people wearing them.

"We are not partial to one particular type of person," Shahid explains. "The clothes dictate the look a lot more than people think. A woman can wear Prada or Banana Republic and look completely different in each."

Although Shahid cannot disclose the details of what the new catalogue has in store, he hints that it will contain some nudity and Berkeley locals.

He also contemplated approaching students on the street about appearing in the catalog.

"We saw two gorgeous guys and a girl today and were about to go up to them," he says. "I also saw some really great-looking guys at the gym."

Shahid says he receives nearly 400 letters a month from individuals looking to model for the lucrative catalog. Hopefuls enclose Polaroids and recommendations from boyfriends, girlfriends and family members advocating their modeling potential.

Casting directors make their selections after looking through these pictures-as Shahid's policy is to use a new cast for every shoot.

As the crew left Berkeley yesterday, Shahid says the college town has definitely lived up to its name.

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: John Haritan

2007-03-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

Standing proud in his blue and gold uniform, glaring down toward his opponents, who have no idea what they are in for, defensive back John Haritan is not only in the spotlight on the football field, but he also shines in the glare of a camera.

The Golden Panther safety not only picked up over 20 tackles in the first game of the season proving how tough he is, but the defensive back is also a star model.

Standing at six feet, 200 pounds, Haritan leaves football practice thinking about not only his possible career as an athlete, but maybe his modeling career.

"I never really thought about modeling, but I have a ton of fun doing it," said Haritan who led FIU in tackles in both 2002 and 2003.

Sporting number 31, Haritan works hard on both the football field, while awaiting another potential season of modeling. After appearing in last year's national advertising campaign for Abercrombie and Fitch, Haritan has now realized there may be more modeling in his near future due to his prior success.

Despite a busy schedule balancing football practice and school, Haritan explained how he doesn't participate in any modeling until football season is over.

"During season, I don't do any modeling," Haritan said. "Football and school come first."

Born and raised in Casselberry, FL, which is just north of Orlando, Haritan was involved in modeling in high school, along with being named The Orlando Sentinel's Seminole County Defensive Player of the year in 2000.

"In high school I modeled a little, but then it got bigger in college," said Haritan who has also been featured on Ocean Drive Magazine.

As a freshman at FIU, John adapted very quickly on the field; he was named the First Team All-Independent after leading his team with 86 tackles. While Haritan was very active with the football team, he also met an agent who recruited him to model in Miami, while still attending FIU. Behind the camera, being shy is not a trait of Haritan.

"When it comes to the camera I'm not shy at all," Haritan said.

Growing up wanting to be a model was far from Haritan's mind as a child; he always thought he would spend his time as an athlete.

"Since I was ten, I always thought I'd play football," Haritan said.

Coming to Miami to fulfill his dreams of football and playing for the Golden Panthers, has been a dream for Haritan.

"It's awesome down here and it's a beautiful campus," Haritan said.

Now entering his junior year at FIU, the Criminal Justice major is still excited at the thought of picking up his modeling career, after another successful season of football and moreover the opportunity to play Division I-A football.

"I want to try and help the team a lot this season," Haritan said.

Whether he is flirting with the camera beneath the flashes of a camera, or getting down and dirty on the football field, Haritan is sure about one thing: he will be successful at what he does, no matter what it is.

Nothing less can be expected from a player who compiled a 39-1 record in high school as a wrestler.

"It's all in the works right now," said Haritan who hopes he can standout in both modeling and the football field.

Source: The Beacon, 10/4/04

Abercrombie & Fitch Photo Shoot

2007-03-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

Like the Abercrombie and Fitch Web site will tell you, its quarterly magazine is “more than just a catalog.” The site goes on to say that the “magalogue,” as it’s called by the A&F staff who put it together, is “irreverent, unbiased and sexy.”

All those words could describe the Abercrombie & Fitch photo shoot that visited campus last Thursday (except maybe “unbiased”). The production brought with it four caterers, two seamstresses, four hair stylists, about two dozen Budget rental cars, roughly 30 models and one very famous fashion photographer (Bruce Weber, who according to one Web site is probably responsible for mainstreaming the homoerotic image in advertising). For at least one day, Swarthmore’s sexiness quotient was considerably elevated.

After all, it’s not every day that glancing outside a Sharples window during lunch can produce the following scene: four seriously beautiful people, three guys and one girl, all bopping around to the Beatles’ “Come Together,” while a short, stocky man in a black sweater, beret and pink scarf snaps photo after photo. Said man is surrounded by assistants who do all the work for him. When one of his several cameras is out of film, they remove it and place in his waiting hands another newly loaded camera, ready to shoot.

The three male models, of course, have their pants pulled down around their ankles, with chef’s hats on their heads, showing off A&F boxer-briefs. If you listen closely, you can hear them chatting, trying to impress the girl:

“I’m the naked chef!”

So why Swarthmore? Ask Sam Shahid, the shoot’s artistic director: “It gave the look we wanted,” he said. “This one just had the look we wanted, sort of that Ivy league look.”

Or Damon Reynolds, a “magalogue” editor who lives near Swarthmore: “A lot of people referred it,” he said. “Swarthmore was on everyone’s lips as far as a place to go.”

Also, according to Shahid, the “magalogue” editors wanted to capture the feeling of, “Kids in school, learning to be chefs, stuff like that.” The “kids” picked to portray those students are not your average fashion models. In fact, A&F says it usually will only hire “found” models. According to Shahid, they can come from anywhere. “A lot of them are found in colleges, beaches,” he said.

Though these kids are unusually beautiful, they seem to see themselves as very much like the students here at Swarthmore. Self-described as ages 18 to 22, most are in college: at UC Santa Barbara, or Santa Monica College. Though many were natives of California, others were from homes as diverse as Green Bay, Wis., Rochester, N.Y., Maui and the former Czechoslovakia. Each came to the modeling business (and the A&F shoot) through different avenues: auditions in Los Angeles, getting picked off the beach, through agents. One had been an employee in an Abercrombie store.

Ryan Toner, from Los Angeles, said it was strange “to be gawked at, because we’re just like you. I’ll bet there are plenty of people on this campus who could be doing this job.”

All of the models were very excited to be on the A&F shoot. “Working with Bruce Weber is amazing. You get jobs just from working with him,” Holly Lynch of Venice Beach, Calif., said. Toner agreed. “Abercrombie gives you so much exposure,” he said.

So could the same be said of Swat? Will an appearance in the much-anticipated, much-read (or at least skimmed) back-to-school issue give us exposure? And is that a good thing?

Tom Krattenmaker, director of the Office of News and Information, seemed to think so. “P.R. is never a precise science, so it’s hard to tell exactly what an institution gets out of this,” he said. “But I can tell what I think we get, and that’s visibility.” Krattenmaker said that not only the fashion world but also the worldin general would give Swarthmore more attention after its Abercrombie appearance. “Many young people, some of whom may be prospective students, could read the catalogue and become aware of Swarthmore,” he said.

And though Abercrombie sought out the college, Krattenmaker said accepting the shoot was part of the college’s ongoing mission to become “better known, better appreciated. And if that’s your premise, then you want to cooperate with people to make that happen.”

Source: Swathmore Phoenix April 11, 2002

Abercrombie & Fitch Photo Shoots

2007-03-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, the campus teemed with suppressed excitement as a horde of
50 Abercrombie and Fitch models descended upon Swarthmore for the store's
upcoming back-to-school catalogue, due out in the fall.

The clothing brand, famed for its preppy style, had looked at various other
college campuses within the Philadelphia area, such as Bryn Mawr, Arcadia,
U-Penn and Villanova, but eventually chose Swarthmore for their photo shoot.

Explained Mr. Damen Reynolds, who works with the production crew: "When we
were asked to look for a college campus, I asked the people living around
here and all of them mentioned Swarthmore. It's a beautiful campus!"

The crew, who arrived early Thursday morning and worked until sundown, took
photographs in areas all over campus, such as the Sharples kitchen, the
fieldhouse, and Parrish Beach.

This year's back-to-school issue will be based entirely in Philadelphia.
Locations that will be sharing space in the catalogue with Swarthmore
include Boat House Row and Merion.

Source: Swathmore Daily Gazette, March 8, 2002

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Chad Raile

2007-03-29T16:24:00.001-07:00

He was the underwear model for Ralph Lauren, the cover boy for Abercrombie and Fitch's 2001 Christmas catalog and is a regular on the pages of Cosmopolitan magazine.

But all brawn and no brains doesn't apply to this K-State senior.

Chad Raile, despite his success in modeling, will graduate in May with a degree in kinesiology.

Raile's career began with an ad in the Collegian for a model search in the Kansas City area. He said he didn't expect much.

Suddenly, though, Raile, whose hometown of St. Francis, Kan., has a population of 1,200, was thrown into the world of big-city modeling. A Baltimore-based agency showed interest but with a few conditions.

"I was 200 lbs. and fairly healthy," Raile said. "They wanted me to cut back down to 175 and get tan. I thought I would give it a try."

After laying outside in the sun and regular workouts at the gym, Raile sent Polaroids of his new look to the agency and waited for a call.

In the meantime, the agency for Abercrombie and Fitch came to Baltimore, Raile said.

But by a strike of good luck, the Abercrombie photographer saw Raile's pictures lying on the agent's desk and asked to see a portfolio. There began Raile's career.

The photo shoot for Abercrombie's Christmas catalog was a weeklong job in Lake Placid, N.Y. Raile said he was nervous at first, but was able to quickly figure out what the photographers wanted.

"You don't just stand there and smile. You just relax and have fun," Raile said. "Most of the time they don't tell you how to move. If you're photogenic, you just kind of have it."

Every night, photographers would meet and discuss which models they wanted to keep.

"It was like 'Survivor,'" he said. "They all get together each night. They will probably only use seven guys and that doesn't mean you get into the catalog. They decide, 'did we get all the shots we wanted from this person?' That happens each night. There were two of us that made it the whole week."

But being a part of the catalog also meant adhering to Abercrombie's marketing strategy, which required nude modeling.

"They asked if I was willing to do nudes," Raile said. "I eventually got talked into it, and I agreed to do it. The last three or four days, my shots were in the mountains."

He said sitting in a stream completely naked while 15 people on the set evaluated the photos was uncomfortable at first.

"At first, it was really weird, but after that I got used to it," he said.

It was after his face appeared in the Abercrombie catalog that Raile's career really began to take off. He got an apartment in New York City for the summers and signed on with a New York City agency.

Since then, Raile has modeled for Joe Boxer, Tommy Hilfiger, Cosmo Girl, Cosmopolitan and Macy's Department Store, as well as the cover of an exercise magazine.

His most prestigious job, however, was a one-year contract with Ralph Lauren.

"It's on billboards, Macy's, Bloomingdales, Sports Illustrated," Raile said. "It was pretty exciting. I was the Polo underwear guy for a year."

Raile said that although being a model means a different lifestyle, it hasn't prevented him from being a regular college student.

"I work out at the Rec four times a week," he said. "I am not a freak about it. I am a hog. I will eat anything. I am not afraid to go to McDonalds. I like to go out to Aggieville and the clubs in New York. I just don't do it to the extreme."

During the summer, Raile attends castings every day, where he participates in test shots, usually in his underwear or in the company's clothes. He carries with him a composition card, which includes a head shot and four different looks as well as his height, weight and sizes.

If a company is interested in Raile, they will request his portfolio, which has 8x10 photos of his different jobs.

In addition to finishing college and fostering his modeling career, Raile is trying to break into the world of acting.

"That's where the big bucks are, but that's not why I am doing it," he said.

Raile started acting classes every other day for four hours with an acting coach.

"I had four auditions. I did good, and if you can get call-backs without acting class, that's good," he said. "It got me excited."

His first auditions were with the soap operas: "Days of Our Lives," "All My Children" and "As the World Turns." Although Raile said he is not interested in acting in a soap, the experience helped in his most recent audition for "Hack," a CBS drama on Saturday evenings starring David Morse.

"I came home for July 4, and I was helping with harvest," Raile said. "I was driving the truck and in between trying to memorize my lines."

After three callbacks, Raile made it to the top 10, but was not chosen.

When he graduates this spring, Raile will move to New York City, where he said he hopes to further is acting career and continue modeling. Eventually, though, he would like to claim Hollywood as his home.

"Hollywood tries to throw you in when you are young," he said. "I want to be good at what I do. I try to focus on acting and cross my fingers."

But amidst the bright lights and dreams of a movie-star future, Raile said he has to stay focused on his education as a Hollywood career is not guaranteed.

"I know it won't last forever. This is a job you don't have any control over," he said. "It could end anytime."

Source: Kansas State Collegian November 13, 2003

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Ryan Smith

2007-03-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

***

Ryan Smith, an 18-year-old University of Colorado astronomy student, may soon have his own "star" power.

The Parker native could be the next fresh face on an Abercrombie & Fitch shopping bag, cologne box or poster on the wall of the national chain's stores.Smith was one of 10 fab-faced folks from thousands across the country who made it through the A&F model search. He got back last week from his first shoot with famed fashion photog Bruce Weber in South Carolina, where Smith modeled A&F's Hollister clothing line.

Smith landed a job at the Abercrombie store in Park Meadows when he was picking up a friend at the store and was "discovered" by a manager, who hired him as its "shirtless greeter." The manager then recommended Smith to Maximum Talent, a Denver modeling agency, which signed him and submitted Smith's shots for the national shoot.

"The shoot was unbelievable," Smith told me. "We were seriously treated like kings. This will seriously launch my career."

Smith says he'll stay at school and keep his "shirtless" job at A&F until more modeling offers roll in. "With modeling, I want to see the world. I want to experience people and places."

Check out "Ryan S.," a clean-cut hunk, at maxtalent.com on the male models page.

Source: Rocky Mountain News, April 12, 2006

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Brad Kroenig

2007-03-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

WITHOUT a doubt, he's one of the most sought-after models in the world.

He's worked with Karl Lagerfeld in the south of France. He's posed for Tommy Hilfiger ads, Fendi billboards and Roberto Cavalli campaigns, and has steamed up the covers of dozens of magazines -- mostly in Europe.Sitting leisurely in a white T-shirt, Christian Dior blue jeans and black leather Dior running shoes in his parents' living room in Oakville, Brad Kroenig looks charming.

Maybe it's his thick, sun-drenched blond ringlets and taut, rail-thin frame. Or perhaps that restrained smile and prominent after-five shadow giving him a handsome ruggedness.

Whatever the appeal, it has brought the 24-year-old model superstardom and a super bankroll.

That is evident by the dozens of magazines spilling over the coffee table at his parents' house.

Although he began his modeling career no more than two years ago, Kroenig now commands $30,000 to $45,000 for photo shoots.

Tapped by the prestigious Ford Models Inc. agency in 2001 while he was in Miami on a soccer scholarship at Florida International University, Kroenig took up residence in the Big Apple shortly thereafter and hasn't had much time to look back since.

Agent Sam Doerfler says Kroenig's first year with the agency focused mostly on "growing the hair out" and "losing the weight and developing the portfolio."

"Technically, he's new," Doerfler explains, adding, "As a model, he will definitely be huge. He's a top model, on the cusp."

Stephen Gan, creative director for Harper's Bazaar magazine and editor in chief of V and V-man magazines, says, "Certainly, I think Brad Kroenig is the next big thing. And I think that when you think of male models right now, there's no one else in the forefront as much as he is."

Kroenig has been featured on the covers of Italian Vogue and London's Loaded Magazine, as well as V and V-Man. And he strikes a series of sizzling poses with veteran supermodel Gisele Bundchen in a 12-page spread in the November issue of Harper's Bazaar.

"Kroenig has the uncommon ability to go from an All-American college-jock golden boy look one minute to a cutting-edge, avant-garde rock star the next," Gan adds. "He has a brave and modern outlook on men's fashion. All those qualities, believe it or not, don't often come in one package when it comes to male models."

Always on the go, Kroenig rarely spends time in the quiet neighborhood that his parents call home.

But when his schedule permits, he likes to hang out with friends. And while he sometimes dates "model girls," he says he mostly just goes out with girls he grew up knowing.

Barb and Mark Kroenig have adjusted to being empty-nesters times three. Brad commutes between St. Louis and his one-bedroom apartment in New York (although he has commissioned work to begin on a two-bedroom/two-story glass loft in Miami Beach); their daughter, Julie Kroenig, 22, works as a television reporter in West Virginia; and son Matt Kroenig, 26, is a doctoral candidate at the University of California-Berkeley.

Brad isn't the family's first model. Both his sister and brother modeled as children. And even mom did a couple of fashion shows in her hometown of Tuscola, Ill., during her youth.

But Brad is the first to make it big.

This past summer, when Kroenig found out that he was being featured on the cover of Italian Vogue, he bought some copies of the magazine. On the cover of one, he wrote an inscription to his parents: "Mom & Dad, Would never have been here if it wasn't for you two..."

Even though highlights of his early life took place on the soccer field, Kroenig has easily adjusted to life as a supermodel.

Often he darts back and forth between London, New York, Paris and Los Angeles, not to mention Bora Bora and other exotic locales. "I feel like I'm supposed to be there," he says of these places.

Some of Kroenig's assignments have teetered on the risque, such as when he posed partially nude for the 2002 Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.

"It was fine," he says of one of his first assignments. But he admits that his mother choked a bit when she saw it.

"I think she said something like, 'You can't show those to Grandma.' But now she is used to them," he says.

His mother remembers that day. "When I showed it to people, I showed them every picture except those," she recalls. "It's still kind of hard to take as a mother."

While Kroenig is a hot commodity now, it wasn't always that way. His first ad job for Cosmopolitan magazine, he said, brought in only $150.

His look appears tousled and effortless, but Kroenig works at it. He never colors his hair, but does get a tan once a week. He runs five miles four times a week. And, he adds, "I watch what I eat. I stay thin and eat right. And no carbs."

Right now, Kroenig says he's doing exactly what he wants to be doing, burning up the modeling scene. "I always like it," he says of his job. "I do even more now."

His ultimate goal? "To continue to be a model. As long as they keep paying me, I'll do it," he says.

And if it doesn't work out? Kroenig doesn't waste energy on such thoughts. "Right now, it can't fall through. It'll go for a while," he says. "People track me down. Now we turn down jobs."

Nevertheless, his future goals include getting more involved with real estate.

His advice for others trying to make it in the business? "Go to a big city, like New York. Go to a top agency, like Ford Models Inc." he says.

Barb Kroenig says her middle child has always been a "personable person."

And better yet, she says, he never forgets where his heart is. "Every day, no matter where Brad is, he calls home," she says.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 22, 2003

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Gray Smith

2007-03-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

For most of her life, Kelly Donovan, 19, has rejected anything she considered "girly." The Merrimack College sophomore never cut her hair or manicured her nails. Her preferred look: sweat pants and sneakers. Her favorite pastime: playing basketball. Most of all, she loved poking fun at her older sister Kristen, a part-time model.

"Who wants to put on makeup and smile at a camera?" Donovan would say. "I'm an athlete. Basketball is my priority.Then, in November last year, Donovan contracted Lyme disease and spent four months in and out of the hospital. "They thought I had multiple sclerosis or a tumor in my brain." Playing basketball was too physically demanding. Modeling, all of a sudden, didn't seem so bad; it's typically sedentary and the pay is great.

Enter Click Models Boston, an agency Donovan approached in March. Before she could say cheese, the Bourne native was taking her first airplane ride, to New York last month for an Abercrombie & Fitch fall fashion shoot with famed photographer Bruce Weber. Her pay for three days of light work? $3,600.

"All my clothes are from Abercrombie," says Donovan, who cut her hair 6 inches for the job and even arched her eyebrows. "I love Abercrombie."

The 5-foot-8 1/2-inch blue-eyed brunette was one of two Massachusetts models from Click selected for the Abercrombie catalog shoot, which included 65 models from around the United States and countries such as Brazil, Israel, and Holland.

Gray Smith, a 19-year-old freshman at Harvard University, was chosen based, among other things, on his high school prom picture. "This is one of those things you don't expect to happen in the real world," says the 6-1 hazel-eyed blond.

The Abercrombie & Fitch clothing catalog - called the A&F Quarterly - is a magazine-style catalog that includes clothing for sale as well as articles on topics such as "cool summer internships." The $6 book is available in Abercrombie stores and via subscription.

In the past, issues have included sex tips from a porn star, cocktail recipes, and game suggestions like Naked Twister. Two female models in the summer 2000 issue are shown in skimpy bikinis and a T-shirt, pulling down the bikini briefs of a male model. Another scene depicts four young women surrounding a man at the beach. His pants are unzipped and pulled down to his thighs, revealing his red underwear.

Such content has sparked parental protests in numerous states, including Massachusetts. As a result, Abercrombie - based in Reynoldsburg, Ohio - began carding catalog buyers in stores nationwide last November, requiring them to prove with a photo ID that they are at least 18 years old.

This kind of restriction has made the retailer only that much more appealing to some teens. According to an April study by Teenage Research Unlimited Inc., a Northbrook, Ill., marketing research firm, Abercrombie is rated the second-"coolest" brand (after Nike) among 12- to 19-year-olds surveyed.

Career cultivation

From a modeling perspective, appearing in such a hot book can only boost one's career, especially when the photographer is Weber. "It's like the ultimate," says Suzy Marden, director of Click Models Boston. "Everyone who sees that catalog all over the nation will see these kids. This is a biggie."

Ironically, Smith, an Atlanta native, could care less about career possibilities or any controversy surrounding the fall A&F, which will be released in July. He's more concerned about declaring a major at Harvard. "I don't see much future in a career as a famous model," he says. "I wouldn't want a career where you're too old at 27. . . . I want to start my own company and move back to Atlanta."

Smith, a self-described poor college student, is modeling only for the pocket change, he says. He's not into fashion, and he never shops. Instead, he waits for his family to give him clothing, such as jeans and Polo shirts, as gifts. Although he likes Abercrombie's style, he says the brand is too expensive for his budget. "I usually wear whatever I can find on the floor that's clean," he says.

Smith fell into modeling as a fluke, after he accompanied a friend to pick up a paycheck at Click and the agency recruited him.

His first job was in March, posing as a delivery man for the Internet shopping service ShopLink.com. He then appeared in a spring clothing catalog for New Hampshire-based retailer Poore Simon's. In April, Click asked him to attend a casting for Abercrombie at the Sheraton Hotel. More than 60 potential models showed up, but he got the slot. Says Smith, who used to work at Abercrombie as a sales clerk in high school, "I never expected this to happen."

Donovan arrived at the Abercrombie shoot two days before Smith. For her first assignment, she was asked - of all things - to play basketball with another woman against four young men. Her outfit? Something really familiar. Gray sweat pants, a yellow T-shirt, and sneakers. "My hair was in a ponytail and I had no makeup on," she recalls.

Later, Donovan participated in a jazz club scene where she danced in a red wool plaid dress. "Bruce made me dance by myself in front of everyone."

On her second day, Donovan met a group of about 15 other models in her Manhattan hotel lobby at 6 a.m. to take a bus to Princeton University in New Jersey. Donovan's role for this campus scene was to "jump a lot. Throw books up in the air, throw basketballs. They brought in three golden retriever puppies and we played with them. It was more acting than posing."

On her third day of work, Donovan met Smith. The two spent more than nine hours waiting at a Harlem nightclub with about 25 other models for their chance to appear in a college party scene. "My role was to just talk, standing up, with a couple of kids. I had a glass of juice in my hand," says Donovan.

Smith says his assignment was to stand behind two young men arm-wrestling at a table, cheering them on. He wore a red T-shirt and blue-and-white Hawaiian-print shorts. In another scene, he stood at a bar drinking soda and tossing popcorn in his mouth. "Once he started taking pictures, I got real comfortable with it," says Smith, who was paid $500 for a day's work.

Smith's second scene was a cocktail party at a jazz club where he sat on a bed surrounded by several women. He says it's "strange" that the company placed a bed in the scene, but he didn't question it. "We were all just talking, drinking fake cocktails. . . . Our conversation was `Where are you from? What do you do?' It was kind of surreal."

At home, discomfort

Donovan's and Smith's mothers weren't thrilled about their children appearing in the catalog. Says Donna Smith, who owns an art store in an Atanta suburb, "We were stockholders" in Abercrombie & Fitch. "We sold the stock when we saw the catalog a couple of years ago. We haven't stepped foot in the store since. . . . It bothers me that they promote underage drinking and, in the current climate of AIDS, promiscuity."

Says Nancy Donovan, a social worker in Falmouth, "I think the catalog is very sexualized. I said to Kell, `Your grandfather will be looking at this. You need to realize that what you do impacts your family.' "

Both parents stress that they trust their children and give them freedom to do what they want. Gray is "completely an adult," says Donna. "We don't tell him what to do at this point." Says Nancy, "We've warned [Kelly]. You hope that what you've been teaching her has taken hold."

For his part, Gray is preparing to return to Atlanta during Harvard's summer break, and plans to work for the local Click office. "It's easy money," he says. Still, come September, Gray promises he'll be back at Harvard. "I'd probably like being a famous model for a week or a month. But I don't want that life. I want to start my own business in school, some sort of Internet consumer service."

Kelly, on the other hand, is taking a sabbatical from school in order to move to New York and pursue modeling full time. Her sister Kristen, who graduated from the University of Connecticut this month, is joining her in the same pursuit. "There's no sense of jealousy," says Kristen. "If Kelly can get the jobs, that's great. If I can, that's great too. I'm more interested in runway. I'm 5-11. Kelly has more of a look for print work."

Says Kelly, "This is my prime time. I look at it as an opportunity. I don't want to miss anything. I can always go back to school. But if I land a big job, I can earn $50,000 a day.

Source: Boston Globe, May 31, 2000

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Jeremy Bloom

2007-03-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Only a few minutes earlier, Jeremy Bloom had won a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

But as he stood at the bottom of a moguls course in Steamboat Springs in December -- at the peak of his career -- the 23-year-old Loveland, Colo., resident seemed more interested in chatting about football. "Why are you talking about that now?" a reporter finally asked.

"Hey," Bloom said, "it's playoff time." A few months earlier, Bloom had been less subtle. "The Olympics are great. But they're not the Super Bowl or the NFL."

No one plays the game quite like Jeremy Bloom. Today he'll end his skiing career in the Olympic men's moguls event and then fly to Indianapolis for the NFL combine one week later -- a trip only he could make. The world's most famous world-class skier/wide receiver, Bloom even brought a football to Turin, not only to prepare for the combine but also to prepare for today's race.

It's the oldest page in Bloom's playbook: In football season, he stays loose by thinking about the slopes; before a moguls race, he keeps cool by focusing on football.

"It's a way of helping him perform under stress," said Larry Bloom, Jeremy's father, who is a clinical psychologist.

Added Jeremy: "Put it this way. It's nice to have a focus after the Olympics because if you're just a freestyle skier, this is the pinnacle." Bloom manically juggles multiple sports as much for mental as physical reasons. "It keeps me so mentally fresh," he said.

Bloom earned his black belt in karate at age 12, joined the U.S. freestyle ski team at 15 and won state championships in both football and track in high school.

On a November weekend in 2000, he received a two-day pass from moguls training camp to compete in the Class 4A state football playoffs, where he caught a school-record nine passes for Loveland High.

But that merely was a prelude to a three-week span in December 2002, when he scored an 80-yard punt-return touchdown for the University of Colorado in the Big 12 championship game, took four final exams, finished fourth in a World Cup event in Finland and played in the Alamo Bowl.

"When he has time off, he isn't really sure what to do with it," Larry Bloom said. "He's a little lost." Added his mother, Char: "He's best when he's busy and there's not a whole lot of time to think."

In skiing, World Cup racers marvel at his quick feet.

"He is a little inhuman when it comes to this sport," said two-time Olympian and bronze medalist Steve Podborski, an NBC commentator. "He has magic. He's so naturally talented that it's ridiculous."

Although Bloom won six consecutive World Cup races last season, he finished 36th in the overall 2005 World Championships. He had a similar setback at the 2002 Olympics, where he placed ninth.

"The biggest disappointment of my life by far," he told Ski Magazine. "Everything I ever worked for, just down the drain."

A viral infection dragged down Bloom at the Salt Lake Games, but he also allowed an MTV crew to follow him around, which wore on him as well.

The MTV time led to lucrative endorsement deals -- and celebrity.

"An oyster shell opened up after the 2002 Olympics," Larry Bloom said.

Today, Bloom has an NFL agent, a ski agent, a talent agent, a publicist and seven corporate sponsors. He also has a massage therapist, a nutritionist and a chef.

He had an offer to host a show on Nickelodeon and a modeling contract with Tommy Hilfiger. He also has done photo shoots for the cover of the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog and several magazines.

His girlfriend is Cameran Eubanks, 22, one of the stars of MTV's Real World San Diego, and he receives marriage proposals by mail.

"Now he's got it even worse because everybody wants a piece of him," Moseley said. "But I think he should just block everything out, show up and finally win that thing."

In fact, Bloom's skiing legacy might be on the line today. Four years ago, his friends and family members joined him in Salt Lake City, adding to an already chaotic scene.

This time only his mother has traveled to Italy, and he might not meet with her until after his final run.

Then again, it might not be his last race, not with the NFL draft looming.

Source: Cincinnati Post, February 15, 2006

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Todd Ochsner

2007-03-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

***

Todd Ochsner doesn't have the most glamorous job, and his upbringing in Washburn hardly makes him a Hollywood shoo-in.

But the editorial staff at Cosmopolitan thinks he's a Grade-A stud. The popular women's magazine recently named Ochsner Wisconsin's Most Eligible Bachelor for 2005, choosing the 25-year-old over hundreds of other Wisconsin applicants.

"I was shocked," he said. "I'm not going to lie. I was absolutely shocked."

Ochsner, a 1998 Washburn High School graduate, was nominated for the title by a female friend from Oklahoma who sent photos and biographical information to the magazine for consideration.

After an initial screening narrowed the applicants down to 40, the magazine's editorial staff picked the top 5 and did background checks before picking him as the winner.

As part of the honor, Cosmo flew Ochsner and the country's 49 other most eligible bachelors to New York for broadcasts of "The Today Show" and "Live with Regis and Kelly." The November edition of Cosmo featuring Ochsner came out last week. On page 64 you'll see a shirtless Ochsner wearing green jeans.

Ochsner attended UW-Stout and Harvard Business School before taking his current job. In addition to his daytime career as a community and economic development specialist for engineering firm SEH, Inc., Ochsner has done some modeling for Industry Magazine and Abercrombie & Fitch.

"I've done some runway shows in Minneapolis," he said.

Still, Ochsner said he was skeptical when he got the phone call telling him that he had been named Wisconsin's biggest cheese.

"I thought someone was pulling a prank on me," he said. "My friends call me up and prank me all the time at work."

While in New York, Ochsner took part in an 18-hour photo shoot in the Hamptons. Clips from that event will be shown on an episode of "Entertainment Tonight." "It was beautiful. We got to go swimming," he said. "I got stung by a jellyfish, which wasn't cool."

He learned the power of celebrity on the plane ride home from a second trip to New York earlier this week for a promotional appearance on the"Today" show. When he was on the plane, he saw a woman reading the new Cosmopolitan.

"She's flipping through the pages and she's looking," he said. She then left to go a restroom, and when she returned, she was wearing makeup and a fresh splash of perfume.

Ochsner said he would never have gone up to her and introduced himself as the guy in the magazine. But he didn't have to. The woman, who was from Morocco, approached Ochsner.

"It was a great way to open up the conversation," he said.

Source: Wisconsin State Journal, October 16, 2005

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Abe Taylor

2007-03-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

No, those aren't stars in Abe Taylor's eyes . . . they're the reflection of flash cubes going off. Taylor always displayed "picture-book form" in cross country and wrestling for the Hanover High Hawks.Now, the recent graduate really is in pictures. Chosen as one of the United States' "Rising Stars," by Abercrombie & Fitch, Taylor has become a part-time model for the national clothing manufacturer.

He appears in the company's spring catalogue and soon will make a trip to the Dominion Republic for a photo shoot. Later this summer he will do some posing in New York City.

"It sure beats some of the summer jobs I've had," said Taylor, who will enroll as a Virginia Tech freshman in the fall.

Taylor was the subject of a Times-Dispatch feature last fall, regarding his prowess on the cross-country trails. His striking photo was spotted by an Abercrombie & Fitch representative, and the wheels began turning.

"I never planned on anything such as this," Taylor said. "I never even considered anyone wanting to take pictures of me or cast me in anything. So I feel strangely fortunate."

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch June 10, 2005

Male Fitness Modeling

2007-03-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

Athletic young guys who work at keeping themselves in great shape are in demand as male fitness models. This is one modeling field that doesn't require a "pretty face." Instead, well defined (not big) muscles and a great six pack of abs are the sought-after features.

Fitness models don't earn on the same scale as fashion models, but opportunities are more plentiful. Magazine that cater to the workout, supplement and fitness industry are always looking for new physiques for their pages.

If you've spent hours in the gym fine tuning your body, you may well be a fitness modeling candidate. Advice on how to take and submit photos and/or videos to a fitness modeling agent are available on this web site. You can also sign up for tips on how to best market yourself as a male model.

Remember, an attractive face is only secondary in the male fitness modeling industry. Focus instead on abs and biceps. You may find yourself on the cover of your favorite fitness magazine.

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Jon Jonsson

2007-03-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

***

Yes, modeling is all about the body beautiful, but nevertheless Jon Jonsson was having trouble baring it all for the last photo shoot of "Manhunt, " the Bravo television reality show that gave "America's Next Top Model" a run for its money. The 22-year-old surfer dude from Carmel is no prude, but let's just say that the prospect of having his privates captured by a still photographer's camera and on video (albeit pixeled out) was not something he was looking forward to.

As Paris Hilton can attest, in this day and age, you never know where copies of videos are going to turn up -- or what they'll be used for. But the search for America's most gorgeous male model had come down to the Tarzan- like Jonsson and the city-chic law student Rob Williams (a native of Arlington,

Texas), and our boy had some thinking to do.

Should he or shouldn't he bare all in the show's final episode? At stake was $100,000 and a four-year contract with IMG, one of the world's premier modeling agencies.

Jonsson had just about decided to quit and forfeit to Williams, and was mulling whether to jump in a cab and head for the airport when fate intervened.

"A casting producer came into my room at 7:30 in the morning and said, 'Put on a robe and nothing else,' " he recalled. "I said, 'Just f -- yourself; I don't like you guys anymore,' " said Jonsson, who still seemed bitter -- despite the lucrative rewards -- as he sat curled up on a couch at his parents' house on a rainy day before New Year's Eve. "I put on my clothes; the camera was on, and I was making (them) know I was unhappy about this."

Over at the studio, Williams was getting fired up about the shoot, adding to the pressure.

"It's pretty sad how much (nudity) matters so much to people like me; it shouldn't matter, but we're conditioned our whole lives to cover ourselves," Jonsson said.

He realized the producers wanted good TV, but the IMG officials who'd scouted him for the show had said he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to, in the tradition of countless starlets, models and actresses who've been assured they wouldn't have to be nude in order to get a contract or a part. After much cajoling, and afraid of what Bravo might do if he up and quit (he'd signed a "gnarly contract" to be on the show) Jonsson dropped his drawers and was photographed looking out a window in the buff. (The black-and-white shots are on Bravo's Web site, www.bravotv .com/manhunt, but don't expose all.)

The decision paid off: He won.

But Jonsson said he learned later that he had been secretly selected as the winner two episodes earlier.

" 'Manhunt'," he said in retrospect, "was just a show to exploit all these guys. I'm not afraid to say it -- I'm not under Bravo's contract anymore. Secret battles were going on between IMG and Bravo people over who was going to be eliminated, based on who would make good TV."

If he sounds a bit defiant, surely it's all in the character of a surfer dude; they're not generally known for kissing bootie, you know.

For the most part, though, Jonsson seems laid-back, almost indifferent. He allowed that he could almost care less that he won, which might be one of the reasons he did.

His aloof attitude translates into a certain visual sizzle. Legions of women (and some men) will look at him and think to themselves, "He looks like he doesn't care, and maybe a little angry, but maybe I could be the one to make him like me." Therein is the allure.

There are his exotic looks, too -- dark skin, almond-shaped eyes, flat cheekbones and a chiseled jawline -- from a Thai mother and a father from Iceland. "Proud? Oh yeah, sure I am," said his father, Haflidi Jonsson, an atmospheric research scientist who teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. "After all," he laughed, "I am the stud factory."

His mother, Nanna Jonsson, who teaches Thai at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, is also "quite proud of this whole thing," Haflidi Jonsson said.

With such brainiac parents, it seems curious that Jonsson ended up as a model. It was really almost a fluke, the way he tells it.

Jonsson, born in Iceland, is the middle son in a family of three boys. His elder brother, Helgi Thor, is an artist, and younger brother Bin is a biology and political science student at UC Davis. His parents moved the family to New York and Colorado before landing in California in 1994.

Jonsson had been approached a few years earlier at Paramount's Great America theme park in Santa Clara by a scout for an Internet modeling Web site,

and reluctantly paid to have his photos posted there, thinking it might lead to something.

In the meantime, he spent a few years at Monterey Peninsula College, unsure of what he wanted to do when he grew up.

"It was awesome," he said. "The school was easy. I didn't learn much, but I got to surf and snowboard a lot in Tahoe."

He also saw that his schoolmates weren't going anywhere with their lives, waiting tables and working in retail, and wanted more for himself.

That's when he enrolled at UC Santa Cruz. He is fond of astronomy, and took up astrophysics. "It's just the unknown," he said. "You look up in the sky and see stars. They say 85 percent of everything you see is dark matter and they can't even explain it. It tripped me out; I wanted to learn more about it."

Then Sal Marquez Jr. at City Model Management agency in San Francisco saw Jonsson's photos and asked him to sign up.

"He's got a great face, great features, great bone structure," Marquez said in a telephone interview. "What makes him what he is, is his persona. He's one of those guys who stands there, quiet in what he does. You look at him and go, 'What a great guy.' Eighty percent of these guys are overambitious and you've got to tell them to put a cap on it. It's good to be enthusiastic, but you don't have to be overly enthusiastic."

So for eight or nine months, Jonsson drove to San Francisco a few times a week for casting calls, landing a catalog photo shoot or a runway gig every now and then. He was the first model on the runway and the last off at a show at the St. Francis hotel for clothier H&M, soon to open in San Francisco, and was hoping to appear in the Macy's Passport runway show in fall.

All of this was helping him earn money for school and for his pick-up truck. He also started taking flying lessons in a single engine Cessna, thinking he might like to become a military fighter pilot or even an astronaut.

Then Marquez intervened again, suggesting Jonsson try out for the Bravo show casting call.

"I said, 'I know you're in school and focusing, but you have had a great chance on this because you have a great face -- you don't look young, you don't look old, and you look hunky,' " Marquez recalled. "He has one of those looks that comes off as approachable. Likable."

Jonsson went to an IMG office on Bryant Street and had an interview, which consisted of talking into a camcorder about himself. With his shirt off, of course.

What followed was a series of calls from the producers over a period of several days saying he might be on the show. The definite word came later, when he was buying a pastrami with jack cheese sandwich on ciabatta at Whole Foods, and his cell phone rang with good news.

"Cool," he said. "When do I leave?"

A week later, he was in Santa Monica with 30 other prospective contestants. The reality of reality TV shows hit home quickly when, on the first day of filming -- a photo shoot in jeans with Carmen Electra -- they narrowed the field to 20.

In one episode, they had to skydive from a plane in their underwear (tethered to an experienced skydiver).

They were encouraged to party hard by the producers, who in one episode woke contestants at 3 a.m. and forced them to do a shoot with supermodel Marisa Miller (a surfer from Santa Cruz discovered by Mario Testino) just to see who had discipline enough to hold it together while drunk, or crack from the pressure.

Jonsson, who likes the thrill of surfing, loved skydiving -- the roar of the engines as he jumped out of the plane, and the quiet 45 seconds as he plummeted to earth before the parachute opened. He also enjoyed the calendar shoot in Puerto Rico -- not because of his photograph, where he leaned against a palm tree and ran his fingers through his hair (also on the TV Web site) but because of the weather.

"I'm a weather nut," he said. "I like this stormy weather, but I like the humidity, the heat and the sun. I'm meant for Hawaii."

The show concluded filming in August, and Jonsson had to keep mum about the results until the last episode aired Nov. 30. He spent two weeks in New York City meeting with IMG executives and this week was scheduled to head off into the unknown -- a fashion fighter pilot of sorts -- to the Dominican Republic for an Abercrombie & Fitch shoot with renowned fashion photographer Bruce Weber.

Whether Jonsson makes it or not is yet to be seen. He's only 5 feet 11 --

short for a model -- and has a large scar on his stomach from kidney surgery in the second grade. But IMG knows what it's doing. The agency represents the likes of supermodels Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks (host of the competing "America's Next Top Model" on UPN). So far, Jonsson's physical flaws haven't seemed to matter, nor has his lack of a fitness regimen.

He shuns the weight room, instead surfing, running and hiking to stay in shape. He also eats whatever he wants, even if it's five or six ice cream sandwiches for dessert and yet still has muscular arms and rippling stomach muscles.

The one thing he doesn't have is a lot of personal style -- yet. On the day we talked he was wearing a brown zip-up sweatshirt, a black T-shirt, jeans and two necklaces.

He credits his former girlfriend, Jillian Kunysz, a student at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, with moving him into nicer clothes,

for job interviews anyway. "Ben Sherman striped shirts, jeans that aren't baggy and nice shoes," he says.

Alan Bradley, a running buddy from their days on the Carmel High School track team said that few in Jonsson's circle knew he was doing runway modeling until one of his brothers put portfolio photos on the family fridge to razz him.

"Everyone's going to call him 'Zoolander' once in a while," said Bradley,

"but what does he care? He's got the last laugh, and we all know it's in good fun ... He's the same old guy, pretty much, except he's living the dream."

True to form, Jonsson said it really doesn't matter what happens. He hopes to make enough money under his contract to be able to surf for the rest of his life in Indonesia with his 6-foot-4 board by Kalu Coletta and his Rip Curl wetsuit (endorsements, anyone?).

If not, he'll be just as happy going back to school.

"It's not like I want to make this a career for the rest of my life," he says. "It's not like it's fun for me. But I try to have fun with it."

One other thing. He's vowed never to do anything uncomfortable -- like those nude photos -- ever again.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, January 9, 2005

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Brad Kroenig

2007-03-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

See Tarzan swinging on a rope at the end of the CoverGirl makeup commercial?

Don't change that dial.Tarzan is Brad Kroenig, a former soccer standout at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, who's now rated the world's top male model by Models.com.

"Two stuntmen were there to help me out. It was harder than it looked," said Brad, 25, as he relaxed on the couch at his parents' house in south St. Louis County. Instead of a loin cloth, he wore a white T-shirt and ripped Christian Dior jeans with white Dior sneakers.

He offers this advice for men wanting to look fashionably hip.

"You want it to look like you didn't try (to look good) but you did."

Hanging tough has helped Brad get to the top. Being punctual and easy to work with at photo shoots has gotten him top jobs. Brad keeps his 6-foot-1 frame muscular and lean by eating lots of protein and few carbohydrates. He also works out daily.

His parents, Mark, a standout athlete at Belleville Township High School West in 1969, and Barb Kroenig, aren't surprised by his success.

Barb will never forget that special call from Tokyo. Brad was in the middle of a six-week fashion shoot when he called home with the great news.

"He was a little choked up because he has been saying from the beginning that he would be No. 1 someday," said Barb. "When he played basketball and soccer, he always wanted to be the best at everything he did."

Brad was home for a quick visit at the end of August. Two years ago, Sunday Magazine featured him as an aspiring model.

"I always sleep best at home," said Brad, as he sat on a twin bed in his childhood bedroom that hasn't changed since he left home for college. His lamp is shaped like a baseball glove and the blue walls have a baseball-themed border.

Brad has appeared on the cover of the Italian version of Vogue for men and has modeled for Fendi, Roberto Cavalli, Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors.

"Cindy ( Crawford) said the Vogue cover is what did it for her," said Brad, talking about the breakout job that launched Crawford's modeling career. "That's what did if for me, too."

Along the way, he's met some of the biggest-name designers in the industry.

"(Kors) laughs a lot and likes to tell stories. (Ralph Lauren) is more serious, but he's a nice guy."

Brad's also had shoots with renowned fashion photographer Karl Lagerfeld. He's especially proud of a black and white photo signed by Lagerfeld that uses shadows.

Consumers see Brad's wavy, long blond mane and see him wearing crisp shirts and pants. What they don't see is all the behind-the-scenes work, which can last up to 18 hours for one shoot.

"In Japan, I was up at 4 or 5 in the morning and didn't finish until midnight."

Clothes have to be perfect for the photos.

"If there's a wrinkle, the shirt comes off and they steam it and press it and we do it again," said Brad.

He's modeled with Gisele, Isabeli Fontana and Molly Sims.

While he has some say in photo shoots, most times he follows the direction of the photographer.

"With (fashion photographer) Mario Testino, you just do what he says," said Brad.

Barb and Mark look for Brad in magazines and have asked stores for posters of their son when stores are finished with them.

Brad began modeling three years ago for Abercrombie & Fitch. He had transferred from SIUE to college in Florida to play soccer, but quit school to pursue a modeling career after his first Abercrombie shoot.

Brad admits a career in modeling is a gamble, but so far he has no regrets.

He was chosen as the No. 1 model by Models.com, a Web site used by the fashion industry to rate models based on factors such as prestige of he photographer, number of photo shoots with renown companies and earnings per shoot. Brad says the ranking stands for one fashion season, six months.

Pay varies depending on the type of modeling job, but he expects to get $40,000-$60,000 for the Tarzan spot.

Modeling has affording him with enough cash to buy a $600,000 loft apartment in Florida.

Being 25 is not over the hill for a male model, Brad said. As long as he stays in shape, he could continue modeling well into his 40s and longer.

As for dating, there are a few female models he wouldn't mind taking out for a night on the town, but realistically, traveling with work prevents a serious relationship from happening.

While he plans to stay in modeling as long as he can, Brad could see himself selling expensive real estate some day.

For now, he'd like to keep the No. 1 spot as long as he can.

But when he comes home, there's no fancy clothes or cuisine. A trip to Ted Drewes for apple strudel custard is more like it.

"At home, he's just Brad," said Barb.

Source: Belleville News-Democrat, September 12, 2004

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Josh Yetzer

2007-03-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

Josh Ohl and Josh Yetzer, two former standout high school athletes, also have dabbled in modeling.

Ohl, 19, flew to New York to meet with representatives of some of the top names in fashion, including Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss. He also took part in a model contest in Aruba.

However, the chisled 6-2, 212-pounder has put modeling on the backburner in an attempt to join the Ohio State football team as a walk-on.

"Everybody in New York told me they want me to lose weight, but I don't want to do that because I still want to play some football," said Ohl, a one-time football and wrestling star for Ontario High School.

"Modeling is a little hobby. I'm focusing on football, but I'd still like to do some modeling to make some money on the side."

Yetzer, a senior speech communications and business major at Edinboro (Pa.) State, isn't as keen on the idea even though he's done a photo shoot for Abercrombie & Fitch.

"Agents and people into modeling have asked me to do more, but I've always been into wrestling," said Yetzer, a former star at Madison and member of the Edinboro squad.

"The business seems shallow and superficial, and I don't see myself being around it. But if (modeling) opportunies arise in the future, I'll see what my plans are. If I have nothing else going on, I might pursue it."

Source: News Journal, April 6, 2004

Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly

2007-03-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, Abercrombie & Fitch canceled its racy quarterly magazine because of controversy over a corporate image built on young collegiate types prone to playing naked air guitar. The retailer announced that in the place of the provocative A&F Quarterly, it would expand a more traditional catalog it publishes.

Now the company, which has nearly 700 stores, has plans to shoot the newest edition of the catalog next month in Palm Beach using, surprise, the same art director, Sam Shahid; photographer, Bruce Weber; stylists and crew who made the quarterly risque in the first place.One might say ``the more things change, the more they stay the same,'' or, in A&F's case, the more things change, the less they really have to change at all.

The move to pull the magazine came after the 280-page year-end edition, called the Christmas Field Guide, appeared in stores with a cover line promoting ice hockey and group sex. To the grief of randy teenagers everywhere, the company scrapped the quarterly under protests from socially conservative and religious groups and also dumped the photographs for the spring quarterly, already in hand. That pictorial, which cost in the six figures, had been designed by Shahid and photographed by Weber, who hauled a cast and crew of 60 to Rome last October and photographed them disporting themselves nearly nude at, among other places, Cinecitta, the legendary film production center.

``While it has enjoyed success with the quarterly over the years, the company believes it is time for new thinking and looks forward to unveiling an innovative and exciting campaign in the spring,'' the company said in a statement after the latest brouhaha.

Retail analysts agreed that Abercrombie's racy magazine had helped drive sales of its generic preppy wear to more than $1.2 billion in 2000. The consensus also held that the chain's recent drooping sales were attributable to a shift in its customers best described in two words: Lizzie McGuire.

``We just felt it was time to retire it and come back with something that has beautiful imagery and classical photos,'' said Hampton Carney, a company spokesman, referring to the more traditional catalog that the company plans to distribute next year.

Given that the same creative team that produced the quarterly is doing the catalog, it is worth asking how different that imagery is likely to be. ``There will probably still be kissing and beautiful bodies,'' said a person familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity. ``There just probably won't be themes,'' like three-way sex.

Casting is now under way for models to pose in the new campaign. This time around there may be fewer bare behinds, provocative groupings and exposed nipples, Carney said, ``but that doesn't mean they're going to go totally conservative and lose their nerve.''

Source: The Miami Herald, December 24, 2003

Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly

2007-03-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

Last week Abercrombie & Fitch canceled its racy quarterly magazine because of controversy over a corporate image built on young collegiate types prone to playing naked air guitar. The retailer announced that in the place of the provocative A&F Quarterly, it would expand a more traditional catalog it publishes. But this week the company, which has nearly 700 stores, revealed plans to shoot the newest edition of the catalog next month using, surprise, the same art director, Sam Shahid; photographer, Bruce Weber; stylists and crew who made the quarterly risqué in the first place.

One might say "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose," as A&F executives prove themselves alert to the reality that the more things change, the less they really have to change at all.The move to pull the magazine came after the 280-page year-end edition, called the Christmas Field Guide, appeared in stores with a cover line promoting ice hockey and group sex. To the grief of randy teenagers everywhere, the company scrapped the quarterly under protests from socially conservative and religious groups and also dumped the photographs for the spring quarterly, already in hand. That pictorial, which cost in the six figures, had been designed by Mr. Shahid and photographed by Mr. Weber, who hauled a cast and crew of 60 to Rome last October and photographed them disporting themselves nearly nude at, among other places, Cinecittà, the legendary film production center.

"While it has enjoyed success with the quarterly over the years, the company believes it is time for new thinking and looks forward to unveiling an innovative and exciting campaign in the spring," the company said in a statement after the latest brouhaha.

Retail analysts agreed that Abercrombie's racy magazine had helped drive sales of its generic preppy wear to more than $1.2 billion in 2000. The consensus also held that the chain's recent drooping sales were attributable to a shift in its customers best described in two words: Lizzie McGuire.

"We just felt it was time to retire it and come back with something that has beautiful imagery and classical photos," said Hampton Carney, a company spokesman, referring to the more traditional catalog that the company plans to distribute next year.

Given that the same creative team that produced the quarterly is doing the catalog, it is worth asking how different that imagery is likely to be. "There will probably still be kissing and beautiful bodies," said a person familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity. "There just probably won't be themes," like three-way sex.

Casting is now under way for models to pose in the new campaign, to be shot in Palm Beach, Fla. This time around there may be fewer bare behinds, provocative groupings and exposed nipples, Mr. Carney said, "but that doesn't mean they're going to go totally conservative and lose their nerve."

Source: New York Times, December 16, 2003

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Brad Kroenig

2007-03-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

Abercrombie & Fitch Photo Shoots

2007-03-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

When Abercrombie & Fitch went shopping for an attractive location for a fashion shoot this spring, it couldn't pass up Swarthmore College's rolling hills and blossoming foliage. What company officials did pass up was the Swarthmore student body, angering many on the Pennsylvania campus, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.The company, which uses near nudity in ads to sell its preppy clothing to the young and affluent, brought its own models for the shoot. In opinion articles in the campus newspaper The Phoenix, students also complained that corporations should not be allowed to define beauty. What's more, they said, there's a huge disconnect between the company's values and Swarthmore's.

''Swarthmore is not a mainstream school,'' says Dann Naseemullah, a senior. ''The culture that they peddle is not our culture.''

Company officials defend their use of Swarthmore, even though they don't plan to identify the campus in their ads.

''A setting at Swarthmore is totally appropriate for our purposes of conveying the image of the name to our customer,'' said a company spokesman.

School spokesman Thomas Krattenmaker says the students are making much of nothing.

''I'm glad that Swarthmore students have the social conscience that they have,'' he says. ''But I've heard from lots of students who thought it was kind of fun that Abercrombie was here.''

Source: Peoria Journal Star, May 16, 2002

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Matthew Avedon

2006-08-26T01:11:00.000-07:00

THE age of male vanity -- the era that has resulted in L'Oréal hair color for men and magazine articles about C.E.O.'s who get oxygen facials -- seems to have wrought little for men who might have the greatest cause to preoccupy themselves with matters of appearance. Here we speak of the injustice that no social movement has arisen to eradicate: the gross disparity between the paychecks of professionally good-looking people belonging to one sex versus the paychecks of those belonging to the other. Female models still take home a lot more money than male models -- sometimes 10 times as much.

Were you to reach the upper echelons of male modeling -- an achievement that most likely still wouldn't render the kind of celebrity that could divorce you from your surname -- you actually wouldn't do too badly. Earnings would amount to $5,000 for a single runway show and six times that for an advertising campaign.The first time Matthew Avedon went to Milan to model in the men's shows that occur twice a year, he skipped his casting calls and spent two days on his skateboard instead, and consequently landed little work. "I disappeared and no one could find me," he said over a sandwich in SoHo recently. "The following year, I went back and made a lot of money."

Matthew Avedon is a grandson of Richard Avedon, but he has the look of someone who could claim Leif Garrett and Bob Dylan in his not-very-distant lineage. And this is a look not without advantage: Mr. Avedon, 18, appeared in 11 runway shows during the men's collections in Milan last month. Michael Thompson photographed him as the exclusive subject of a 10-page shoot in the February issue of Details, which turned up at about the same moment as Versace's Versus campaign, in which Mr. Avedon also stars. Last week Mr. Avedon was in Paris being photographed for Ermenegildo Zegna's new ad campaign; he has also appeared in ads for the Gap and Ralph Lauren. Like most models the world over, he shows up during his off hours in loose jeans, sneakers and a scruffy comportment that says, "I'll probably shower before the next Congressional race, but don't hold me to it."

Mr. Avedon is not in possession of a jaw line the shape of a Sony Trinitron, but he has become the male model of the hour in part because fashion editors and design houses now seem to be chasing the ephemeral quality of realness. As Joe Zee, an influential stylist who was instrumental in the selection of Mr. Avedon for the Details shoot, put it: "First you had the skinny-guy look, then the Abercrombie & Fitch jock hunk, and now I think the trend is toward guys who look regular. I'm not saying Matthew's Everyguy, but he doesn't have those pretty features. He's not super-buff. He doesn't spend five hours a day at the gym."

In fact, Mr. Avedon admittedly spends zero hours at the gym, preferring to skateboard, a passion that has resulted in fractured knees and ankles, among other injuries.

"Since I hurt my ankle, I don't walk straight," he said, "so I fake it, and it turns into this goofy swagger. The limp has become my signature."

For a young man with a legendary fashion photographer in his family, Mr. Avedon took a circuitous route to the world of the $3,000 suit. He grew up in Manhattan, and one day, when he was walking around uptown, he was stopped by a photographer, Arnaldo Anaya-Lucca, who asked to take his picture.

The photographer, as it turned out, knew Mr. Avedon's mother, an author of books about Tibetan Buddhism and the wife of Richard Avedon's son John. Mr. Anaya-Lucca took the pictures to the Next modeling agency, and Mr. Avedon signed with the agency on his 16th birthday.

At the time, Mr. Avedon admitted, he was not working to maximum capacity as a student. He dropped out of St. Anne's School in Brooklyn Heights to attend the High School of Art and Design in Midtown Manhattan.

"Art and Design killed any desire I had to be an artist," he said. He then went on to City-as-School, a public school that puts young people in internships. At City-As, Mr. Avedon worked both as an assistant to a third-grade teacher and as a right hand to the WNYC Radio talk-show host Brian Lehrer, which led him to conclude that "a lot of angry people call radio shows."

And a lot of very animated people work in fashion, Mr. Avedon has now learned. Recalling the Gucci show in Milan last month, he recalled having to chant a mantra with the other models before the show, to get in the mood.

The mantra, part of which is unprintable here, began with the phrase, "I am a Gucci man." The second clause proclaimed the benefit of life as a Gucci man, which is to say that he never wants for sex. "It was pretty goofy," he said.

"They make the girls do the same kind of thing," he added, referring to the models who walk the runway for Gucci's women's shows. "And I don't think they like it very much."

Speaking of, as he puts it, "the girl models," Mr. Avedon isn't crazy about many. "They've been told they're beautiful their whole lives, and they feel really entitled," he said. "A lot of them are pretty stuck up."

Maggie Rizer "is the first nice girl model I met," he said, though he later admitted to having a crush on a new arrival at the Next agency, a young model named Sierra. "She's from Montana," he said, beaming sheepishly.

Assuming that Mr. Avedon's look remains in vogue, he would like to keep modeling as long as the industry will have him. He has been writing short stories, he said, and might eventually want to try it full time. "Male models," he said. "I mean, really, who cares?"

Source: New York Times, February 25, 2001

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Carl Arrell

2006-08-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

"Yeah," said the dad of Twin Cities model Carl Arrell, some of those photos in the Abercrombie & Fitch Christmas storybook catalog are "provocative." Carl plays the character Jed Washburn in the catalog. I had father Jim Arrell, a financial adviser at American Express, Post-it note all the pages that Carl was on, and I didn't see anything provocative or risque.

So I asked our librarian Roberta Hovde to see what she could find online.

"Did you look at the WHOLE catalog? What about this naked man on the fountain?" Roberta asked after reading a few sentences of a USA Today article. We repaired to an office to give the catalog a thorough examination.

Be doggoned if the first page I flipped to wasn't the one of the naked guy atop the fountain! "I don't get the ducks," Roberta said. A & F is normally about the business of selling outdoorsy clothing, thus the ducks. You don't see naughty bits, but I can see how Jim found the catalog "pretty risque.

It's kind of tilted to teenagers! or at least college [students], and that's the big controversy." According to USA Today: "Teens love it. Parents hate it . . . oh yes, [there's] an interview with `Brady Bunch' mom Florence Henderson commenting on penis size." So did Carl find his catalog work risque? "To me, like being there and everything, it seemed like everybody tried to have fun.

You see something going on, and you're just kinda like `uh.' Everybody tried not to think about it, I think," said Carl, who did no fleshy photos. Was he at least paid well? "Not that well," he said, but "you got to work with a really good photographer, Bruce Weber." Carl, a 1999 grad of Park Center High in Brooklyn Park, is back home to continue his studies at the "U," where he's a sophomore pursuing a business finance degree.

Source: Star Tribune, December 7, 2000

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Chaise Mooty

2006-08-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

The young man lounging casually on the couch playing with a soccer ball looks like an average 17-year-old young man. Granted his looks are striking and his tall athletic frame makes it easy to understand why two modeling agencies think he has the perfect frame to showcase their fashions, but there is a quality about Chaise Mooty that goes beyond his undeniable physical charms. His personality radiates from the depths of his eyes and he has a warmth about him that puts people at ease.

Unlike some teens that would rather be doing anything other than talking with adults, he makes a person feel he is listening to every word they are saying and he's interested. Those are the very qualities that have propelled his modeling career forward at an unusual speed -- a modeling career that all began with a fluke. "I went to meet a friend for coffee, something we never did, and while I was waiting I bought a Dallas Morning News," Robyn Proctor, Chaise's mom, said. "But I didn't get a chance to read it then." Later when she returned home she was about to throw the unread newspaper away, and out of guilt for wasting money on a paper she didn't read, she decided to flip through it. That's when she saw the entry form to Dallas' annual modeling contest, the Dallas Model Search '04. The Dallas Morning News and The Kim Dawson Agency sponsor the contest.

When Chaise came home from school, she asked him if he was interested in entering the contest. "I said sure, why not," Chaise recalls, not really believing anything would come of it. As they were going over the entry form for requirements, they noticed the deadline was the day before, but they decided to send pictures anyway. A few weeks later they received a call that he was in the top 30 entries chosen out of over 2,000 entries. The caller told Robyn she would need to have Chaise in Dallas for an in-person interview, but the day they needed him to be there he had a football game. Little did they know how close Chaise's modeling career came to ending before it started. "I just recently found out that when I asked to reschedule his appointment, Lisa Dawson, director of the agency, was hesitant about making exceptions," Robyn said. "But when she looked at his picture again, she did, thankfully." Even after turning in his entry form late and missing his first interview, Chaise was chosen as the Model Search winner. The biggest part of the prize for winning was a one-year contract with the Kim Dawson Agency, Inc.

He recalls his first modeling call. He was to go to J.C. Penny for an interview. He waited outside, and when he was called in, he stood before a board of three people that looked at him for about 10 seconds and then said thank you. "That was it. No 'we'll call you,' nothing. I didn't know if I had the job or not," Chaise laughed. But he did get the job and you can see him in the J.C. Penny inserts found in newspapers.

DNA Modeling, a second modeling agency in New York, has signed Chaise without even meeting him. They saw his photos and decided they liked what they saw. He has also posed for Italian Vogue and Arene magazines. Both are due out in April. Unfortunately, if you are following his career, you will have to order these magazines because they are not in stock in Texarkana.

Already his newfound career has taken him to tropical locations. He was selected to be one of the models for an Abercrombie and Fitch photo shoot located in the Caribbean. Where in the tropics, he was not able to disclose exactly because the fashion industry is so competitive and the actual clothing lines are very hush-hush. The shoot was supposed to last three days, but he was asked to stay for two additional days. It was during this booking that Chaise met Bruce Weber, world-renowned photographer from New York. Weber saw in Chaise what everyone else seemed to see and asked him to be in a shoot in Miami, Florida. "I got to work with Mr.Weber, and the people at the agency in Dallas have never met him," Chaise said.

You would think with all this attention to his looks he would be just a little conceded, but he's not. When he talks about what people have told him about his looks, he doesn't do it with self-assurance, but with tiny blushes that give his already handsome features an enduring appeal.

Chaise will admit his life has changed since all of this has come about, some for the better, some for the worse. "You learn who your real friends are when something like this happens to you," he said. "There are people at school who say things about me being stuck up or how I think I'm too good for them now, but they are also the same people who have never talked to me."

He can't complain about the opportunities he has had to meet people and learn about so many different cultures. "At the Abercrombie shoot there were models from all over the world, Australia, Brazil, Canada, London, Jamaica and Spain," Chaise said.

Unbelievably, modeling has improved this Texas High Senior's outlook on schoolwork. "I used to look at reading assignments as boring, but while at a shoot we have a lot of down time and you had to sit around in your clothes and not get messed up, a lot like when you were little getting ready for church," he laughs. "It was during some down time that I was reading the Great Gatsby for school thinking how boring when one of the other models came up and said, 'Hey, I remember that book, it was great.' I saw the book as reading for fun instead of an assignment for the first time."

Chaise, an admitted video fanatic, has realized how much of his time he had wasted in front of a television staring at a game when he heard all the other models discussing books or films they had read or seen. He could not join in on the conversation because he was limited to knowing the latest Xbox or Playstation 2 game. Not that he wasn't a top-notch student before, but he took what he was learning for granted. He never realized he would have a career where a geography lesson on the culture in different nations would come in handy.

Chaise is currently in the running for two major modeling jobs, Levi and Calvin Klein. He is also looking to return to the Caribbean over spring break or he's off to New York to meet and greet prospective clients for the agency in New York. Until he turns 18 in September, Robyn says she will accompany him on most trips, but after that she will have to pay her way to travel with him. But she laughs, "Hey, he's making the money now, he can pay."

The monetary appeal of this career hit Chaise when he deposited his first paycheck. When he could make more in one photo assignment than he did slaving in the hot sun for two summers mowing yards and doing odd jobs, there was no question in Chaise's mind - yeah, this will work for him. Chaise recently purchased his first car on his own, a Silver 2006 Nissan 350Z. Not bad for a 17-year-old kid.Chaise250 (78K)

Let's not forget the female models. It must be a hardship on a young teenage boy to have to hold beautiful young women in his arms during a photo shoot. "It is one of the perks of the job," Chaise laughs. It is also one of the reasons he doesn't have a girlfriend. The jealousy would be a complication he doesn't need or want at this point in his life.

Meeting Jacob Young was the highlight of his Caribbean trip for his mom. Young plays Adam Chandler's son on the soap opera All My Children. Chaise and Adam became friends during the shoot. Adam left instructions for Chaise to come to the studio while he is in New York and he will be introduced to the casting director, so this young up and coming star may get his first acting break on the very show he teases his mom for watching.

Will his modeling or acting prevent him from continuing his educational career? "Absolutely not," said his ex-school teaching mom. "His education is first and foremost on our priority list. It is not an option to be put on hold." "I am not banking on modeling being a lifetime career. I am just going to enjoy it while it lasts." Chaise said. He wants to pursue a career in the medical field and which college he attends will depend on what contract he is offered.

Although Robyn and Danny, his dad, have discussed home schooling for Chaise, Weber advises against it. The gifted photographer told Chaise it was his outside interests that make him who he is. His love for sports and school create the Chaise Mooty that the camera captures. The agencies tell him not to hurry his life, he has plenty of time for exposure, but they do joke with him about playing football - especially since one of his first photo shoots show him with a huge knot on his forehead caused by a football game the night before.

Former model and ex-football player Marty Cherry warned Chaise that this field is competitive and can be harsh at times, but he advised the young man not to take rejection personal. "It is not you they are rejecting. You are just not the look they are searching for to represent their campaign," Cherry advised.

The family gets a lot of calls now asking how to get started in modeling. Chaise just wants to issue a warning - be careful of anyone asking you for money up front. If they tell you that you have to pay "x" amount of money for pictures or workshops, run-run away - it is a scam. Keep your eyes open for open call ads from modeling agencies or contests that are legitimate. "Don't dedicate your whole life to being a model," Chaise said. "If you dedicate your life to modeling and that's all you do, you become a hollow shell and that is what is seen in your pictures. Who you are and what you do comes out in your pictures." "Don't be a hollow shell. Go out and live."

Source: Images Magazine, 2005, Tonya Domokos

Abercrombie & Fitch Photo Shoots

2006-08-02T06:42:00.001-07:00

When Abercrombie & Fitch went shopping for an attractive location for a fashion shoot this spring, it couldn't pass up Swarthmore College's rolling hills and blossoming foliage. What company officials did pass up was the Swarthmore student body, angering many on the Pennsylvania campus.

The company, which uses near nudity in ads to sell its preppy clothing to the young and affluent, brought its own models for the shoot. In opinion articles in the campus newspaper, The Phoenix, students also complained that corporations should not be allowed to define beauty. What's more, they said, there's a huge disconnect between the company's values and Swarthmore's.

"Swarthmore is not a mainstream school," says Dann Naseemullah, a senior. "The culture that they peddle is not our culture."

Meanwhile, students at Stanford University and several other institutions were criticizing the company's new line of T-shirts featuring caricatured Asian faces and bearing such slogans as "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White." The company quickly withdrew the shirts and apologized.

But company officials defend their use of Swarthmore, even though they don't plan to identify the campus in their ads. "A setting at Swarthmore is totally appropriate for our purposes of conveying the image of the name to our customer," says Hampton Carney, a company spokesman.

Thomas Krattenmaker, a Swarthmore spokesman, says the students are making much of nothing. "I'm glad that Swarthmore students have the social conscience that they have," he says. "But I've heard from lots of students who thought it was kind of fun that Abercrombie was here."

Source: 2002 Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Charlie Scheerer

2006-08-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

Southern Methodist University senior Charlie Scheerer, who grew up on Seaspray Avenue, knows what he'll be doing in the new year, at least for a few days of it. He got the news this week from Nick Tamposi at P Model Management that he's been booked as one of the faces (and bodies, as is usually the case) for the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. This is the second time Tamposi's agency has placed a Palm Beacher with the A&F people - Cristina Coniglio appeared in the catalog earlier this year.

Photographer Bruce Weber will be shooting Scheerer and other models in various stages of dress (and undress, if history is any indication) in Fort Lauderdale Jan. 5-12.It won't be the first time Scheerer has stood in front of a camera. When the 21-year-old was 5, his mother, Sandy Scheerer - who obviously thought he was adorable but knew he had a face that more people than just his mother could love - took him to New York, where he found work as a child model and appeared in several ads.

She doesn't expect that her son will make a career out of modeling, noting that Charlie is a finance major and has interned during the summers with Dixon Boardman's Optima Fund Management group in Manhattan, but she thinks it'll be a kick for him.

Source: Palm Beach Daily News, December 25, 2005

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Charlie Scheerer

2006-08-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

This past spring, images of Charlie Scheerer's face and well-toned body, as photographed by Bruce Weber for Abercrombie & Fitch, were plastered all over the world.

Scheerer, 21, a senior at Southern Methodist University in Dallas who grew up on the island, was not only pictured in the summer-season catalog 'Casual Luxury,' distributed to over 1.5 million homes worldwide, but was designated as Abercrombie & Fitch's "premier" model for the period from April to June.That made Scheerer the star of all in-store marketing displays at Abercrombie's 348 stores in the United States and Canada and on its Web site, www.abercrombie.com. His image was also posted on 60 billboards positioned at strategic locations in major American cities.

"Charlie completely embodies the A&F lifestyle, from dedicated student to amazing athlete - and all with perfect good looks," said an Abercrombie & Fitch spokesman.

Scheerer's premier status with Abercrombie & Fitch involved making appearances every weekend in spring at the apparel retailer's new Fifth Avenue flagship store in Manhattan.

He was flown up each weekend, issued a pair a cargo shorts and flip-flops - no shirt, of course - and greeted thousands of customers who came through the flagship's doors.

"I think they chose me because I have a personality," said the 6-foot Scheerer, who said that models competing for the position all had great bodies but were not as articulate as he was.

Of course, it helped that Scheerer has always taken care of his physique.

"I lead a healthy lifestyle," he said. "I run a lot, eat healthy and work out regularly."

"Charlie is able to speak and is much more than a pretty face," said mother Sandy Scheerer, who recognized her son's potential as a model when he was 4 years old and he was signed by the Ford agency for a brief period.

His current part-time stint as a model is exciting and surprising to his mother.

"When I was in New York City to see him on the weekends, you would see a shopping bag with his face on it go by and it would just blow me away.

"He was so recognized, it was amazing. At the Abercrombie store, girls would line up to see him," she said. "He even had a bodyguard."

Among the thousands of people he came into contact with, said Sandy Scheerer, was none other than Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who noticed Charlie as he passed the Fifth Avenue A&F store one weekend.

"He kept speaking to me in Italian," said Scheerer. "He kept asking me what I needed, how he could help me, if I could come to Milan to do fashion shows. I didn't know who he was at first."

Calling his return to modeling a "bizarre" phenomenon, Sandy Scheerer noted that her eldest son (he has a 15-year-old brother - Joey) happened to be in the right place at the right time and will have a sideline career when he earns a degree in finance.

Scheerer and his mother laud the efforts of Nick Tamposi of P Model Management in West Palm Beach for the opportunity. Tamposi, who used to lived down the block from the Scheerers' Midtown home, thought of his old friend Charlie when a call came in from Abercrombie & Fitch that they were looking for new faces for the summer catalog. Tamposi had track record with A&F casting, having successfully introduced local model Christina Coniglio to the brand the year before.

"I thought Charlie had the right look," said Tamposi, who took a Polaroid of Scheerer and sent that to the Abercrombie & Fitch casting people. Scheerer, still in school in Texas, could not attend the casting call in person.

On the basis of that one Polaroid, Scheerer's modeling career was launched.

"Nick thought I'd be good, and he was right," said Scheerer. "I didn't really have to think about it."

After the A&F shoot in January and his selection as the retailer's "face" of the season, Weber chose Scheerer to appear in a Polo Ralph Lauren print and Internet campaign for the clothes Lauren designed for the Wimbledon tennis championships and a shoot for the September issue of the Italian men's fashion magazine L'Uomo Vogue.

For the rest of the summer, Scheerer's modeling duties are minimal. He is working for a second summer as a research analyst at the Optime Fund Management hedge fund operated by part-time Palm Beacher Dixon Boardman in New York.

When he returns to SMU this fall, he'll spend a semester abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, but will be model on the side. Tamposi has organized representation for Scheerer with the Flash agency in Milan and the Kult agency in Hamburg, and is researching the possibility of representation for Scheerer at a Danish agency as well.

Scheerer, while going for the modeling gigs full throttle, is not interested in pursuing a career in front of the camera after he graduates.

"It's all very unexpected and has turned out to be a great experience," he said. "I get to travel a lot and meet lots of people."

His post-SMU goal, however, is to land a job in New York in finance.

"I'd like to work in investment banking or for a hedge fund," he said.

Source: Palm Beach Daily News, July 9, 2006

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Jeremy Bloom

2006-08-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

If Jeremy Bloom wins a gold medal in moguls skiing at next year's Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, his sponsors and the U.S. Olympic Committee should send a thank-you card to the NCAA.

Football's loss was clearly freestyle skiing's gain.

Bloom, 22, is the hottest moguls skier in the world this season with four consecutive wins on the World Cup circuit. He looks like he'll retain his icy grip on the No. 1 spot in the standings

"I feel really relaxed," Bloom said in a recent conference call with reporters. "I don't look at it as a winning streak. I just try to improve a little more every day and hopefully it will help me next year."

This is the first time Bloom has concentrated on only one sport. Growing up, he played football and basketball and ran track in school and hit the slopes when the bell rang. He was a unique two-sport man at Colorado, balancing football and skiing for two years before the NCAA and its outdated rules caught up to him.

Even though moguls skiing is not an NCAA sport, the organization ruled that Bloom could not remain eligible for football if he accepted money from sponsors for his skiing.

Now he's down to one sport, and dominating it.

"Other sports kept me mentally fresh," he said. "It's been more of a challenge to dedicate myself mentally to one sport. It's a continual learning experience."

Coming out of high school in Loveland, Colo., Bloom was skilled enough in football to be recruited to Colorado as a wide receiver and kick returner. At the same time, he was developing into a world-class freestyle skier in moguls.

Traveling the World Cup circuit to compete isn't cheap and sponsorship offers and endorsement deals came Bloom's way, and not just for the ski stuff. Bloom has the kind of looks to draw modeling assignments; he's appeared in Vanity Fair and GQ magazines and in ads for Abercrombie & Fitch and Under Armour while being labeled "Eye Candy" by Cosmo Girl magazine.

Bloom finished a disappointing ninth at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 but managed to get in two seasons of football at Colorado (he scored five touchdowns of 75 yards or longer) before the NCAA went petty and denied him further eligibility.

"I believe I'm permanently ineligible," Bloom said of his college football status. "I've moved on in my life. Maybe after the Olympics, I'll try to go play in the NFL."

In contrast to the NCAA, the NFL probably would embrace a unique two- sport athlete such as Bloom. The last athlete who excelled at skiing and played in the NFL was kicker Jan Stenerud.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, February 15, 2005

Abercrombie & Fitch Model: Kyle Maynard Wrestler with congenital amputation

2006-08-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

STILLWATER - There's not much Kyle Maynard can't do. That says a lot coming from a 19-year old with no elbows or knees. Maynard was born with a rare disorder called congenital amputation. It left him with three total joints - his neck and two shoulders. He's just over two feet tall and weighs about 125 pounds.

His condition would keep most people from accomplishing routine activities, much less being competitive in sports. But Maynard isn't most people.

The University of Georgia freshman received the Medal of Courage from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Friday night in Stillwater. Such honors are becoming routine for Maynard.

"I've had some honors, but it's unbelievable to be honored here," Maynard said. "This is the heart of wrestling. You can feel the spirit here."

The Hall also added four inductees Friday night: Chris Campbell and Larry "Zeke" Jones, both Olympians and world champions; former Oklahoma State wrestler and current Minnesota coach J Robinson; and former Clarion University coach Robert Bubb.

Maynard has some lofty credentials of his own.

He has wrestled since the sixth grade. His high school coach, Cliff Ramos, would get on his knees and tuck his arms into his sleeves to understand Maynard's perspective and help him train. Together, they developed moves specific to how Maynard could wrestle.

Maynard had a 35-16 record in high school and won three out of five matches his senior year at the state meet. He had the third-most takedowns (89) on his team. He just missed All-America status after competing in the NHSCA Wrestling Championships.

He has received an ESPY award for Best Athlete with a Disability. He's been on Larry King Live, HBO, the Howard Stern radio show and ESPN's Cold Pizza. Maynard has even done modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch. "My life is all about normalcy," Maynard said. "That's kind of the conflict with this award. I see myself as normal. There are so many other people that deserve this award.

"Right now, I'm just in awe. I'm seeing some of my heroes around here."

Maynard is continuing his wrestling career at Georgia. He is on a club team that competes in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association. He also has participated in swimming, baseball, street hockey and football, all with the aid of prosthesis.

"He's a ball of spirit, a gift to the world," Hall of Fame executive director Lee Roy Smith said. "This award is not about what he can do for us, but a congratulations for being who he is.

"Wrestling is about self-reliance, self discipline and self-confidence. Kyle has all three."

Maynard said he will wrestle as long as he can. He is studying broadcast journalism. He said he'll continue to travel and do motivational speaking while in school.

"If my story has an impact on one person, it will be worth the fight," Maynard said. "Without wrestling and without the people around me, I wouldn't be in my situation. It's nothing special about me. It's all about the sport."

Also recognized by the Hall of Fame this year: Outstanding American, James Ravannack of Metarie, La.; Order of Merit, Stan Zeamer of Manheim, Pa.; Lifetime Achievement Award for Officials, Bobby Walton of Midwest City; National High School Excellence Award, Troy Nickerson of Chenango Forks, N.Y.

Source: Daily Oklahoman, June 4, 2005

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Brady Quinn

2006-08-02T06:37:00.000-07:00

Their careers started out similarly. The hyped-up freshman entering school being told there was an opportunity to play.

He didn't start at first, but by midseason everyone knew the lineup and that the freshman had to be in it. The freshman represented the future and had the talent for the present. Notre Dame junior quarterback Brady Quinn went through it in 2003 out of Dublin, Ohio. So when his sister, Kelly, started the same path this year as a freshman soccer forward at Virginia, the advice started coming.

And coming. And coming.

"I'm sure she's tired of hearing stuff," Brady said this week. "It helps her realize it's the same game. That's one of the things I try to tell her."

She listens, too. Older sister Laura said Brady is probably the only Quinn from whom Kelly takes advice.

"Anything he says, I listen to him," Kelly said. "Even guy advice."

The suggestions started a few years ago, when Brady began his Notre Dame career and Kelly continued to dominate Ohio high school soccer. Kelly suffered an injury and was unable to play in the state championship game her senior season.

She wanted to play, despite not being able to walk. Brady sat her down and dispensed what Kelly considers the most important advice she's gotten.

"I was crying and he sat down and said everything happens for a reason and this isn't the biggest thing in your life," Kelly remembered. "You don't need to risk playing in a high school game. You have a whole college career ahead of you.

"It almost made me cry even more because he cared that much."

Brady is known nationwide now, thanks to Notre Dame's NBC contract, his 1,181 yards passing and 10 touchdowns and his good looks that caused Abercrombie & Fitch to consider him for a model and Hollister, where he worked in high school, to place him as a greeter in the local store.

Brady Quinn is one of the pretty people.

"We joke about it in our family, even," Kelly said. "Well, if football doesn't work out, he has a modeling career.

"Other girls are like, `Your brother is gorgeous.' I'm like `Hey, we can be sisters. I'll hook you up. You can be part of the family.' "

Sorry girls, Kelly is kidding. And Brady's been attached for a while.

Meet 19-year-old Lindy Slinger, a sophomore at Miami, Ohio, in Oxford. Kelly and Lindy played soccer together for years in Dublin and Lindy's been with Brady since before he became the newest Mr. Notre Dame. She dated him back when he was merely Brady from Dublin.

She's been with him through his different fashions: the Hollister/surfer boy phase his teammates talk about from his freshman year; the shaggy, fraternity boy look from sophomore year and this year's clean cut junior style.

Although, she said, the current one might have been a product of summer antics.

"He experimented with a Mohawk this summer," Slinger said from Oxford this week. "I never thought Brady would do that but he did. It was like two days. One of his close friends has been cutting his hair since he was little.

"They were out in the driveway, shaved a Mohawk. He's crazy."

He's also caused her to be known not as Lindy, but as "Brady Quinn's girlfriend" around her Miami campus.

Not that she minds. She's used to it now, going out and watching Brady sign autographs everywhere he goes and girls staring at him, watching him as he walks by.

The attention is growing. Three MySpace accounts have been created as his name - none of which shows any proof to actually being Brady. There is a Brady4Heisman Web site. Whenever ESPN runs a college football commercial, some sort of Brady Quinn image appears in the montage.

"He's a Tom Brady," said his 22-year-old sister Laura, a senior a Cal State Los Angeles. "He's good looking. He's modest and a sweetheart. Brady is honestly a good kid and he's got the looks to boot. He's got everything going for him.

"He's got manners and he's courteous of everybody. He's the prototype of a quarterback."

There's the comparison everyone makes - the link to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Part of it comes because of the common coach, first-year Notre Dame leader Charlie Weis. Part comes because stylistically, they play the same sort of game. Part of it comes because of the charisma and the good looks. They even have the same attributes - both are listed at 6-foot-4 and Quinn outweighs Brady by six pounds.

And although people don't know it, Quinn has modeled before. All the Quinns have.

"He got a lot of work when he was younger," said Laura, who continued modeling and aspires to be a sports broadcaster. "We all did different stuff. He got out of it a lot earlier than Kelly and I because of sports. It was mostly Schottensteins (a department store in Ohio) and textbooks."

There's one other piece, too, that's helped Brady Quinn with the celebrity.

It runs in the family. He's been able to search out one of his own for advice, much like he dispenses it to his sister.

Zachery Ty Bryan - who played the eldest son, Brad, on "Home Improvement" and has since dropped the Ty - is his cousin. The two send e-mails and instant messages and try to see each other a few times a year.

Bryan, now 24 and still acting, told him to stick with the people who were there before he became big-time Brady Quinn.

Of course, he can say that. He remembers Brady when he was little.

"He was the scrawny little kid," Bryan said. "He was in the back yard of the pool, this little kid. You should see the pictures.

"Now, he's this yoked guy. Where did that come from? He was really skinny. Next thing I know, he's 2-and-a-quarter."

And now he's becoming a big-time celebrity.

"It's so wild," Bryan said. "What I went through with `Home Improvement,' it's cool to see someone going through the same thing. We can talk and I can give him advice as to what mistakes I did make and the good choices I made.

"Now, we have to hope he makes it to the NFL."

Then, of course, he'll be a full-blown celeb.

Source: Journal Gazette, October 1, 2005

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Nick Runnebaum

2006-08-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

In all of Missouri and all of Kansas, where will you find the best-looking, biggest-hearted single guys?

Right here in the Kansas City area, of course. The November issue of Cosmopolitan, now on newsstands, showcases one eligible bachelor per state, and as it happens, Mr. Missouri and Mr. Kansas are both Cowtowners.

They're also both "drool-worthy" (Cosmo's words), but is their studliness more than skin deep? We talked to them to find out. (P.S. These photos are not the ones in Cosmo; to see those, find a copy of the magazine or visit cosmopolitan.com and click "Bachelor Blowout.")

- Tim Engle/The Star

Mr. Missouri Kevin Jones

Mr. Kansas Nick Runnebaum

Basic bio

He's 27; a patent attorney at megafirm Shook, Hardy & Bacon; grew up in Raytown; grad of Park University (math major) and UMKC law school; is moving to the Plaza.

He's 25; a senior biz major at University of St. Mary, Leavenworth; former assistant manager at Abercrombie & Fitch stores in Lawrence and on the Plaza; works at Fort Leavenworth doing background checks.

Stats

5 feet 9 inches; 165 pounds; brown eyes.

6 feet 2 inches; 185 pounds; dark brown eyes.

Really digs...

Clothes, dancing, movies, working out.

Basketball, football, "trying to golf," skiing, working out.

Jock status

Played baseball at JCCC, Appalachian State and Park U. His "Plan A" at one point was to play pro ball.

Played basketball at Benedictine College in Atchison; played football (free safety, wide receiver) for St. Mary.

Best physical feature (according to him)

His smile.

His smile.

You might not guess that he...

Is a magician. As a teenager he bought a magic book in Vegas; now performs at parties, conventions, etc. around the country. His specialty: up-close magic. Always has a deck of cards in his pocket.

Coaches seventh-grade girls and boys basketball. Practices are at 6 a.m. "I find a lot of enjoyment in it."

As quoted in Cosmo

"I'm shy around girls I'm attracted to. As a result, I think it's hotter when a woman makes the first move."

"Success is important to me but not in terms of money. I'm after the kind that comes from being happy with myself."

How he got in the mag

Then-girlfriend sent in pix.

Then-girlfriend sent in pix.

About his Cosmo pic...

They put him in a polo shirt and cords and restyled his hair. The result: very boy-next-door. "It's not what I naturally look like, I don't think.

"He's shirtless, in plaid flannel shorts (not boxers) in a hammock. "I don't think it's the best picture of me at all.

"What he's looking for in a woman

A Christian who loves family, likes to dance and has a great sense of humor.

Someone who's attractive, honest, intelligent, "a girl that can basically stimulate my mind."

A few words on the KC dating scene

We have "one of the friendliest female populations in the country. I think it's very easy to talk to people here." When he goes out, it's usually to the Plaza.

"I like the women of Kansas City. I think they're mostly down to earth but independent. They're not so much into the flashy lifestyle."

What next?

He'll keep practicing law and making magic. He also enjoys the modeling stuff.

"I haven't taken modeling out of the picture yet." Met with some New York agencies when there for Cosmo shoot. May move to Denver and get into medical supply sales.

Cover boys

The annual "Cosmo Men" issue features "some of the most eligible studs in the nation" (and their e-mail addresses). Runnebaum is on Page 72; Jones, Page 80.

Source: Kansas City Star, October 22, 2005

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Charlie Scheerer

2006-08-02T06:34:00.001-07:00

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

Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly

2006-08-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

The Abercrombie & Fitch quarterly magazine has won a place of honor on the cocktail tables of gay men from Chelsea to the Castro. But these gentlemen are not looking at the clothes. Instead, they are admiring page after page of buff college boys frolicking on campus in Abercrombie & Fitch jeans, pullovers and crew-necks. A posse of young men in boxers and roller skates whoops it up at a dimly lit rink. Half-dressed guys are pictured with their bedroom eyes staring directly at the reader. Four pages feature young men streaking across campus, their bare bottoms facing the camera.

The images are neither physically threatening nor aggressively sexual. But to a host of readers, they are obviously homoerotic. What makes the images unique is their context. They are not in the sort of high-end fashion magazine in which homoeroticism is now commonplace, thanks to advertising campaigns from Calvin Klein, Gianni Versace, Gucci and others. They haven't been placed in a niche publication, such as Out magazine. And they are not loaded with attitude. They are in a mainstream

"I like it," says Joe Landry, publisher of The Advocate. "There's an essence of innocence that has been captured."

"As a gay person, at that age if you're coming out you're fearful and shameful," he says. "To see kids at that age, to see them being playful, happy and open -- even though it's not sexual -- there's a romance that's captured."

Unlike the images of muscle-bound men from the Davidoff advertisements or the Calvin Klein billboards, these photographs aren't confrontational or intimidating.

"The men are idealized, but not challenging," says Harold Levine, a New York-based marketing consultant. With the Abercrombie & Fitch campaign, "a straight guy could say, `It could be me.' A gay guy could say, `Wouldn't that be yummy if that were my boyfriend.' "

The $5 quarterly catalogue premiered in 1997 as the lead tool in Abercrombie & Fitch's national marketing campaign. The current book, titled "On the Road," has a circulation of about 1 million and has largely been credited with sparking the company's recent huge sales increases. Total net sales in 1997 were $522 million, up 56 percent from the previous year.

The success of the catalogue has not been without controversy. Earlier this year, Mothers Against Drunk Driving protested a two-page spread in the quarterly, which is aimed at the college-age market, because it featured a list of recipes detailing how to make alcoholic drinks such as Sex on the Beach and Brain Hemorrhage. The company subsequently removed the pages from the magazine and issued an apology.

A spokesman says that the company has been on a mission to change its image from that of a purveyor of rugged outdoor wear to that of a more fashion-driven house. But he denies that it has made a conscious attempt to court gay customers.

"People are reading into it and projecting their own sexuality on the images," says Lonnie Fogel, director of investor relations and corporate communications. "It's not attempting to deliberately make some sexual statement."

Abercrombie & Fitch produced the magazine in collaboration with the New York advertising agency Shahid & Co. and the images were photographed by Bruce Weber. Shahid worked on "Chosen Families," a controversial advertising campaign for Banana Republic that portrayed gay families in their leisure time. And while Weber is a photographer with a range of topics and styles, he is best known for his homoerotic fashion and advertising shoots for designers such as Calvin Klein.

Fogel, however, says, "Weber was engaged because of the high quality of his work and his creativity."

"That's what good advertising does," Levine says. "If I were [Fogel], I'd say exactly the same thing: We've chosen images to show healthy, American exuberance. . . . We leave interpretation up to the viewer."

And a lot of viewers see, in Abercrombie & Fitch's makeover, a courting of gay men. "It is a known fact among the gay population that the cutest sales boys can be found in Abercrombie & Fitch stores," Levine says. "My college roommate is straight but he has his eyes open, and we went into Abercrombie & Fitch in a suburban Washington mall. He said, `What the hell is going on here? Look at these boys!' I said, `I am.' "

Anecdotal evidence indicates that the company has been successful in creating a buzz. Levine reports seeing increased numbers of gay men wearing Abercrombie & Fitch clothes. Others talk of ripping pages out of the quarterly or pulling ads out of Vanity Fair just to savor the images.

"I think we've made quite an impact across the board," Fogel says. "But we can't point to specific markets or neighborhoods where sales are hot."

That inability may, in fact, be indicative of the success of the campaign. "They're doing a brilliant job," Levine says. "They're not turning anyone off."

Source: Washington Post, August 7, 1998

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Marty Cherry

2006-08-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

Former Texas quarterback Marty Cherry didn't think anything could be more intimidating than walking down the tunnel of the Cotton Bowl for the Longhorns' annual clash with rival Oklahoma. Then he found himself in the company of supermodel Naomi Campbell as he was about to walk down the runway of the Versace fashion show in Milan, Italy, this summer.

"The runway is a lot more intimidating than the tunnel for Texas-OU," Cherry said. "In football, you have a helmet on and a bunch of players around you. On the runway, it's just you, and all the cameras and eyes are on you."

It may be one of the most bizarre audibles a college quarterback has made in recent history. But Cherry, a third-stringer for the Longhorns last year, managed to turn his lowest moment in sports into a very profitable modeling career and a possible venture into acting.

A square-jawed, aqua-eyed 22-year-old from Texarkana, Ark., Cherry bombed miserably when he entered what would become the Longhorns' worst-ever home loss, against UCLA in Week 2 of 1997.

Cherry threw incompletion after incompletion and had three turnovers - two interceptions and a fumble - that led to easy touchdowns for the Bruins.

Late in the game, which UCLA won, 66-3, an ABC camera honed in on Cherry as he watched dejectedly with his helmet off. The announcers joked that while he may not have been able to connect with his receivers, he would probably have no trouble finding a date with such an impressive mug.

Enter Bruce Weber, one of the world's top photographers of male models, who just happened to be catching the game on television.

Weber had an assistant track down Cherry about two weeks later and propose that he attend a four-day shoot for Abercrombie & Fitch in Los Angeles. Such a high-profile layout would all but guarantee the quarterback a chance to become a top model.

Cherry passed.

"I know I didn't play too well," Cherry recalled, his East Texas accent still detectable. "But just because I had one bad game, I wasn't going to give it up."

That sentiment changed, however, as the Longhorns collapsed, finishing the season 4-7.

"I just wasn't happy with the way things were going with the team," said Cherry, whose brother, Mike, is a backup quarterback for the NFL's New York Giants.

Given a second chance, Cherry attended another photo shoot by Weber for Abercrombie & Fitch in February in Miami.

That's all it took. For nearly nine months, Cherry has traded in black eye paint for blush, shoulder pads for Armani suits while traveling the world, staying in top hotels and making hundreds of dollars an hour.

He still studies film, only now it's soap operas caught between classes he's taking at Texas this semester for a business degree. He's still at least three semesters short of graduating.

Acting is the next step, he hopes.

"I watch the soaps to pick up a few pointers on acting," Cherry said. "A lot of the guys on soaps are former models."

Already, Cherry has become a frequent face for Chaps by Ralph Lauren, appearing in several ads of national publications.

It may not have been the way he wanted to get into Sports Illustrated, but his chiseled cheek bones have been in SI and Esquire, and on billboards all over the country. He is posed alone with a football on a Chaps marquee in Manhattan's Times Square.

"He's not quite a well-recognized face as of yet," said Cherry's agent, Rob Sadowsky. "But he's well on his way to higher standing."

Cherry carries a cell phone with him on campus and frequently gets only a day or two of warning from his agent before having to fly across the country for a shoot. He is investing most of the money he's made but splurged on a new Toyota Supra. The color? Cherry red, of course.

So what does Cherry's family think of all this back in Texarkana?

Younger sister Kelly has been hounded by her female classmates at the University of Central Arkansas. They want Marty to make a campus visit after seeing him on a Little Rock billboard.

Marty's brother is hoping the two can do a shoot together once the NFL season is over.

Their father, Mike Sr., says he'll support Marty in whatever he does, although he's a little worried about his son's shrinking weight and accent.

"Sometimes, it doesn't sound like him," said Mike Sr., who's 6-7 and a former high school basketball coach. "And I'm worried about him being anorexic. My grocery bills used to be sky high when he came home. Now, he nibbles on salad, baked chicken, shrimp, stuff like that."

Cherry, who at 6-2 has dropped nearly 25 pounds to get down to 175, might well have been starting at quarterback for Texas this season with Richard Walton having missed four games because of injury.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Major Applewhite said he misses Cherry.

"Marty's a fun guy," Applewhite said. "I'd probably tease him about giving up football. But on second thought, he's making the money and hanging out with all the pretty women.

"I need to ask him for a few models' autographs."

Source: Dallas Morning News, October 27, 1998

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Jeff Popovich

2006-08-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

The new sex symbol on the University of Miami campus is an ``aw-shucks'' kind of guy who has a 3.6 grade-point average in biomedical engineering, writes thank-you letters, holds doors open and wants to be an orthopedic surgeon, geneticist or emergency-room doctor.

And if he ever needs a fallback, there's always modeling. Jeff Popovich, a 5-11, 195-pound senior safety known as ``Pop'' to his football teammates, can be found on shopping bags around the nation. Huge images of his scantily clad, buff body grace the walls of Abercrombie & Fitch clothing stores - think young, hip and pricey - where teenage girls (and UM football players) have been gawking. And guess who's on the cover of Abercrombie's 314-page summer catalog?

That's right. Just call him ``Model Pop,'' the new nickname for UM's 1998 Special Teams Player of the Year. You didn't think the guys in the weight room would let him off easy on this one, did you?

``Sex symbol!'' said Popovich, 21, breaking into a laugh. ``I never envisioned myself as one of those. My brother told me, `There's probably some really nice girl who's perfect for you and has your poster on her wall. And it's a tragedy you'll never find her.' ''

Popovich has no problems finding friends. UM coach Butch Davis has constantly showered praise on Popovich, who came to UM as a walk-on but earned a scholarship last season. Because of the emerging talent of players such as strong safety Edward Reed, Popovich no longer starts, but he rotates into games often. He holds for kicks and extra points and plays on the punt-block and kickoff-coverage units. He also threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to tight end Bubba Franks off a fake field goal against Pittsburgh in '97, ran back a fumble for a touchdown during his freshman season, and returned a fake field goal for a TD last season.

``He's unselfish, unegotistical, very conscientious, the consummate overachiever,'' Davis has said.

All that and looks, too.

Just last weekend, Entertainment Tonight rebroadcast a 90-second segment (out of four hours taped) of brothers Doug and Jeff on a South Florida beach to promote the football player-turns-model story. Doug, 25, is the other model splashed on Abercrombie & Fitch walls, and atop Jeff's shoulders on the shopping bags and in the catalog, too. Doug, who got his master's degree in environmental science from Yale last year, was a Division I-AA All-American safety at the University of San Diego.

Even Ivan Mercer, a UM tight end transfer from Orange Coast Junior College in Costa Mesa, Calif., is in the catalog. The 6-7, 230-pound blue-eyed blond, who can be found on page 50 with a female draped over his back, had no idea Popovich would show up separately for the modeling shoot on Islamorada last February.

UM officials have approved Popovich's modeling and are looking into Mercer's. Last August, the NCAA passed legislation that allows full-scholarship student-athletes to apply for an exception to earn $2,000 beyond their athletic grants. Popovich said each of the more than 30 models earned $500 daily for the three-day shoot.

When he was 8 years old, Popovich, brother Doug and sister Michelle, now 20, modeled several times for Guess Kids and appeared in Vogue Bambini - an Italian magazine - establishing a history in modeling. That shows, according to the NCAA rules, Popovich didn't use his status as a football player to secure the modeling job.

Penni Key, UM's assistant athletic director for compliance, said NCAA rules do not address non-sports agent issues, meaning a modeling agent not involved in athletics can be associated with an athlete.

The Popovich brothers do not even consider themselves models. The evolution of this recent venture began at Doug's Yale graduation party in May of '98. Doug's former roommate's mother was a casting director for famous fashion photographer Bruce Weber. She asked if she could grab her camera and take a few casual shots to show Weber. The brothers obliged, then forgot about it.

Nine months later, Jeff and Doug were on Islamorada.

When Popovich got the call that he had made the cover of the summer catalog, he couldn't believe it. But nothing compared to the day in April he visited the Abercrombie & Fitch at Dadeland Mall. Baseball cap pulled down snugly to ensure anonymity, Popovich nearly fainted when he saw the floor-to-ceiling mural of himself and his brother. There he was, sitting on the rail of a boat. There he was again, hoisting big brother on his shoulders. At least three shots covering the walls and another nine in the catalog.

And all those shopping bags circulating the mall . . .

``I felt so stupid,'' he said, laughing again. ``No way I wanted anyone to know it was me.''

Popovich's parents had to calm themselves when they first saw the murals while visiting the Mall of America in Minneapolis.

``We nearly fell over the second-floor railing,'' said Michael Popovich, 50. ``It was literally billboard size. We sat there and watched young girls touching their muscles.''

Michael Popovich, a computer systems engineer, and wife Alexis, a court mediator, live in Tucson, Ariz. Alexis, 49, said she finds the whole thing amusing.

``A lot of my friends are drooling over those pictures,'' she said.

Jeff's grandparents, Jack and Dee Sterling of Pompano Beach, are boasting a lot these days. But Grandma did send Michael and Alexis a note saying she and her husband would have approved more had ``the boys pulled up their swim trunks a little.''

Said Jack Sterling, 79: ``I'm sure if they knew it was something that concerned their grandparents, they would have pulled up their shorts. They're wonderful kids.''

UM backup quarterback Zach Hart, one of Popovich's roommates, said Popovich hid a copy of the catalog in his room. ``I saw it on his bed and said, `What's this?' '' Hart said. ``He just laughed and said, `Yeah, I guess I'm on the cover.' We went nuts.''

All in good fun, said Alexis Popovich, as long as Jeff doesn't get any strange ideas about making modeling a career. Doug, who was out of town and couldn't be reached to be interviewed, is still looking for a job in environmental science.

``Looks fade,'' Alexis said. ``Two days after the ad campaign ends, no one knows who you are. It's not a good basis for all of life, being just an image. You have to be of heart and soul and mind.''

Jeff said his mother need not worry. He loves playing football more than modeling and would rather make a medical discovery than be a pin-up.

``I'm not into the modeling scene and attitude,'' he said. ``It's too stressful to worry 24 hours a day, seven days a week about how you look and what you eat.

``Besides, I don't agree with the image they convey to young girls - super-thin models who girls everywhere try to emulate.

``Was it fun? Yes. Would I do it again in the future if I needed money? Probably. But it won't be what I end up doing.''

Source: Miami Herald, July 16, 1999

Abercrombie & Fitch Photographer

2006-08-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

The renowned fashion photographer, having consented to a rare interview, has been standing in his Golden Beach back yard overlooking the ocean, telling stories of celebrity adventure, when the mere appearance of a Canon pointed in his direction drives him to fidget. His hands flutter and he seems uncertain what to do with them. He scurries back to the house.

He returns cradling his own camera, a Rolleiflex, as if for security, while waving a broad-brimmed straw hat, which he threatens to lower over his eyes if his unease persists.

"I hate being photographed," says Mr. Weber, whose fame lies in observing, not being observed. "I like to hide behind the camera."

What the world knows of Mr. Weber is how he sees the world: celebrity portraits as varied as Brad Pitt and Eudora Welty, film documentaries of boxers and jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, and most familiar of all, the Elysian photos of beautiful youth with which the world's leading fashion houses -- Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch -- present their brand on billboards, bus benches and the slick pages of W, Vogue and Vanity Fair.

His fashion shoots, for which he charges as much as $75,000 a day, have dominated the magazines for nearly two decades. They strike the eye most with models of unconventional beauty, arrayed according to contemporary standards of sexual expression and nudity, all strangely overlaid with an aura of innocence -- there's often the spirit of '50s Americana and rugged landscapes. The images are nearly always more arresting than the clothes.

Moreover, while stuck behind his camera, Mr. Weber has led a sexual revolution: He was among the first fashion photographers to pose men as sex objects in mainstream ads, bringing a gay sensibility to the broadest possible audience, most famously in 1983, capturing Olympic pole vaulter Tom Hintnaus in his Calvin Klein underwear. In effect, Mr. Weber was casting men in the passive sexual roles long relegated to women in advertising, and as controversial as that was, today "pecsploitation" is everywhere.

His other work is often more overtly gay -- his about-to-be-released book, The Chop Suey Club, features young model Peter Johnson in an array of poses dismissed by some as voyeuristic trash. As a recent New York Times essay put it: "Bruce Weber's the name, beefcake's the game."

For all the controversy, however, Mr. Weber, out from behind the lens, roaming around the Golden Beach home he stays in five months of the year, appears affable, rather shy, often funny at his own expense.

He is disposed to answering questions about his work by telling stories -- we hear of graceful Nelson Mandela and cranky Paul Newman and Matthew Modine before he was famous -- and he talks about the ordinary South Florida places he visits because, among other things, they stimulate his visual interest: the Rascal House, Le Tub in Hollywood and the Krispy Kreme doughnuts place on Northeast 167th Street, where he just finished shooting a major campaign for Abercrombie & Fitch.

At 53, he speaks with a teen-ager's casual indecision -- it is rare that he utters a thought without resorting to a "kind of" or "sort of" or "you know?" And he has a teen's habit of making declarative sentences sound like questions.

"One of the great things about being a photographer is that you can be shy," he says, his voice rising, as if testing the idea. "You know what I mean?"

Famous subjects

To hear his stories, in fact, it would seem that Mr. Weber is continually gathering up his moxie to confront his famous subjects through his lens, referring constantly to the trepidation with which he has forced his camera into the faces of the famous. Take the time he was assigned to photograph Paul Newman in 1988.

"My dad was really ill, living in Palm Beach, and I was taking care of him. I get this call from Esquire that Paul Newman is in the area and he's racing cars and we'd like to do a cover story on him. . . .

"So I get out there to his trailer at the race car circuit and this man arrives -- and he's nothing like Paul Newman. I go into his trailer and he's eating this tuna fish sandwich that he made himself. He sits down and starts reading the newspaper. He puts on not one but two pair of glasses to read.

"This is not like Paul Newman in the movies, right? Then he turns to me and he says, 'I'm so tired of people telling me my eyes are blue, how beautiful they are.'

"I said to myself, 'Do I want to just make a record of this man who wants to hide?' Then I thought, 'No. I don't believe this. I believe this man was in front of that camera because he really wanted the love and adulation. So I said to myself, 'Man, I'm not going to leave you, you . . . [expletive deleted].' "

So Mr. Weber dutifully followed Mr. Newman around the race grounds "putting my lens right up in his face. I was like this far from him," Mr. Weber says, holding his hands 6 inches apart, with teen-age can-you-believe-this bravado.

"But he's still not being Paul Newman.

"Then he says to me, 'Do we have the cover?'

"Now that is a strange reaction for a man who does not want to be seen, and I knew then that all along he wanted me to be able to think that he was as beautiful as he was in Hud and Sweet Bird of Youth and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. So I just turned to him and said, 'Newman, my dad is really sick, and I accepted this job because he looks a lot like you and I really love my father a lot. I really need to get these photographs done soon because I really need to get back home to him. I really want you to concentrate. For the next 10 minutes, I'm going to get out of your face. But you've got to be there for me. I want you to stop worrying whether your eyes are too blue or you don't look good enough.'

"He stood there, and he was so shocked that he just started acting like Paul Newman -- just like in the movies. I lay down on the ground -- I'll always remember it -- and he started looking at me like he looked at Patricia Neal and all those other women in the movies. This was Paul Newman."

Or take the time Mr. Weber was assigned to shoot Nelson Mandela. As is often the case with the famous, the photographer was given a very short time to work -- six minutes. So prior to the appointed time, Mr. Weber planned the shot: He positioned a chair, calculated the angle, gauged the light.

"Then it's my turn and all of a sudden the light changed. Everything was wrong -- and this guy was like an idol to me. I could feel my heart beating. I thought: What am I going to do?"

Mr. Weber, flustered, felt very small in Mr. Mandela's presence.

"I thought: I'm just a wacky photographer who grew up in small-town Pennsylvania and this man has done and suffered so much. What am I going to do?

"But everyone's life shows on their face. I decided to get very close to him, to look at his skin, into his skin, into his eyes that looked like they had cried a lot. Having a camera gave me the courage to get close to him. I was right there in his face."

Then Mr. Weber, who clearly attaches some significance to the proximity of the camera to the subject, stands eye-to-eye with a visitor and declares, "Like, I was this close to him."

First wave

Mr. Weber first went to South Florida for a 1985 shoot in South Beach, one of the first major photographers to do so, leading a wave of the glamour industry here that would become a key element in its renaissance.

"It was pretty weird -- we were working for Calvin Klein," he says of his first South Beach visit as a photographer. "We had come down with about 40 models and bodyguards because we had heard it was dangerous at night. But it turned out to be this great scene, this great mix of people. I started seeing the bodyguards hanging around in bathing suits and I said, 'Why don't you get in the pictures?' The next thing is we have the policemen in the pictures, too. That's how pictures happen. They're not so serious."

A sense of precious spontaneity is one of his hallmarks -- he is fond of saying "Everyone has a moment."

But Mr. Weber is also credited with a cinema director's fine sense of casting, story line and intuition about his actors. Even while shooting a friend's recent wedding at the Bath Club in Miami Beach, Mr. Weber insisted on introducing a live elephant as background. He frequently relies on books as his inspiration.

"Books and words help me a lot to form an understanding of what I want to do," he explains. "For instance, I was a great fan of Willa Cather, and I would spend like months reading everything that she wrote.

"So I called a friend of mine, Liz Tilberis, who was then the fashion editor of English Vogue, and I said, "You've got to read [the Cather novel] My Antonia and let's go to Red Claw, Nebraska, and let's join the Willa Cather club. These people know the tree where "My Antonia" stood. Let's bring some clothes and let's take some models that we'd like to photograph and let's do a story about Willa Cather.

"Meanwhile Liz was just adopting a child, so this was a big moment for her. So we met all the children in Red Cloud, Nebraska, so we put them all in our pictures. Then Matthew Modine, he was a young model then that nobody booked, and we took him and we took these girls that we knew -- they weren't like normal models but they were very, very beautiful, and then we met this kid who painted churches. So we had this whole experience about Willa Cather."

The results appeared in English Vogue.

Male call

Another of Mr. Weber's hallmarks is the fascination of male allure.

Although Mr. Weber has created some memorable images of women -- of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy on Vanity Fair's cover and the recent Perry Ellis campaign for men that featured only women models, "you'd have to be blind to look at my pictures and not think I like men," he says.

But while bulging, hairless pectorals are commonplace in advertising today, back in the '70s, even simple pictures Mr. Weber took of a man in underwear in bed caused a stir. His insistence on these images made him a pioneer.

"What was really incredible was that when those pictures came out the editor and art director at GQ and other places where I had just started working said, 'You'll never work again. These pictures are really disgusting. How could you show a guy like that?"'

Even today, however, Mr. Weber coyly downplays the erotic nature of many of his photographs, turning attention to the outrage he considers signs of intolerance.

"Homoeroticism -- I don't really know what that word means, but I kind of know what homophobia means."

And while Mr. Weber in much of his photography lingers over the bodies of teen-age males, he insists that youth is not required for a sexy photograph.

"If you asked me what the sexiest picture I ever took was," he says, "I would tell you Robert Mitchum, and I shot it when he was 72."

His work has provoked other philosophical questions as well. Is a photo of a young pretty just beefcake? Is fashion photography art? (His work will hang at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach in 2001.) But Mr. Weber is inclined at first to shrug these off as highfalutin and inessential: Words, not images.

"I mean, I think photographers talking about photography is just so out of it," he begins.

"When I first wanted to be a photographer, photographers were seen but never heard -- they were like children -- and I kind of liked that. I mean when I looked at works of Cartier Bresson I knew he worked with a Leica and he lived in Paris and he grew up as a rich kid. But I didn't really know, like, what his address was in Paris. I didn't really know, like, who he was having an affair with. It kind of wasn't important because I felt like I knew what I needed to know from the pictures.

"Anyway, I've never felt that photography has to be art -- it just has to be photography.

"I think of all these great pioneers in American photography who did work selling -- pianos, beauty products, dresses. Edward Steichen put as much into those [commercial] photos showing buttons as he did photographing Isadora Duncan at the Parthenon.

"If you really love taking pictures, it's not going to matter that the photo will be used for an ad. I mean, the question is not 'Is it art?' The question is: 'Does it move you?"'

Source: Dallas Morning News, January 5, 2000

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Jeremy Black

2006-08-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

At UC Davis, Jeremy Black and Warren Kenzie are model students.High-priced models, in fact. Abercrombie & Fitch types. In demand.

The two also are respected athletes. Black, a junior, is a wrestler. Freshman Kenzie, a swimmer.

Seemingly, they are disparate worlds, modeling and college athletics. Yet Black and Kenzie have discovered similarities between the avocations, which require strong bodies, are highly competitive and can be humbling.

Black, who's been on his back more times than he cares to remember in wrestling matches, has gained greater notoriety with his backside in modeling.

Kenzie, a more accomplished athlete for whom great things have been predicted, knows the sting of summary rejection when he's competed for modeling jobs.

In the main, though, their success in modeling has been stunning. And perhaps more stunning, the two have put school and their sports ahead of jobs that pay $3,000 a day. They've both instructed their agent to hold off on any jobs until their athletic seasons are over this year.

That may seem suicidal in the modeling business, where trends and looks change often. Black and Kenzie don't seem to care.

"When you wrestle somebody and beat somebody you shouldn't beat, how good a feeling is that?" Black asked. "You've worked hard every day, pushing your body to the limit and then push it some more. Same with school. You study hard and get good grades.

"When somebody takes a picture of you standing there, and people like it, I didn't do anything for that. I was just given a look. . . a look that sells something for somebody."

Kenzie, too, said modeling can wait.

"Assuming I don't go bald in the next four years, I can always do modeling after college," Kenzie said. "I'm a chemical engineer major, and I want to get my degree out of the way. After that, I may go to New York, Europe and make some money modeling, have a little fun."

Both have the the same agent, Carmelo Pizzuto. Pizzuto is concerned about the black eye or cut nose Black may show up with, or the green swimmer's hair Kenzie may get. But he understands why they reject job offers.

"It goes back to what is important to them," Pizzuto said. "I actually like models who have lives other than modeling. I think our clients like it too. I have a client in L.A. who wanted Jeremy just a couple of weeks ago, but I had to tell him he couldn't come because he had a wrestling match. He got a kick out of that."

Black wasn't recruited to wrestle at Davis and had no modeling experience coming out of Diamond Bar High School, 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Kenzie was recruited for the Aggies' swim team and modeled his senior year at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo.

"He was a walk-on," Aggies coach Mike Burch said of Black's appearance at Davis four years ago. "His technical skill level wasn't anywhere close to what I considered him to be competitive. But he really loves the sport, the camaraderie on the wrestling team. He's been a backup since he got here, but in the practice room, he is as tough as nails. Our starters have a bona fide workout partner with him.

"He has passed up many a modeling gig for wrestling, something I have never asked him to do. I told him the money is good and he is not going to be good-looking forever and to take the jobs. He won't do it."

Peter Motekaitis, the Aggies swimming coach, expects Kenzie, who swims the individual medley and breast stroke, to have an immediate impact on the swim team.

"He has come in with good times and has a good track record of being a big-meet swimmer," Motekaitis said.

"The one thing I can say about Warren is that he is pretty good-natured. I told my assistant coach that modeling is easy money, but dealing with the guys (teammates) and their ribbing, day in and day out, I don't care how easy the money is."

Black was discovered by noted fashion photographer Bruce Weber when he was attending a high school wrestling camp in Iowa in 1996. Weber often attends such wrestling camps, looking for new faces. He offered Black a chance for some jobs that year and the next, but Black politely declined.

Just before finals of his sophomore year, Black went home to attend a funeral. Again the offer to model. This time Weber was shooting for an Abercrombie & Fitch clothing catalog, and Black, who was "a little bummed out over school and wrestling," decided to give modeling a chance.

Black joined 29 other kids at Lake Placid, N.Y., where the shoot was taking place. After two days of shooting, 20 were sent home. Black survived, even became the star when a playful mishap not only opened the door for him but changed the way Abercrombie & Fitch presented its catalogs.

While Black was waiting his turn to be shot, he was standing on a dock leaning on a boat. The boat started to slide and Black fell in the water. Weber turned his camera to all the commotion and started taking pictures of Black splashing and fooling around.

"Then the Abercrombie & Fitch fashion guy gets all upset, crying "You got my clothes wet, you got my clothes wet' and that I have to take them off," Black recalled. "I kick off my boots and hop onto the dock. Bruce asks if I can go a little further. I take my shirt off and then jump back into the water and take off my pants and boxers. It is at that point that they stage this shot of me climbing out of the water to the dock, reaching for my clothes."

It was that shot -- buttocks side up -- that appeared in the Abercrombie & Fitch Christmas catalog in 1998 that eventually made headlines of whether Abercrombie & Fitch had crossed the line from clothes catalog to pornography.

Black stayed in New York that summer, working as much as he wanted. The money, the experiences -- "I never knew the different ways of life, the different lines of work," he said -- presented Black with the delemma of staying in New York or returning to school. He chose school.

"I decided wrestling is what I wanted to focus on," Black said. "Which means I'm based in Davis, which is very hard because the money in modeling is in New York."

Kenzie, who had five posters splattered in all the Abercrombie & Fitch stores last Spring, was swimming in a high school meet his junior year when a photographer took some pictures of him, told him he should be a model, and offered to make a portfolio for him for free.

Two months later Kenzie got an agent and then landed the Abercrombie & Fitch assignment. It was during that shoot that Black helped lure Kenzie to Davis.

"We met on the plane going to New York," Kenzie said. "I was thinking about going to Arizona and wasn't too keen on Davis. But Jeremy made Davis sound like a really cool place to go to school. I looked into it a little more seriously and I'm glad I came here."

The quick fame, easy money and notoriety have not changed the two. But it has made life more interesting. And humbling.

"Sometimes you go to a testing, give them your (portfolio), and they flip through it and then give it back to you without saying a word," Kenzie said. "It's like they are not even interested, and they really make you feel bad."

But a quick walk around the Davis campus and the self-esteem rebounds.

"I come into a classroom and hear "Oh, that's the Abercrombie & Fitch model,' " Black said. "But even though it seems like everybody knows me or of me, I still have to initiate things and say hi."

Said Kenzie: "It's easier for me to meet girls but harder for me to meet people, make friends, really good friends," Kenzie said.

"I went into an Abercrombie & Fitch store to buy some clothes when my pictures were still up, and some girls said "Oh my God, it's him.'

"Of course, when some people recognize me I also hear, "What's the big deal? He's not that good-looking.' "

Source: Sacramento Bee, January 20, 2000

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Carl Arrell

2006-08-02T06:29:00.001-07:00

One day, he is Carl Arrell, a University of Minnesota student from Brooklyn Park. The next, he's Jed Washburn of Abercrombie & Fitch, and he's a screensaver. Arrell, 20, is available to adorn your idle computer screen wearing the peekaboo-briefs getup shown here, courtesy of abercrombie.com. Arrell has been living in New York City since his A&F break, which includes the role of "Jed Washburn" in the preppy clothing company's seasonal catalog (titled "A Very Emerson Christmas"). "I actually didn't know anything about the story," said Arrell, via cell phone. "They just sort of place you in the shot and make it up later." A&F forwards him fan mail, mostly from girls who "write stuff like, `I'd love to meet you sometime,' " he said, not sounding too excited, since most of them are going on 12. But as R. "Dubya" Emerson himself put it: "To . . . win the affection of children . . . to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

Source: Star Tribune, December 1, 2000

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Carlson Twins

2006-08-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

The handsome hunks on the cover of Abercrombie & Fitch's ``A & F Quarterly,'' the hip clothing company's new spring ``magalogue,'' might look somewhat familiar to those in the Stillwater area - from the waist up, at least.

The models are Kyle and Lane Carlson, identical twins and 1997 graduates of Stillwater Area High School.Normally, the Winona State University seniors who work at their father's construction company are fully clothed. But the cover shot features them on a Vespa scooter - nearly naked.

The racy photos continue inside the spring break issue of the ``Quarterly.'' There are the muscular twins diving naked into a pond, standing naked in some cattails next to the pond, playing next to a pool with topless women. In another shot, a group of young women remove their clothes.

The twins discuss the nude shots matter-of-factly and maturely. ``We knew there was going to be some nudity - we'd seen the catalog before - but they show no frontal shots,'' Lane says. ``It's always tastefully done.''

They talked it over with their folks - Rick and Judy Carlson of Stillwater Township - and ``they were cool with everything,'' Lane says. ``My parents are really down to earth and really cool. They trust us. We know our limitations.''

Rick Carlson, who owns Carlson Construction Services Inc., says he did some Internet research on Bruce Weber after he learned that the famous photographer would be shooting his sons. ``I think it was tastefully done,'' he says. ``It was more of a camping atmosphere than a sexual thing. Besides that, the water was so cold that all they could think about was trying to stay warm.''

The well-built business majors, who work out together three to five times a week, got into modeling as a fluke. Lane's girlfriend, Rayna Hendrickson, convinced him to go to a model search at a La Crosse, Wis., hotel one day while they were shopping. As soon as he walked in the door, a scout approached him about modeling. He says her mouth started watering and ``her interest doubled'' when she found out he had an identical twin.

The twins embody the ``All-American wholesome youth lifestyle'' that Abercrombie & Fitch promotes, said Christian Galuppi, a spokesman for the clothing company. The ``magalogue'' is shrink-wrapped due to the nudity and purposely geared to 18- to 25-year-olds, he said. The twins also appear on the front and back cover of the company's spring catalog and are featured prominently on billboards in stores around the country.

Each ``A & F Quarterly'' features new models, so the 300,000-circulation spring issue was Lane and Kyle's one shot at Abercrombie & Fitch stardom.

The company recently flew the twins to New York City for a ``magalogue'' party. They and their parents were featured in a ``Talk of the Town'' piece on the party in last week's ``New Yorker.'' The Carlson family also includes the twins' siblings Michelle, 26; Aaron, 24; and Lynnaya, 20.

``We met Ginger from `Gilligan's Island' and one of the Baldwins. Which one of the Baldwins was it, Jude? Steve Baldwin,'' says Rick Carlson, still somewhat star-struck.

The Carlson boys have also posed in ``L'Uomo Vogue'' and will also appear in a 10-page ``Details'' magazine spread in April. And then there's talk that a Bruce Weber film based on the twin's lives might be in the pipeline. ``He was interested in our growing up in Stillwater,'' Lane says. ``It would be about our life, with extra things involved.''

The 22-year-old twins have started taking acting classes at Winona State. ``We enjoy it. We're not the greatest actors or anything,'' he says. ``We're not going to take over the soap operas or anything.''

Their modeling work has taken them to Santa Barbara, Calif., Miami and New York. ``It's not a whole lot of work when you're doing it. The problem is trying to schedule it,'' Lane says. ``We're both in sports, both in school. They want me to do a shoot back in Minneapolis when I'm in Florida for (baseball) spring training.'' Lane is a relief pitcher for the Winona State baseball team; Kyle plays rugby.

The twins are paid anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 a day ``on the big jobs,'' Lane says. ``We've made some money. It comes in handy for paying off tuition, rent, car payment.''

And for now, he and Kyle plan to continue their high-profile part-time jobs.

``People had always said we should do it, but we had always been kind of standoffish on the whole modeling thing. `No, that's not our style,''' Lane says. ``But when the opportunity presented itself, we said `What the heck.' We never would have guessed that in a million years that it would have turned out like this.''

Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 8, 2001

Abercrombie & Fitch Modeling Recruiting

2006-08-02T06:26:00.001-07:00

Front Row profile of Olga Liriano, casting director in world of fashion, who looks for models; photo (M)"Not too long ago, I saw this beautiful guy walking down the street and I walked up to him," Olga Liriano recalled a few mornings ago as she made her way through scrambled eggs, studiously avoiding the encroaching potatoes. "He was Australian. He was so beautiful. I tried to get his number but he just wouldn't give it to me, so I gave him mine."

Though her comportment in the presence of attractive strangers would suggest otherwise, Ms. Liriano is not the city's most egregious flouter of "The Rules." She belongs to the world of those who have license to approach the physically advantaged. She is a casting director, and one of a very particular sort.In recent years, as fashion photography has become more narrative, images have required more bodies and faces with which to tell a story, and the industry has turned to Ms. Liriano and a handful of others to provide them. "Everyone needs a casting director all of a sudden," said Sam Shahid, president of Shahid & Company, an advertising agency that services fashion clients.

The need for Ms. Liriano and other casting agents -- freelancers who comb bars, college campuses, bowling alleys, whatever -- has also grown as a result of the premium fashion now puts on a look that veers away from the ethereal toward the real. Additionally, as Mr. Shahid put it, "everyone wants a new face, and no one has time to find that new face anymore." Modeling agencies "tell you how fabulous" all the models are, he added, "and most of the time they're dogs."

A voluptuous brunette with cheeks the color of a strawberry Starburst, Ms. Liriano started working as an independent casting director for fashion photographers about a year ago, after a decade of booking models at magazines and supplying them at agencies. This week she is in Puerto Rico helping to select 10 finalists for the Miss Universe pageant on Friday -- a more fashion-oriented spectacle than usual, which will have as its hosts Naomi Campbell and Elle Macpherson.

"She's really the person you want to get to know," a male model just starting out said of Ms. Liriano.

Midway through her breakfast at a cafe in Greenwich Village, Ms. Liriano pointed to a picture of a young man in the fall 2000 Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, which she helped cast for the photographer Bruce Weber. "This one I found in a gas station," she said of the young man, dancing in a Santa Claus hat.

In the case of another picture she held -- Gisele Bundchen leaving Grace Church, shot by Steven Klein for American Vogue -- Ms. Liriano was hired to find extras who looked like people who might pass through the portals of a house of worship. "These two," Ms. Liriano said, referring to an older couple in the photo, "I approached in a restaurant." She befriended them, and they invited her to a New Year's Eve party. "I am not shy," Ms. Liriano said, stating the obvious.

Part of the appeal of working with Ms. Liriano, Mr. Weber said, is that she takes a Barbara Walters approach, asking questions beyond "What's your body-fat percentage?"

Ms. Liriano has also worked with Mr. Weber on shoots for the men's and women's editions of Italian Vogue and an ad campaign for Tse cashmere. "She can take a Polaroid of someone who isn't beautiful and show you what's beautiful about them," Mr. Weber said. "Once she found a guy, and I would have never known he was a dancer and planned to be sculptor. It changed the way I looked at him."

Of course, not all of Ms. Liriano's searches end in success, and not all of them focus on unearthing the person inside. In January, she went to Minneapolis to find new bodies for Abercrombie & Fitch. "It was hard to look at people, because they were all bundled up," she said. "Also, it's winter and everyone's drinking beer and has beer bellies." She found no one.

There have been other frustrations. Ms. Liriano was recently hired by Assouline, the publisher and design firm, to find a model for a direct-mail catalog it is producing for Ralph Lauren's Purple Label men's line. She thought to seek out writers and architects for the role, among others. "Ralph rejects everyone," Ms. Liriano said. Her directive has been to find a man who is a mix of Sam Shepard, Gary Cooper and Cary Grant. "Well, yeah, I'm looking for that guy, too," Ms. Liriano said. "Isn't everybody?"

Source: New York Times, May 8, 2001

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Carlson Twins

2006-08-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

The Carlson twins of Stillwater were always cute kids. No bad acne. No ugly geeky stage, although Lane remembers a period when he thought he and his brother Kyle's noses were too big.

``People sometimes said, `They're nice-looking boys,' and I'd think, `Yeah, they're all right,' '' said their mom, Judy.

But no one anticipated the day when the twins would earn up to $2,500 a day - each - to pose in front of a camera.

``It honestly came as a shock,'' Judy said. ``I'm still surprised people would pay them money to stand there in a pair of jeans.''

Or to drop their jeans, as the twins did when they first grabbed national eyeballs in the 2001 spring Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, in which the nude and semi-nude models attracted more attention than the clothes.

The twins, now 23, were students at Winona State University when the catalog hit. Now, with degrees in business administration, they're ready to capitalize on their assets full time.

The budding businessmen have formed a corporation, Double Take Inc., designed to leverage their modeling income to finance real estate investments. They bought and renovated their first house, a fixer-upper in Winona, Minn., and are renting it out, part of a five-year plan to acquire five rental properties. They have a Web site (http://www.thecarlsontwins.com) and two new posters: one arty black and white, one in color with a patriotic theme, both showcasing their famously taut torsos.

``People were selling our pictures on e-Bay,'' said Lane, the older and taller twin. ``So we decided to sell some posters ourselves.

``We think of modeling as a business. A lot of models get money and don't know what to do with it, so they spend it on clothes and cars. We set up IRAs and put money aside to spend on things that make you money.''

Home base remains Stillwater, where the twins share a basement bedroom at their parents' house when they're both in town, which isn't often. With Judy bustling nearby in the kitchen, the twins talked last week about their lives and plans.

``We have the same friends; we've always hung out together,'' said Kyle, the slightly more muscular twin. They roomed together, along with three friends, during college and, until recently, have always shared a car. But now, although they made their name posing side-by-side, they're doing more work separately, jetting between New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago. ``It's more lucrative to work in different places,'' Kyle said. ``If we're together, we're competing for the same jobs.''

Just two snapshots

Those jobs weren't even on their mental radar two years ago when a scout approached Lane at a hotel and asked if he'd ever modeled. ``I didn't really like the idea,'' he recalled. ``Growing up in a construction family, I couldn't really see saying, `Dad, I'm gonna be a model.' ''

He was intrigued enough to mention that he had an identical twin, however, which further piqued the scout's interest. After talking it over, the twins decided it might be a good way to make some extra money to finish paying for college.

At first they kept their plans a secret. ``We didn't tell our parents or girlfriends,'' Lane said. They went to a Minneapolis event offering would-be models a chance to meet with agents. Lacking a portfolio, they showed up with two snapshots. ``We went to a one-hour photo and had the lady take a picture of us.''

The twins were ``overwhelmed'' when 18 agents called them back, Kyle said. ``We didn't know what to do.''

When they finally told their parents, their dad, Rick, said, ``Why keep it a secret?''

Within three months, the twins landed the A&F catalog. ``We were warned by our agent: `If you're not comfortable getting nude, don't do it,' '' Kyle said. ``It was tastefully done.''

``Not to mention that Mom would strangle you if it wasn't,'' Judy said. ``Nudity is one thing - it's beautiful - but posing for erotic pictures is pornography. . . . If I saw groping or passionate embracing, that would be over the line.'' In the Abercrombie pictures, ``they're just frolicking, like a bunch of 4-year-olds.''

``Grandma has seen the catalog,'' Kyle said. ``She just laughs.''

Different goals

Modeling is a means to an end for both twins, but their ultimate goals are different. Lane is taking acting classes in hopes of landing a soap opera or other TV role and eventually working his way into films. ``I'd like to be like Vin Diesel, in an action movie,'' he said.

Kyle, while open to ``little roles'' in movies, is more interested in getting a pilot's license and taking over his father's construction company some day. ``I'd like to be my own boss - a real estate tycoon,'' he said with a grin. ``I'm a homebody. I like to be close to my family.''

How else are they different? ``I'm a little bit more on time,'' Kyle said.

In high school, Judy said, ``Kyle would be halfway down the driveway, and Lane would come running out, eating his breakfast.''

Lane doesn't dispute this. ``I'm a little more outgoing than he is,'' Lane said. ``I'm more business-oriented. I take on a lot more. I want to do everything.''

``You're late to everything,'' Kyle said.

Derek Johnson of Stillwater, a friend since junior high and one of their roommates in college, agreed that Lane is more outgoing. ``Kyle's more reserved, but he opens up once you get to know him. . . . Lane is a little more gung-ho, take-charge, a little more into this whole modeling thing. Kyle is more laid-back about it.''

Their day rate is $1,250 to $2,500, with the rate varying by client and location. Larger clients in fashion centers such as New York City tend to pay more.

The twins spent their down time this summer helping their dad at construction sites, doing chores for their mom (``I save up all kinds of evil things for them,'' Judy said), and unwinding by playing in the family horseshoe league. ``It's a good chance to bond with Grandpa,'' Lane said. Most of their relatives live nearby. (The twins have an older sister, Michelle, an older brother, Aaron, and a younger sister, Lynnaya.)

Modeling ``hasn't ballooned their heads,'' Johnson said. ``They definitely have a little more money than the rest of us, but they don't flaunt it.'' They have changed, however. ``They're getting a lot smarter, business-wise. They've matured a lot.''

Judy is happy to see them succeed, ``but it's more important to me that they be nice kids.'' Which they are, she added. ``They said, `Make a promise that if you see any change in our behavior, you'll knock us to our knees.' '' Has she had to make good on that promise? ``Not once. Some kids are just born easy.''

Easy, but not perfect. In junior high, they admit, they occasionally prepared for tests by each studying a different subject, then taking that test twice, once as themselves and once as each other. ``The kids knew; the teacher had no clue,'' Lane said.

And Kyle recalls a junior high prank involving a girl who had a crush on Lane. Kyle borrowed Lane's hat and asked her out. Later, when the flustered girl discovered Kyle's ruse, she slapped Lane. ``That was the meanest thing I've ever done,'' Kyle said.

Gay fans

The twins aren't gay, but a lot of their fans wish they were. ``After Abercrombie, we had a huge fan base of gay men,'' Kyle said. They're OK with that. ``We don't mind guys looking at us.'' They do, however, mind when people insist that they must be gay, despite their assertions to the contrary. (Lane is still dating the woman he met ``the first day of college;'' Kyle's girlfriend is a student at Winona State.)

``I found myself getting very irritated in the beginning,'' Lane said. ``But I know who I am.''

And they really mind when their photos appear without their permission on gay-themed Web sites. ``A lot of these photos are my head on some other guy's body,'' Kyle said. ``That really bothers me. You have to stay on top of it. Every week a new site is coming up.'' (One offending site, which posted a nude outtake from the A&F shoot, removed it last week at Kyle's request.)

One of the twins' clients, the Mall of America, targets their gay fans with full-page ads showcasing them together, often shirtless, in Lavender, a Twin Cities gay/lesbian magazine. ``That campaign has a strong following,'' said Jeff Hoke, director of marketing for the Mall of America. The ads generate a lot of positive e-mail and ``reaction from people on the street.'' The mall also uses the twins in mainstream magazines, such as People, InStyle and Wallpaper, and in local magazines such as Mpls/St. Paul and Minnesota Monthly. In June, Hoke said, the mall ran a Father's Day ad showing the twins posing with their dad.

The twins' sexual orientation is sometimes a topic in messages posted to their Web site. For now, they respond to every message - ``If someone's going to take the time to e-mail us, we owe it to them to personally write them back,'' Lane said.

Enquiring minds also want to know whether the twins shave their chests (no) and what they do to maintain those bodies (an hour of weight training three or four times a week, plus situps every night). Mostly, the twins attribute their physiques to their gene pool. ``Dad is still really built and he doesn't work out at all,'' Kyle said. ``Lucky genetics.''

Source: Star Tribune, September 22, 2002

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Brad Kroenig

2006-08-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

Mark and Barb Kroenig never thought the walls at an Abercrombie & Fitch clothing store could be so interesting. Forget the jeans and flannel shirts on the racks. In the spring of 2001, they wanted to see the poster of the blond young man wearing a suit jacket and tie riding a bicycle.

"The first time we saw it, we started taking pictures of the wall," Belleville native Mark said. The poster featured their younger son Brad.

Like his dad, Mark, who was a standout athlete at Belleville Township High School West, Brad was a soccer standout at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Now he's turning heads in the modeling world.

"I wanted to play for a Division I school, so I transferred to Florida International University," said the 22-year-old who has shoulder-length, golden, wavy locks. "A couple of girls from school said, `You should model.'"

His brother Matt, 24, and sister Julie, 21, had modeled in St. Louis, but back then Brad wasn't interested.

"I thought it was kinda girlish."

But the athletic guy changed his mind when some of his male friends decided to apply at a Florida-based branch of the Ford Modeling Agency.

"I heard that it was working for some guys and they went right into a job, so I decided to try it."

He had some professional photos taken, which generated a few local modeling jobs that provided extra cash while going to school and playing soccer.

Soon the photos were getting noticed and Brad was told he had "the look" for modeling --- a toned, lean physique and killer smile. He quickly decided to pursue modeling full time which meant quitting school and moving to Miami's South Beach.

Then came the trickiest part --- telling his parents back home in south St. Louis County.

"At first we were shocked," said mom, Barb. "I said `Brad, you're on a soccer scholarship. Why do you want to give that up?'"

Brad explained he had to be flexible enough to go to impromptu photo shoots and couldn't do that on his school schedule.

"It's a day-by day thing, when you get that call from the agency, you have to be ready to do anything and go anywhere."

The Kroenigs had a family chat and reached a compromise.

"There are a lot of scams. We talked about everything for a few days. I said I would finish out the semester."

Mark didn't want to discourage his son but wanted him to be realistic.

"We told him he could try it for a year and see what happened," Mark said. "We reminded him this could disappear as quickly as it came on."

Within days of making his decision, Brad got the call for the Abercrombie shoot in San Francisco.

"I was at the airport waiting for my connecting flight and a guy was scouting for models, and he said, `You should model for Abercrombie' and I said, `That's where I'm going.'"

Clean-shaven at the time, with short, blond hair, the ad features Brad dressed conservatively --- dark suit jacket, tie and khakis.

By June 2001, posters were up in stores nationwide, including the one at St. Clair Square. His career was taking off and he decided to move to the Big Apple so he could work with well-known photographers. He moved to a small apartment 14 blocks from the World Trade Center eight days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"I was supposed to go for a fitting at 9 that morning and then I heard all these sirens. That was cancelled. After Sept. 11, Ford cut a lot of their models, but I was still able to get jobs."

Early this year, Brad got another break advertising for Maxim's men's hair color.

A few months later, he got his big break.

"I got $35,000 total that day for the shoot."

Brad's check was so high because the company decided almost immediately to use his photo on all boxes of the bleach blond color and market them extensively.

Since then, Brad has let his hair grow and has grown a light beard --- it's the current look.

"The long hair is more my style, but I like casual clothes," Brad said of his lightweight short-sleeve shirt and jeans. "But you have to switch it up a little and be willing to look edgier. I'd be willing to shave my head to try a new look."

He's also made numerous trips to Paris, Milan and Germany.

"When I was in Miami, I went back and forth to Germany three times in 16 days."

So, how does Brad keep his 6-foot 1-inch frame lean?

"I eat lots of chicken, fruits and vegetables --- high protein and low carbs."

When he comes home home, Brad admits, he has a weakness for the apple streudel frozen custard from Ted Drewes.

He also runs 3 to 5 miles daily and does abdominal crunches and weight lifting.

"They don't want you to bulk up. You have to stay lean to fit in the clothes."

He talks to his parents almost daily, and when he has a new ad coming out, Barb and Mark share it with his grandmother, Eyleen Kroenig of Belleville, and his maternal grandparents Dale and Martha Burns in Tuscola.

So, what does this up-and-coming runway star like most about modeling?

"Traveling, meeting all the interesting people and the ladies."

He's rubbed elbows with Mike Tyson in Miami Beach and has met Daryl Hannah.

Brad said Tyson struck up a conversation with him, and at least for that short time didn't live up to his well-publicized bad-boy image. Hannah was friendly, chatting with him about the business during another photo shoot.

Brad doesn't have trouble getting dates, but said he doesn't have a steady girlfriend right now.

He plans to stay in the business for as long as he can.

"It's very competitive and there really are a lot more jobs for women. For men, if you stay fit and looking young, you can keep it up."

Source: Belleville News-Democrat, September 22, 2002

XXAbercrombie & Fitch Female Model: Laura Lee Phillips

2006-08-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

Disocvery and the world of modeling came a bit easy for Abercrombie and Fitch female model Laura Lee Phillips. Although not a native Southerner, this Abercrombie and Fitch hottie model rose from a Raleigh mall store to breathe new life into the concept of Dixie Chicks. One minute she was flying on a plane when another passenger (a modeling scout) spotted her in the seat, the next minute she was winging it in the world of international fashion modeling. While her Abercrombie and Fitch shoot drew some raised eyebrows and more than a little concern for its nudity and suggestive content, Phillips sees it all as good clean fun. There was a time when her fresh-faced collegiate beauty would have stirred the hearts(and probably a few other organs) of the Campus Men producers. Too bad that female models tend to be a bitch to work with - leaving Campus Men to thrive in the world of male-only modeling.

RALEIGH--Heads turn as Laura Lee Phillips makes her way across the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Crabtree Valley Mall, but she doesn't notice.

She moves with the ease of someone accustomed to drawing stares.

Her admirers -- grinning adolescent boys, men over 40 darting discreet glances and women giving her the catty once-over -- can't be faulted.

Glossy blond hair tumbles down her back. A clingy white cropped top reveals a band of skin at her waist and a tiny gecko tattoo. Low-cut blue jeans hug her hips and long legs. A warm smile lights her face.

It isn't every day a specimen of physical perfection strolls through their midst.

Phillips, 24, a model featured in the racy Abercrombie Christmas catalog that has outraged pundits and parents alike, is back in Raleigh on this day before Thanksgiving to share the holiday with family.

She's also stopping by the Crabtree Abercrombie, a chain mecca for the young and hip, where she worked as a high school senior. It has changed since the days Phillips worked a cash register. The store, and the brand, have become edgier, with its trademark, sexually suggestive catalog drawing complaints every year.

This year, the company pulled the Christmas issue from stores just days before Phillips' Crabtree visit. A spokesman insists controversy played no part.

"I'm very proud of it, and my mom and dad are proud of it," Phillips says of the catalog. "My friends all think it's great, too."

Her mother, Pam Phillips, admits to initial "mixed emotions" about the catalog. But, she says, the family supported Laura's decision -- a choice her daughter made after much thought.

"You can get all hung up on it, but I sat down, and I had to think who makes the determination of when nudity is art and when it isn't?" Pam Phillips says.

Catalog aside, Phillips' image gets plenty of play at the Crabtree Abercrombie. The store, humming with the bustle of shoppers and piped-in techno-beat music, has one room where three photos of her canoodling with a male model dot the walls. A giant, blow-up of Phillips and four other seemingly nude, buff young people decorates a back wall.

But not a single shopper approaches her. Not even the ones savvy enough to realize the sweet-faced young woman before them is the same one smiling down from the walls. They snicker and sneak peeks instead.

Born in Ohio, Phillips moved to Raleigh when she was 10 with her parents, John and Pam, and two siblings. She graduated from Leesville Road High School in 1997 with another classmate who recently made a big splash -- Clay Aiken.

In 2001, she earned a degree in psychology at the University of South Carolina. On a plane to Ohio that same year, a modeling scout approached and asked her to have professional photos taken.

She did, and that summer an Italian agency invited her to model in Europe. But the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made Phillips leery of travel.

In December, the Italians called again, and this time Phillips said yes.

"I figured if nothing comes of it, it's a free trip to Europe," she says. She spent the next six months modeling in Italy, Germany, France and Spain.

She twice graced the cover of Italy's Bella magazine, before moving back to the States and settling in Atlanta where her boyfriend, a sales manager for Miller Beer, lives.

"He sells beer and dates a model. His friends say he has a great life," Phillips laughs.

Nowadays, Phillips is represented by the Elite modeling agency. Elite agent Victoria Duruh booked her the Abercrombie job.

"I knew Laura would be a great fit," Duruh says. "She's very all-American, innocent, really fresh, a great figure, of course, and a fun spirit."

A pack of 40 models trooped to the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York last July to shoot the catalog amid that region's spectacular natural beauty. A set closed to onlookers and a low-key crew made frolicking au naturel easier, Phillips says.

Only her chest and the top of her buttocks appear in the catalog. She says she'd never bare more than that for the camera.

Her next modeling gig? Miami where she'll be shooting various catalogs in January. After that, who knows?

Phillips says she'll keep modeling as long as it fits into the scheme of her life.

"It's like any other career to me," she says. "If you're having fun and it's yourself, go for it."

Source: The News & Observer, December 4, 2003

Abercrombie Modeling: Art Director

2006-08-02T06:18:00.001-07:00

At least Sam Shahid, the art director renowned for bringing a naked-as-a-jaybird, homoerotic aesthetic to cutting edge must-haves like underwear, perfume and Abercrombie & Fitch's randy quarterly magazine -- revered, reviled and abruptly defunct -- has the good sense to show up for this tête-à-tête fully clothed. Mr. Shahid, a scampish 62 and a once and forever acolyte of his ex-employer, Calvin Klein, obviously intuits it politic to keep all skin undercover when shooting the verbal breeze with a square, straight reporter in the harsh light of day.

Sure, the laces on his sneakers are untied, his designer white shirttails poke out from beneath his gray sweater like misplaced angel wings à la Comme des Garçons and the dwindling snowdrift of hair on his head is slightly mussed. But this tastefully assembled dishabille is not meant to suggest anything untoward. Sex in the workplace? Sex on the set of those rollicking A&F quarterly confabulations starring collegians who seem to major in Bacchanalia? Au contraire!Mr. Shahid twists the cap off his Perrier with one jerk, takes a hearty swig, then widens his brown eyes in deer-in-the-headlights incredulity: if looks could kill, the messenger would be dead. But Mr. Shahid opts to continue the conversation; he finds provocation endlessly amusing, especially sexual provocation. To Mr. Shahid, named one of New York City's top 101 gay power brokers by New York magazine, "Beautiful and sexy, it's the same thing; sex is not just about disrobing and having sex."

His No. 1 mantra: "Sex always sells. It's just the way it's packaged and presented that changes. All of a sudden everything is lily white, and everybody's into this goody-two-shoes thing; it's a product of the moment." But he sure loves packaging it, even a tempered version befitting "the national mood" set by the Bush administration. His newest take appears in A&F's spring catalog (the quarterly may be retired, but Mr. Shahid, a member of A&F's board of directors, continues to direct the catalog and collect nearly $2 million per year in fees). And this Alabaman who grew up in thrall to television advertising -- Clairol's "Does she or doesn't she" campaign gave him goose bumps as a Birmingham schoolboy -- still annoys a certain segment of the population with his, uh, layouts.

He is unfazed that the American Decency Association and the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, organizations that favored a boycott of A&F as retaliation against the quarterly's sexually explicit content, disparage his work. Did his interviewer hear the one about him allegedly hollering, "Get sexy!" to a parcel of half-clad college kids disporting themselves at a 2003 quarterly shoot?

Mr. Shahid is a bit of a Peter Pan -- he remembers his real age only when he sees himself in photos -- but not so unprofessional as to blurt out directives during a Bruce Weber photo shoot. "Nobody talks when Bruce Weber is shooting," Mr. Shahid says of the collaborator he met 20 years ago in Mexico on a Calvin Klein shoot. Mr. Weber was the photographer; Mr. Shahid was the glorified go-fer summoned to deliver a second batch of clothes after the first was confiscated at the border.

Although Mr. Shahid's beloved quarterly is deceased, the victim of a button-down moment in fashion, it's business as usual at Shahid & Company Advertising and Design, a sprawling loft at 435 Hudson Street with bare white walls and rough cement floors. The single painting on display depicts a male torso with staggering pectorals, but do not mistake it for Mr. Shahid's muse.

"I think I'm my own muse," he says, after some deliberation involving art books, Fellini films, Arabic music and Grace Kelly, "and that's a little confused maybe, but when you're getting down to it, books, music and films are very important to me, but I think all of that, you put into yourself." The "it" he's getting down to refers to the vision this 5-foot-6 Lebanese-American micromanager-in-residence sells, whether for A&F, TSE Cashmere, Williams Sonoma, or adam+eve, a new underwear line. His last underwear client, Bali, dismissed him after four years. "It hurts when you love it, but this business, it's very fickle," he says. "People are not loyal; they're just not."

THEN again, Mr. Shahid wasn't terminally loyal to Mr. Klein, the mentor who gave him his big break by assigning him the Obsession perfume campaign and promoting him to creative director; when Banana Republic called, Mr. Shahid answered. But he's perfected his excuse: "I needed to know if I had another life, if I could do anything on my own. Calvin was like a god to us. But he was the spokesman, and you were behind him."

He lasted 10 years with Mr. Klein, just one with Banana Republic, which fired him not, he says, for racy campaigns featuring same-sex couplings, but over an upper-management conflict--Mr. Shahid's pushy personality is a genetic hand-me-down from his dad, a salesman of infinite brio. A disastrous season at Fila concluded, he says, in mutual animosity: "They hated me, and I couldn't do anything right. If you love it, you can sell anything; if you have your doubts about a product, then stay away."

Mr. Shahid's childhood was atypical; each Christmas he received a football and a football uniform, and each year he left them in their boxes. His interest ran more toward a fixation for movie advertisements; he majored in business and advertising at the University of Alabama, where he was his fraternity's social chairman, dated girls, and recalls meeting just one other gay student. He lives alone in Greenwich Village and also has a house in Bridgehampton. Mr. Shahid's companion of eight years, Larry Soracco, died in 1991. Their bedroom was -- he shudders -- pink: a compromise between white, his favorite color, and red, Mr. Soracco's. "Oh, the compromises we make for love," he says. Wistfully.

Source: New York Times, February 18, 2004

XXAbercrombie & Fitch Female Model: Christina Coniglio

2006-08-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

While thrilled about her appearance in eight Bruce Weber photographs featured in the current issue of Abercrombie & Fitch's A&F Magazine, 19-year-old islander Christina Coniglio is more excited about her upcoming graduation from Cardinal Newman High School.

"I'm going to college in the fall, the Savannah College of Art & Design, to study fashion," Coniglio said. "You can imagine why - going to Catholic school all these years and wearing the same uniform every day - to not have to do that."Coniglio's modeling debut was accidental. She was encouraged to see Nick and Marianne Tamposi at P Model Management in West Palm Beach in November by her boyfriend, Kent Anderson, a part-time model who is signed with the 1-year-old agency.

"I told him that this wasn't really my deal - 'I'm going to college' - that I wasn't really into the modeling thing," said Coniglio.

"Abercrombie & Fitch had set up a private casting for us the day after she came in," said Nick Tamposi. "Once we saw her, we knew she would be picked.

"Her look fits what the photographer Bruce Weber is looking for, an all-around natural, kind of beachy look."

Coniglio wasn't as sure about the outcome of the casting call, which took place at the Hotel Biba in West Palm Beach. She kept the potential job a secret from her friends.

"You know how teenagers can be," she said. "And I'm not a big modelly girl."

The Tamposis were right, however, and after about a month and a half, Coniglio, who at 5 feet 6 inches is shorter than the average fashion model, was on her way to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with about 20 other young models.

"The experience was amazing," said Coniglio of the five-day shoot. "Working with Bruce Weber was great. He's so nice and absolutely brilliant.

"I learned during my time there that I can be an independent person," said Coniglio, who generally spends time surrounded by her siblings. "It was really helpful to see what it's like to be on your own, especially with my going away to college. And the money was great!"

"I'm young and just having fun with this for now," said Coniglio, who will probably spend some time in New York this summer with one of her four sisters, perhaps getting a few modeling jobs before heading to Savannah in September. Coniglio would like to work as a designer someday.

"I'd like to do more modeling," said Coniglio, who since the Abercrombie shoot has been photographed for a fashion spread and the cover of the Boca Raton magazine Simply the Best and has been cast in a music video.

"It's great to meet the photographers and stylists - the backstage side of the fashion business," she said. "We'll see what happens." she said. "I always feel like when an opportunity comes up for my children, that it's worth swinging the bat," said her mother, Gail Coniglio, who sees the modeling experience as a potential home run for her daughter.

"And she is going to college in the fall," said Gail Coniglio, explaining that her gig as a model is not the focus of her life.

"She and her sisters are all artistically inclined -- I know she'll do well." Gail Coniglio says she has been fielding calls from agencies in Miami and New York about her part-time model daughter, who continues to put hours in behind the bars at Bradley's and Cucina, the restaurants owned by her parents.

Source: Palm Beach Daily News, May 15, 2005

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model: Maxwell Zagorski

2006-07-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Abercrombie & Fitch Male Model Sought for Interview

2006-07-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

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.)

Abercrombie & Fitch on Tribe

2006-07-12T23:49:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2006-07-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

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.

Becoming an Abercrombie and Fitch Male Model means Being Cloned!

2006-07-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

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.