The 5 Model Boyfriends You Meet At Castings

By TatianaTheAnonymousModel  |  April 20, 2009 | 7:00pm

Oh, the incredible, never-ending weirdness of the dudes you get to date when you have to respond to the “What do you do?” question with “Uh…I’m a model.” Fear not, Vogue is on the case!

Boyfriends of fashion models. Who are these guys? What do they do? How did they meet their unusually tall, usually foreign other halves? As an actor would say, What’s their motivation? Vogue‘s May issue produced a handy guide to several of the most common varieties.

1. The Fellow Model

As modeled by Arlenis Sosa Pena and Rene Rodriguez
Representative sentence from magazine copy: “When asked if they ever shop together, they answer in unison, ‘Always!’ ”

Pros:

  • Knows the industry, understands its demands
  • Empathizes with the indignity of having your hair pulled for a living (kinda — this happens less to boys)
  • Can tell you if you look castings-ready or not in the mornings

Cons:

  • You can wear his clothes. But he can also wear yours.
  • You both do the exact same thing for a living every day. What on earth are you going to talk about?

2. The Photo Assistant

As modeled by Julia Stegner and Steven Pan
Representative sentence from magazine copy: “Her nickname for him — Schatzi — means ‘honey’ in her native German, and when they’re not working — he’s Steven Meisel’s first assistant — they seek out surfing or snowboarding.”

Pros:

  • Can always arrange a happy-accident run-in for you with his boss
  • Will probably be a famous photographer in his own right one day
  • Creative and driven
  • Much better than sleeping with Gilles Bensimon

Cons:

  • Almost certainly shorter than you

3. The Minor Player From The Industry Penumbra

As modeled by Chanel Iman and Tyga
Representative sentence from magazine copy: ” ‘Shopping with her? We’d be there all day,’ teases the hip-hop artist. ‘I’d rather just buy her something.’ ”

As modeled by Doutzen Kroes and Greg Andrews (DJ Ruckus)
Representative sentence from magazine copy: ” ‘I saw Greg from far away, and I had to go over there. I said, Who are you?’ ‘And I asked, Who am I? Who are you?’ he says, laughing.”

Pros:

  • Never have to worry about him not getting into the party
  • Compensates for his gnawing insecurity by constantly practicing being suave and charming (just like he wasn’t in high school)
  • Will buy you things

Cons:

  • Gay?

4. The Non-Industry Guy

As modeled by Anna Maria Jagodzinska and Duncan Winecoff
Representative sentence from the magazine copy: ” ‘Anna is the most curious person I know. She’s always online looking for travel and volunteer opportunities,’ like the eleven-day safari that they just took in Tanzania, where they stayed in tents and tree houses.”

Pros:

  • Full of fascinating tidbits about non-fashion industry topics. Probably reads the newspaper.
  • Will feel extra-specially “lucky” to have “landed” you for about 50% longer than any other guy; this knowledge, sensitively deployed, will give you a tactical advantage in arguments
  • Jagodzinska: “The nicest things that he does for me are so often the simplest ones. Like having a cup of green tea ready for me when I get home at night.”

Cons:

  • Deep, deep down, he probably thinks what he does is more important than what you do, which feels crushing, even though it’s probably technically true

5. The Son-Of

As modeled by Caroline Trentini and Victor Demarchelier
Representative sentence from magazine copy: “She doesn’t remember the first time they saw each other on a shoot [she was the model; he was assisting his photographer father], three years ago.”

Pros:

  • Has that vast self-assurance native to those raised in extraordinary wealth
  • Cultured and smart; good conversationalist, from all those times Mom and Dad had dignitaries and titans of industry over
  • Exploring some different career and business options just at present

Cons: