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The marked silhouette of the Balenciaga jacket calls for the return of shoulder pads, but in a different way.
Skin protected with UV Defense City+ Ultra Light Texture fluid from Biotherm Homme.Gorka Postigo
It's almost a relief that the screaming isn't about them.
At men's fashion weeks, hordes of fans crowding against security fences target pop or TikTok or Hollywood stars while they, the real stars of the show, calmly arrive through a back door in sneakers. , headphones and, if they are no longer teenagers, with a look as if they had not been partying the night before.
The men's top looks more like a soldier, or an athlete, than a Bella Hadid taking selfies in a sea of flashes.
They work hard and charge accordingly.
If they take the reins well, they find themselves with a solid career.
And they don't even need social networks.
This is the case of our cover man, Clément Chabernaud (Paris, 34 years old), who walked for the first time in 2005 for Hedi Slimane's Dior Homme: the designer who, with a stroke of the pen, inaugurated the era of fragile adolescent beauty.
The first menswear collection designed by Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton features a scaled version of the Damier checkerboard that, in denim garments like this one, evokes a radical pixelation. Gorka Postigo
But Chabernaud always had something unclassifiable.
With his slender elegance, his lanky charm and his noble look, he hailed the paradigm shift from the Jil Sander, Prada or Balmain campaigns.
Brands that paved the way for a masculinity that he no longer only understood as hunks or hunks.
He shrugs his shoulders: “I started with an agency that gradually allowed me to access
castings
,” he explains when we ask him about his beginnings.
“That's how I got my first jobs, by chance.
I saw the ads on the street and I said why not.
Maybe there was a market to exploit.”
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When she starred in the fashion editorial of the first issue of ICON, in 2013, her face was already essential.
The witnesses of that session commented on his ability to rehearse a thousand poses in front of the camera, to reinvent himself naturally and construct a photographic sequence without monotony: nothing could be further from the blue steel with which
Zoolander
(2001) immortalized many of the worst vices of the film industry. the most beautiful beings on the planet.
Her chameleonic appearance was, from the beginning, inimitable.
In 2014, New York Times
fashion critic
Matthew Schneier tweeted from Milan: “Many models on the runway have adopted Clément Chabernaud's sideways look,” he noted.
“Guys, it's a privilege, not a right.”
The Caten brothers claim rebellion in deconstructed garments for Dsquared2.
The hat is a vintage piece from 20Age Archive.
Shine-free skin with the mattifying All Hours Powder by Yves Saint Laurent Beauty.Gorka Postigo
The marked silhouette of the Balenciaga jacket calls for the return of shoulder pads, but in a different way.
Skin protected with UV Defense City+ Ultra Light Texture fluid from Biotherm Homme.Gorka Postigo
This three-piece suit in a bright red tone is a summary of the sexy and sophisticated luxury of Gucci, which returned to its sensual minimalism before Sabato de Sarno's first collection. Gorka Postigo
Hedi Slimane sings an ode to the subcultures of the early 2000s in his collection for Celine this spring.
Pay attention to the puffed sleeves of the leather jacket: pure night owl rococo. Gorka Postigo
Volumes and Tabi with rubber soles: the return of the most desired footwear in Maison Margiela's conceptual fashion.
The light caresses Clément's face thanks to the Touche Éclat highlighter by Yves Saint Laurent Beauty.Gorka Postigo
The conceptual becomes warm and friendly in the hands of Jonathan Anderson.
An example?
The enlarged jacquard motif of the texture of this Loewe garment.
Hydrated face with Force Supreme Serum from Biotherm Homme.Gorka Postigo
No matter how much Chabernaud describes his trajectory from normality, this capacity for permanence is not common.
We asked Gert Jonkers, ideologue and founder of
Fantastic Man
, the magazine that in this same period has transformed the way we look at men.
“How great Clément is!” He replies when we tell him that it is going to be our March cover, the first in our history dedicated to a model.
“I can't think of anyone else with such a long career, almost twenty years.
And bravo for him.
He still looks fantastic.
And the best thing is that he doesn't behave anywhere near like a celebrity, which makes him very empathetic and approachable.
Who needs drama nowadays?”
Chabernaud, of course, not.
The Frenchman was an athlete unfaithful to fashion when the first agents noticed him.
“I think my only references were female models, like Kate Moss,” he says.
Although there have been stars in the old way.
From the pioneer Cameron, the British-Iranian who burst into the generation that turned fashion into a spectacle - along with Gaultier, Madonna and Elton John - to the great generation of Spanish tops, with Andrés Velencoso and Jon Kortajarena at the helm.
Men who have transcended fashion, either by making the leap to cinema and/or with an overwhelming presence on social networks and in popular culture.
But they are not the norm.
Once again Jonkers sheds light on the matter: “It has always been very different, especially with respect to people's obsession with famous models.
Personally, I find the world of male models a little nicer and a little more human than the madness and frenzy in which the
Kate Mosses
of this world live.
“I wouldn’t wish that kind of celebrity on my worst enemy!”
The tactile revolution promoted by Alessandro Sartori at Zegna is reflected in luxurious natural fibers and modern cuts.
Noah Lyon badges.
Flawless skin with the All Hours Concealer from Yves Saint Laurent Beauty.Gorka Postigo
Stratospheric fame, maybe not.
But there have been sparks.
When Mark Vanderloo sat naked behind the wheel of a Peugeot 106 in 1994, he made the male body an object of desire in advertising.
It was such a foundational moment that she took the lead from the supermodels: shortly after Claudia Schiffer did the same by stripping naked to drive her Citroën.
That was in 1998, just before the cult of youth and a certain naturalness changed the rules.
Andrés Velencoso signed with Chanel in the nineties and starred on its first cover in
Arena Homme +
, which became the bible of the sector, in 2005. Will Chalker dressed in a classic suit for Zegna as he took it off to be the image of Black XS by Paco Rabanne.
Jon Kortajarena embodied the carnal and unpretentious elegance of Tom Ford and David Gandy did the same with a tiny white slip, in full sun, for Dolce&Gabbana.
There is no manual to be a model.
Nor has the
cursus honorum
of the giants of the sector flowed along the same channels.
There are advertising supermodels, like Gandy or Tyson Beckford, who have barely set foot on the catwalk, in a phenomenon that is reminiscent of the highest-paid models in the industry, who are not those who dedicate themselves to fashion shows, but to cosmetics.
Others, like Chabernaud, have always remained faithful to the daily work of fashion.
“It has been a question of continuity,” he explains.
His profile in Models.com, the sector's database that, after several years in its top 50, has moved him to the Icons category, the even more restrictive section reserved for long-distance runners, includes a resume with 520 points, twice as much as Velencoso, 200 more than Kortajarena and quadruple than Chalker or Vanderloo.
In two decades, and with hardly any social networks, Chabernaud has not stopped working.
Dolce & Gabbana proposes a return to elegance and tailoring in this monochrome look, with gestures of character as eloquent as the dimensions of the large coat worn by Clément Chabernaud.Gorka Postigo
The first menswear collection designed by Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton features a scaled version of the Damier checkerboard that, in denim garments like this one, evokes a radical pixelation. Gorka Postigo
The tactile revolution promoted by Alessandro Sartori at Zegna is reflected in luxurious natural fibers and modern cuts.
Noah Lyon badges.
Flawless skin with the All Hours Concealer from Yves Saint Laurent Beauty.Gorka Postigo
Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons continue exploring workwear: an irresistible multi-pocket vest, jeans for desire, a leather jacket so soft it melts and the shoes we want in 2024. Gorka Postigo
The most tangible promise of the new Italian fashion is this Magliano, which focuses on working-class elegance and gives artisanal height to everyday-looking garments.
Yohji Yamamoto.Gorka Postigo Shoes
Emporio Armani gets romantic and nocturnal with pieces like this dress vest.
He even complexion with the All Hours Foundation by Yves Saint Laurent Beauty.Gorka Postigo
“I think he's a role model for today's top stars, like Leon Dame or Jonas Glöer, who are also nice... and star in our next cover,” Jonkers laughs.
When we ask our star for his advice for the new generations, he returns to his practical spirit.
“I would tell them, especially at the beginning, to try to accumulate many jobs so as not to limit themselves to being the model of the moment.”
Said by him it seems simple.
But, as always in almost everything in life, just the opposite happens.
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