Interview | International Model Ryan Taylor

I met up with Ryan Taylor ( VNY ) at the Nomad Hotel lobby in NYC to catch up and see what he's been up to. It's common place to read about models who are musicians or skaters but there are a few out there that are taking matters in to their owns hands with an entrepreneurial spirit. Find out about Ryan and all the adventures his embarking on when he's not in front of the camera in this exclusive interview for Adentro Style.

Photo by Alejandro Brito

Where are you from?
Toronto, Canada

Relationship status-
Currently single, recently currently single

Any plans for the summer?
That's a tricky one. I'm actually going to go with some friends and family from Canada out west to Vancouver Island and we're going to do a 2.5 week hiking trip in the middle of nowhere. Kind of like the west coast version of the Appalachian trail. It's supposed to be very beautiful. I've never been to British Columbia before except for the Rookies which is completely different from what you get in the coast. It will be nice to see it.

How long have you been modeling?
10 years, I started when I was 15 years old. I haven't been modeling the whole 10 years. I took off 4 years and went to college and did some other stuff here and there  Closer to 5 years doing it full time.

Louis Vuitton SS12

What is one of your most memorable photo shoots or projects that you've done as a model?
The one that always sticks out in my mind was an editorial, I want to say it was for Details Magazine. This was a long time ago, about 2007. We were shooting in Tenerife an island off the coast of Africa and we were shooting in a crater of a volcano. It looked like mars, everything was red it was one of the most striking landscapes I've ever seen. The team was amazing and we had a lot of fun. I had never been anywhere close to Africa before at that point in my life- it was a wonderful experience.

United Colors of Benetton FW 2009

What do you do when you are not modeling?

When I’m not modeling, the rest of my time is taken up working on a tech startup, (Bookt) that my partners and I  launched a few months ago. It's basically a communications tool for models and agents. The software focuses on making the casting process easy for models. It automatically puts their castings, jobs, and call-backs into an simple and easy smartphone app. Bookt also calculates casting wait times, provides models with Google powered directions, and helps models keep track of their income with a “quick” bookkeeping feature. This solves many problems agents have had for years. In addition, Bookt provides agents with notifications when models have arrived at their castings, increasing accountability. Agents commonly claim that 20% to 30% of their models don’t go to castings. That's a lot of lost potential income. I'm really excited to work on this project and we have a lot of really valuable features coming in the future. 

How long have you been working on this project?
I've been doing this now, full time for 6 months. The project has been going on for about 13 months. Right now it's available for download and it's free! We're already with a couple of big agencies and close to 1K users. we are currently exclusively in NYC but we plan on branching out.

Bottega Veneta SS13

Where else do you see this App taking you guys?
I see it branching out in so many directions because it's applicable in so many different industries.

Is there anything else that we should know about you?
I love adventure, traveling and back packing, new experiences. I'm the kind of person that would rather climb a mountain for 7 days then go to any club in NYC- that's my cup of tea. Jumping out of a plane, doing whitewater rafting, I feel alive when I'm doing that kind of stuff.

Roadtrip: The Grand Canyon

Let me just start by saying, if you've never been to the Grand Canyon do yourself a favor- add it to your bucket list and make it happen. I finally understand what the word breathtaking means. When I first arrived clouds overhead and even then it looked amazing. Once the clouds moved and the sun shined through the canyons splendor was in full force. It was late afternoon which ended up being perfect because sunset was just a couple of hours away. I heard the best place to see the sunset was Desert View Point. It certainly was. As the sun set every couple of seconds the colors in the sky and in the canyon changed to purple, pink, green and blue hues surrounding everyone there as the sun continued to descend and it was magical.

T-shirt- Penfield | Shorts- J.Crew | Belt- Mission Belts | Shoes- Palladium | Backpack- Fjall Raven

So lucky to have shared this trip with my little sister!

Jacket- Penfield

I heard the best place to see the sunset was Desert View Point. It certainly was. As the sun set every couple of seconds the colors in the sky and in the canyon changed to purple, pink, green and blue hues surrounding everyone there as the sun continued to descend and it was magical.

Road Trip: Hoover Dam, NV

It was my second time to Hoover Dam and I still enjoyed visiting and walking around. This place is really impressive as it was built during the Great Depression and it only took them 5 years to build it. Love walking around the Deco Style architecture and the beautiful landscape.

Deciding what to wear for this trip was a no-brainer. A light cotton t-shirt from Penfield, distressed jeans from Denim & Supply, Palladium boots and belt from Mission Belt had me ready for the heat and anything that came my way.

Do not be deceived, these boots are extremely comfortable.

The bridge over Hoover Dam. Talk about reaching great heights!

Road Trip: Galaxy Diner on Route 66

Little did we know that right across a most awful hotel where we spent the night there would be this awesome 50's diner on Route 66 in Flagstaff, AZ called Galaxy Diner. I can honestly say that breakfast and lunch are great here because we came twice on the same day specifically because they offer 100 different milkshakes flavors. We had to come back for the milk shakes (Yolo)! I had the cookies and cream and chocolate milkshake while my little sister had the brownie chocolate milkshake and they give you the silver cup where its all mixed, so good.

Shoes- Aldo Shoes | No Show Socks- Mack Weldon (they live up to their name)

Shirt- UniQlo | Pants- Life/After/Denim | Tie- Skinny Tie Madness 

Road Trip: Albuquerque

Due to last minute changes Albuquerque, NM became the next stop and I was OK with that. A friend recommended that hands down I had to get breakfast at Duran Central Pharmacy. Sounds a bit strange, I know, but when you enter the pharmacy just head to the back and a cool little restaurant will be there to serve you some really delicious food. Whatever you get will be a great choice but make sure to ask for a tortilla with butter. So good! After that delicious breakfast we headed to downtown Albuquerque to view the KiMO Theatre which was built in the 1920's. I'm such a fan of deco and southwestern style architecture of this building.

T-shirt Mack Weldon | Shorts- Penfield | Shirt- Burton | Shoes- Aldo

Sunglasses- Shwood | Watch- Timex

The last stop was the Petroglyph National Monument where Native Americans painted on the volcanic stones hundreds of years ago. There was a field of wild flowers right next to them so you know I couldn't pass up that kind of photo op.

Cap- Burton

Caught in the act! Instagraming my Aldo shoes instead of the petroglyph right behind me.

Road Trip: New Orleans

I had seen pictures of New Orleans and they don't do it justice. It was like stepping to another country and time in history. My visit only lasted a few hours but I made the best of it by spending most of the time at the French Quarter. Jackson Square was one of the mandatory stops but I made sure to explore the surrounding streets and alleys. And of course, I could not forget to get a tasty beignet (or two) at Cafe Du Monde a couple of blocks from Jackson Square. Speaking of food I was left wanting to try more of all the delicious food New Orleans has to offer. I did get to try some jambalaya (how can you not!), andouille sausage and of course a po' boy. Needless to say, I will have to make my way back to NOLA for more than one reason.

Jackson Square in the background. Shirt- Parke & Ronen | Pants- Life After Denim | Shoes- K-Swiss x Billy Reid 

Sunglasses- Shwood Sunglasses | Bracelet- Giles & Brother 

Bag- Cambridge Satchel Company

A Week With Frameri

I was invited to try out Frameri, a Cincinnati based eyewear company and meet with founder Konrad Billetz in NYC. It was a pleasure to meet Konrad and talk about what motivated him to start Frameri. I'm always up for a great origin story and like any great origin story we have to go back to the protagonists childhood. At the age of 11, Konrad was shot in the eye by a BB gun. Doctors said he was going to go blind, but he didn't. Unfortunately, he was left with bad eye sight and has worn glasses ever since and with that the frustrations that come with having to get glasses. In July of 2014 he launched Frameri, a site where anyone can go and find a variety of styles handmade in Italy to choose from. What makes them different is that the eyewear is designed from an industrial design perspective so you can replace the lenses. Which means you won't have to get new glasses as your prescription changes. Just get new lenses or you can get more frames and just switch the lenses, either way its a win-win. Speaking of switching lenses- that's exactly what I've been up to this past week. I wore the Drebbel frames and switched lenses depending on my mood, weather, activity etc etc. Loved it.

The Usual Suspects: Public School S/S 2016

The Public School NYC Spring/Summer 2016 collection was everything but usual. Their presentation as a Police line up with models and some special guests made for a unique experience. I thought to myself why didn't anyone do this before. I was invited backstage and spoke with Aveda's Global Artist Director Allen Ruiz about the hair styling for this show. He said, " This is my fourth season with designer Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne. each time their designs get more innovative which allows me to have much more fun with styling the hair." One of the focuses was to accentuate each models individuality and uniqueness, be it the texture, color, or length of their hair.

photo via Aveda

Just a sample of the Aveda products used to achieve all the looks.

photo via Aveda

Love the variety of hair styles and textures.

Curly or straight, bleached or natural- it's all good at Public School.

One of the special guests was none other than Nick Wooster.

A closer look at the Spring/Summer 2016 looks.

Photographer by Phil Van Norstrand unless otherwise stated.

The New Suburbia: Richard Chai S/S2016

At Skylight Clarckson Sq. in NYC Richard Chai showed his 2016 Spring/Summer collection during New York Fashion Week Men's. I was able to go backstage and have a quick word with Aveda Guest Artist Frank Rizzieri about the inspiration behind the hair styling. Rizzieri said "I used the thickening tonic to bring about a spirited and youthful fulness to the hair, and then the grooming cream and control paste gave the look an edge with the cool tousled style." As he spoke about the products he was using to achieve this look I was surprised to hear that he also added grooming cream and just layering in spots. I never thought about putting hair product in just a couple of spots instead of evenly distributing all over the hair. You learn something new every day!

Frank Rizzieri (on right) giving instructions

Just a couple of the Aveda Products used to achieve the cool suburbia looks.

A closer look at the S/S16 collection. Love the green!

The finishing touches. Photo via Aveda

Suburbian cool indeed. Photo via Aveda

photo via Aveda

Photos by Phil Van Norstrand unless otherwise stated.

Cadet Spring/Summer 2016 Collection

One of the things that I look forward to is what time period and place will Cadet take us next season. For next summer they will take us to France preceding the invasion to Normandy by the paratroopers in the demolition section of the United States Army. You'll find black, olive, and khaki in addition to slate in the collection. I'm really digging the great styling with the belted blazers. What do you think? I came a bit early to the presentation and was able to catch the models being placed before the presentation officially started.

It's great to see the stylist in his element as everything has to be perfect for the presentation.

And yes, there was a female model amongst the male models. I think it was great. Sneakers- Greats

These aren't your common place jackets. Look at all those details.

Setting the mood, the live music was a nice addition in the studio.

 

 

 

Photography- Phil Van Nostran