Sean O'pry — Bellazon

MauiKane

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#1681

SEAN FOR NEXT

SPRING 2015 PREVIEW

fashionablymale.net

toodarnhot

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#1682

#2693 The Sean O’Pry Q&A
I’m just going to put it out there — Sean O’Pry is a legend. (We’ve known each other a while through mutual friends in NYC.) He’s down to earth, his sense of humour is on point and he’s a generous friend. In short, he’s an all-round good dude. He also happens to be the world’s highest earning male model of the past few years, and the star of Taylor Swift’s latest music video. To give you an example of what this means, while we were at lunch today in Milan, a girl came up to him, asked if he was Sean O’Pry, then stood there shaking — literally shaking — while he attempted to make polite conversation with her. (A similar thing happened to me once when I ran into Kanye West, so I’m not judging.) We sat down to talk kissing Taylor Swift, advice for the next generation of male models, and the perils of fame.

So the Taylor Swift video came out and now you’re legit famous.

Yeah. It’s different. It’s a transition. I was lucky to be a part of it.

How was the kiss?

I was lucky to be a part of it (laughs).

I can only imagine. Is fame changing you?

Yeah, I can’t get away with wearing sweatpants. Every time I get photographed on the street I’m wearing sweatpants. We’ve gotta do something. Maybe I’ll get you to help me.

Let’s do it. Do you consider yourself to be an ambitious person?

Yeah, completely. A bit too much sometimes.

And competitive?

I’m very competitive, but it’s hard to be a competitive male model because a lot of it is out of your control. You can’t control how you look, you can only control the way you act and obviously how you do your job. Don’t go hungover to castings, don’t let yourself go; it’s kind of an easy formula to follow. And I’m not taking anything away from this job, I’ve been in it eight and a half years. It’s a difficult job, and it’s really easy to be unprofessional. But if you’re a professional and you do it right, you’ll have a good career

How old are you?

25.

And how old were you when you started?

17.

Were you ever one of those 17 year old Ash Stymest types running around the room screaming, ‘Look at me!’

No, but I like Ash, he’s one of my buddies. I wasn’t one of those guys who’d light a cigarette on the runway like he did, but I thought that was hilarious. I didn’t have the balls for it.

What’s the difference between now and then?

I look older. That’s really about it. It’s the same game. The difference is that out of all the guys I started with, only a few of us are left. It’s kind of weird being the veteran model on set.

What advice do you give to the young dudes?

I believe in the principle, ‘Don’t be a dickhead.’ If you’re a dickhead it’s really not going to work. People don’t want to work with dickheads. Be nice. That’s my only advice. Be very thankful that you have this job.

Was there a moment that took you from having what could have been a run-of-the-mill career to where you are today?

From the moment I got discovered by my agent Lana, she supervised my career in such an incredible way. There were points when I tried to f*ck it up, I’ll tell you that, but I had a really good team behind me, and consistent clients. I was really lucky that way.

What’s your favourite Instagram account?

The Fat Jewish. Oh, and Tim Blanks just got an Instagram account. I like his, that’s the newest one I like to keep up with.

He’s a New Zealander, too! So what’s next?

My flight tomorrow. I hate flying. Luckily they invented red wine. It’s the first time I’m flying Emirates. I was only ever a Delta passenger, and this year I said I was going to fly new airlines.

Try Air New Zealand!

Do they do the haka before every takeoff?

Sadly, no.

They should — there’d be no unruly passengers on those flights.

Ain’t that the damn truth.