Jed: If I may, could we start discussing your modeling career at the onset? We learned that it was Bruce Webber who discovered you. What have been your impressions of modeling before and after doing your first shoot?
Taylor: When I first started I really wanted to be an actor! I studied hard and then found that maybe it would be easy through modeling to become an actor and get a break. My first impressions of modeling were very shaky. I heard a lot of bad things about the industry. Also coming from a rather conservative family it was not easy to convince my family that it was ok. We all heard about the crazy horror stories about the business and the abuse people have been involved in both mentally and physically!
I think I was very lucky to have been photographed by Bruce Weber and taken under his wing early on in my modeling career. Bruce treated me like a star and also took an interest in me as a person. Shooting with him and his team was something I had never seen before.
Everybody was so amazing and it was like I was on vacation having a lot of fun. I never realized it until after the shoot how big it was. Abercrombie and Fitch was the first campaign I shot and wow when it hit it was amazing. Both Bruce and Sam Shahid chose me to be the main focus in the shoot and I received most of the images. It was amazing because I was in Europe when it was released in all the stores. When I landed in D.C my Dad told me he wanted to take me to Georgetown. When I turned the corner in the Georgetown Mall There I was bigger then life in all the windows it was really weird.
My life changed after that. My impressions after the shoot With Bruce really changed my thoughts and my family's thoughts about the business right away.
Everything I had heard in the past seemed not to be true! After That I shot the Versace Couture Campaign and then Gap campaign things were on a roll and my life had changed!
Jed: Traveling seems to be one of the most rewarding activities of being a model. Which places do you like the most and what would be some of your impressions of these fashion hotspots?
Taylor: That is so true! I really enjoyed Miami! I was there during the days of when Gianni Versace was living on the beach and South Beach was a destination for most everybody in the industry.
I also thought that Porto Fino and St. Tropez were a lot of fun. Real hot spots for the industry a lot of party and fun!
Jed: What would you consider to be some of your most important work as a model?
Taylor: I think some of the most important work that I have done was the Abercrombie campaign with Bruce. It still hangs in all of the stores across the country. Also was the time I worked for the VERSACE's shooting the Campaign and also doing all of the preparation as the fit model for the season's to come.
Jed: In your personal perspective, how would you define fashion and style? How important is someone's fashion sense in the profession of modeling?
Taylor: I guess we all have our own definition of fashion and style. Fashion is what we feel most comfortable wearing to fit our individual personality. Style on the other hand is what makes fashion work and make sense. Style is being able to put the right pieces together to make a statement. If there is no style, fashion would never work! It is important to have fashion sense to be able to understand the trends!
Jed: What sort of advice would you give to some cool guy who has what it takes to become a model?
Taylor: My advice would be to research the correct way to enter into the industry with the right people who you can trust to help direct you to be coming a successful image and model!
Jed: Well, DNA remains one of the most reputable and respected modeling agencies in the NYC and in the world, how did you started working with DNA? Could you tell us a background into your talent-managing career? (We learned that you started representing girls at the start)
Taylor: I started working for DNA over 3 years ago. A friend of mine introduced me to Karen Long and she asked me to come in for an interview. I had lived with the Bonnouvrier family in France and after meeting again with Karen she liked me and gave me a chance.
It seemed like a perfect fit. I did start working for a small women's agency in New York while I was still modeling. It was a chance for me to get an idea and feeling of what working as an agent would be like. I have been interested in talent development throughout my modeling career helping my friends get the most out of their travels and their careers. When they had questions I tried to give them the best input possible reflecting on what had taken place in my own career.
Jed: What are some of the challenges you encountered in order to put one of your protégé into the fashion circle and get him one highly coveted modeling project? What does it take to be the "chosen one"?
Taylor: Development is the biggest challenge in building a career. Being able to know what a talent can and cannot do so they can make there way up casting ladder to be available for the best projects. There are many different types of chosen ones. It takes time and hard work and most of all trust.
Jed: What makes you proud of DNA? What would you consider some of the agency's most important accomplishments in terms of providing representation to a male model?
Taylor: I am very proud of DNA because of how concentrated the division is and how our reputation proceeds us. Some of our most important accomplishments include the ability to build new talent and help them achieve model stardom.
Jed: The viewers of ModelWatch are extremely interested in knowing more about some of your models. (We received a number of requests from them!). Would you care to make some comments on how these models became part of DNA and what would be some of their most important works so far?
Taylor: Harry Kinkead was sent to us by an agency in London. Harry has achieved major model stardom and has been the image for Prada these past 6 seasons. He has worked with every major photographer in the industry. Amazing!
Marios Lekkas was given to us by an Ace in Greece who we are very close with he has been the image for Abercrombie and Purple label, and currently is the face for the new men's Bvlgari fragrance, one of the best looking guys in the industry.
Christopher is the face of Christian Dior last season and currently is in the Versus Campaign he is from Norway!
Andrew Smith from Australia has been a major player this past season and was made exclusive for Calvin Klein and is now up for scoring a major campaign this upcoming season. He is one of the newest and hottest faces today.
Jed: Who are the agency's latest discoveries?
Taylor: Steven Morgan, Dan Kilpatrick, Andrew Smith, Marios Lekkas, George Alan, Sebastian Warschow.
Jed: Finally, what are the qualities you look for in a male model? What"s the best way for an aspiring model to apply with DNA?
Taylor: We look for __________.we know when we see it!
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