We bet you didn’t know who the first male supermodel was – this is what he looks like now

Of course, men appeared on the pages of fashion magazines long before the nineties, but they mostly remained anonymous extras. But British John Pearson, who Vogue calls the first male supermodel, completely changed the rules of the game and became a pioneer of male star modeling.

During his more than 30-year career, he appeared in more than 100 advertising campaigns. In addition, he is the only male model who has appeared in American GQ editorials for three decades.

His aristocratic looks made him the most sought-after male model in 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 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 clip, which also starred Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Tatjana Patitz, did much to cement the supermodel’s status in pop culture. And the fact that Pearson also became the hero of the video only confirms that he also belonged to 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 terrified. But he was taking pictures and I thought, ‘They actually look pretty good,'” Pearson recalled of his entry into the fashion world.

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

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

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

At some point, Pearson focused on his personal life. He has been married to Alison Edmond, a famous stylist, for almost 30 years and they have three children.

However, Pearson is still in demand and is regularly removed for magazines and goes on stage.

“Fortunately, I’ve reached a certain age where there aren’t as many of us,” Pearson says of colleagues who started in the 1980s and 1990s.

But if we notice a little competition, John is of course modest – he is still in great shape, so he can surpass the young.

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

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