Here Come The Boys: The Arrival of The Male Super-Model

Talk about modelling, and the first thoughts that spring to mind tend to be crazy haute couture, catwalks, the occasional truly hideous creation and ultimately: super-slim girls. It’s true that the faces of the industry have at length been women- whether you’re talking about Twiggy in the 1960s, Elle MacPherson in the 1980s, Naomi Campbell in the 1990s or Giselle Bündchen today.

Finally, the male models have suddenly become all the more prominent. It’s telling that the ongoing cycle of America’s Next Top Model, a show that aims to find the next great modelling talent in the USA is the first, in its ten year history to introduce male models.

Though the first generation of male supermodels, such as Mark Vanderloo, dates to the 1990s, only in 2013 have they rightly assumed such recognition to rival their female counterparts. It’s also intriguing to note the move from the traditional emphasis upon masculinity within the male-modelling world. While there is still demand for the traditional strength and Greek-God physique, androgynous modelling has taken off. Andrej Pejic has become the spokesperson for this newest trend, walking both the male and female for Jean Paul-Gautier and the male show for Marc Jacobs at Paris Fashion Week in 2011.

The top-dog male supermodels aren’t as young as their female counterparts though, and the leading lights in 2013 have long been in the making. David Gandy, perhaps Britain’s most prominent male super-model has been a repeat favourite of Dolce & Gabbana, perhaps most notably for the Light Blue Pour Homme ad filmed with Marija Vujović and shot by noted photographer Mario Testino. Likewise, Gabriel Aubry, the first man to grace the cover of Uomo Vogue, remains on the top of his game in 2013, and was named the highest earning male model by The Telegraph in 2012.

Their continuing supremacy is under threat though. An emerging younger crop are challenging for the top-model spots currently held by Gandy and Aubry, perhaps more vehemently than the competition Giselle Bündchen currently faces from the leading ladies of female modelling.

Sean O’Pry is a man in demand. Consistently booked by the likes of Versace, Armani, Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss, O’Pry is well on the way to cementing his status as a male-super. Fronting fragrances for Jil Sander and Viktor and Hugo, the Fall Armani Exchange campaign, Cartier’s Fall Eyewear and Kenzo’s Fall Campaign, O’Pry’s career is flourishing and shows little sign of slowing down. O’Pry is the most traditionally featured of the models though, with Simon Nessman in particular relying upon a deceptively youthful innocence. Though he currently lacks O’Pry’s designer pulling power, he has scored Michael Kors Fall campaign and Kors’s fragrance campaign to boot.

Ultimately though, for the likes of O’Pry, Nessman, Gandy and Aubry, the challenge is not in attaining super-model status in their own industry, rather it is about challenging the female supermodels for prominence within the industry. The constant stream of campaigns won by male-models and their increasing role as muses of the leading fashion houses means only one thing for the future of the modelling: the invincibility of the female-super model is at an end.