I bet you didn’t know who the first male model was – here’s what he looks like now

Of course, men appeared on the pages of fashion magazines long before the 1990s, but remained mostly anonymous extras. But Briton John Pearson, whom Vogue calls the first male model, completely changed the rules of the game and became a pioneer of male modeling.

In a career spanning over 30 years, he appeared in over 100 advertising campaigns. In addition, he is the only male model to appear in US GQ editorials for three decades.

Thanks to his aristocratic bearing, he was the most sought-after male model of the 1990s, the face of some of the world’s biggest brands, including Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Valentino, Burberry, Levi’s and Gap. Pearson has posed for every major fashion photographer, from Mario Testino and Helmut Newton to Peter Lindbergh and Patrick Demarchelier.

Not to mention he appeared in George Michael’s iconic music video, Freedom, directed by a young David Fincher. The music video, which also starred Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Tatjana Patitz, did much to cement the models’ status in pop culture. And the fact that Pearson also became the hero of the video only confirms that he was part of this elite group.

“One day a guy came into the store and said, ‘I’d like to take your picture. I’m a photographer.’ I was freaked out, but he took pictures, and I thought, “Actually, they look pretty good,” Pearson recalls about her entry into the fashion world.

His first professional shoot was on the cover of Self magazine with Uma Thurman in 1986, and since then his career has taken off.

Despite the resounding success, at some point the model felt that she was tired of such a life.

“I’m tired of people touching my face. There were times when I wanted to quit, when I turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars. At this point in your career, you become a showman. You’re in the spotlight, but sometimes you don’t want to be the center of attention – even if you signed up for it.”.

At one point, Pearson focused on his personal life. For nearly 30 years, he has been married to Alison Edmond, a famous stylist, they have three children.

However, Pearson is still in demand and periodically removed from magazines and takes to the catwalk.

“Fortunately, I’ve reached a certain age where a lot of us aren’t working anymore,” Pearson says of her colleagues who started in the 80s and 90s.

But, noting the small competition, John, of course, is modest – he is still in top form, so he can outperform the youngsters.

“I still have my hair, my teeth, my hair is pretty well done and I don’t have a belly,” he jokes.

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