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.

Behind The Scenes at The PLAC Casting

I was invited to visit Korean brand PLAC's NYC studio during their casting for the Spring/Summer 2016 presentation happening in just a couple of days. This show is particularly special because it'll be during New York Fashion Week's first week dedicated to men's fashion. PLAC's casting was done by MTC who have been in the business for over 20 years. They saw dozens and dozens of models from over 30 modeling agencies. The guys were from all over the world such a Colombia, Belgium, China, Australia and more. The Stylist for this presentation is world renowned Tom Van Dorpe. Just between you and me, I had a fan boy moment but kept it cool (I hope) once I realized who he was and I was just a few feet from him. Check out his work and you'll see why.

PLAC loves to play with proportions and is all about black, white and navy pallets. Part of the casting process is not just finding a pretty face but also making sure the clothes fit and hang the way the designer envisions. Sometimes after having the models try on the clothes they choose to go with another model.

 

The Designer (left) is attentively part of the casting process along with 8 other people that are helping this process go smoothly and efficiently.

Models hand the Casting Director their books showing samples of their editorial work. The Casting Director also asks them where they are from, if the walked in Milan, Paris or London and for whom they walked for. In Just a few minutes the Casting Director gets the information he needs to help him make a decision.

And yes, it is a bit of a waiting game as everyone has to be seen. Days before the shows models are going to dozens of castings all over the city throughout the day.

All photography by Phil Van Nostarnd

Once the Designer, Casting Director and Stylist feel they have the models they start putting together the casting board and see how all the guys look together. The next step is fittings to make sure that every piece is represented and fits perfectly to each guy. The final stage is the actual presentation which I'm excited to see and share with you guys. Stay tuned!!

See more Behind The Scenes on Adentro Style Annex

BTS: The Carlos Campos FW15 Presentation

Have you ever wondered how a fashion presentation is put together for New York Fashion Week? I was invited to sit in and see first hand how menswear designer Carlos Campos and his team get ready to present the Fall/Winter 2015 collection and choose the models for New York Men's Day in NYC. This is what I learned.

• In a span of 2 days the casting team sees 100 male models from all over the world.
• 13 of the top agencies in NYC send their guys including Wilhelmina, VNY, New York Models, Soul Artist.
• Models walk in one at a time, present their book and comp card. (contains sample of their work in editorials and ad campaigns).

Toni Petkov, Wilhelmina

• Models are asked to walk and try on one of the blazers or coats.
• They are looking for THE Carlos Campos Man, more often then not they know as soon as they come in to the room. Trade Secret! This particular casting director keeps three boxes in front of him to organize the model's comp cards for future reference. The boxes are not labeled but they are designated as yes, maybe, and no. The suspense, I know!

• Once the models have been seen the casting team including the designer look through the boxes and choose their final models.
• The comp cards are placed on the wall for further review throughout the casting and fitting process including alternates.

• Once the models have been selected and available they are asked to come in for a fitting.
• Fittings take about two work days. Each model needs about 30 mins per fitting.
• The fittings are to figure out which looks work best for each model and to make any alterations to the clothing as needed. Trade Secret! At Carlos Campos, they tailored every look so it will look perfect on every model.

Chris Moore at Wilhelmina

Photos by: Miguel Martinez

Want to see more behind the scenes pictures? Visit Adentro Style Annex.