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Meet & Greet with David Gandy during the launch of his underwear range for M&S in Dublin

September 19, 2014, 10:07 am
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For the second consecutive day, David Gandy joined his fans in a meet and greet in Dublín. The Irish capital was the second city visited during the worldwide tour for the launch of the British model's debut underwear collection for Marks & Spencer 'Gandy For Autograph'. For more than an hour, David received warm support from his fans, posed for pictures and signed packaging under dozens of flashes.










Main Source: Evan Doherty's Twitter& Corbis
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David Gandy talks with The Grooming Guide

September 20, 2014, 1:08 pm
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‘I barely use anything on my face!’

Some would say he’s the most beautiful man on the planet. We wouldn’t disagree. As the world’s first and only supermodel, you’ll have seen him on every billboard world-over. He’s the face of Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, Hugo Boss, M&S, etc, etc to basically every brand you could mention. He’s come a long way since his humble beginnings in Billericay, Essex, after Gandy’s friend put him forward for a modelling competition without his knowledge. The rest is history as they say, and with a body most men would die for and a trail of female admirers as long as the earth, we’d say he’s a decent guy to make a comment or two on male grooming. For his latest collaboration with M&S, ‘David Gandy for Autograph’, we chat to David about girls in guys’ pants, fitness motivation and what makes a good package. Thanks David!


See the ‘David Gandy for Autograph’ at Marks & Spencer online

Do you spend as much time on your face as you do on your body?
Not at all. I barely use anything on my face, I’m very minimal! I use a good quality moisturiser like Aveda Balancing Infusion. I like to keep it nice and natural. I also use Dr Lancer products like their Intensive Night Treatment which is very very good. Other than that you’ll never find me clean-shaven (at least not willingly!) so I just do routine grooming like trimming my beard.

As a representative for different brands you travel a lot, how do you think English guys’ grooming compares to others around the world?
Difficult question! I think Europeans tend to take more care than most British guys, but we’re definitely getting there. People who live in hot countries seem to care more for their appearance, they are more open-minded when it comes to using ageing products. Which is obviously necessary as the sun does such bad things to your skin.

Your fitness app launched a few years ago and is very successful but how do you suggest guys get motivated to train in the first place?
Give yourself a goal. Think about getting down to a certain weight or size and how good you will feel when you accomplish that. It’s about old-fashioned vanity! Then you have no excuse not to exercise. If you want to look like something you have to work hard to get it but I often find it’s tricky when you aren’t seeing results. Sometimes with things like exercise you don’t see the results instantly, it’s a gradual thing that takes time to develop. So I recommend you take a before/after photo each month to monitor how your body is progressing. The results will spur you on to your ideal body.

Do you think it’s becoming more acceptable for guys to pay more attention to their underwear?
As a whole, yes. Just as guys are more aware now of what they’re wearing generally, underwear is a part of that. With things like LCM which is a great platform to showcase designers, it’s becoming a lot more acceptable for guys to focus on their appearance and be interested in this kind of thing. There’s a lot more coverage in the media now about men’s clothing so it simplifies it all.

Why should guys invest in a good pair of pants?
It’s all part of the outfit. Every guy has a favourite pair of underwear. It’s just as important to find a good comfort and fit as it is with most clothes. Especially now with items like skinny trousers, you need the right pair of underwear so you don’t see a big brief line through them.

How does this collection from M&S stand apart from what’s already out there?
It’s the best of what everyone else has done. But at a reasonable, affordable price. This is a range that covers everything. We have the briefs with a signature houndstooth print that features on the packaging and internal linings as well – we wanted to portray the British heritage with a contemporary twist. The package – excuse the pun – was really important too. We worked really hard on it and I don’t think there’s much else out there that looks similar. So really we looked at brands for inspiration like Derek Rose which has a rather expensive, premium feel. Obviously there’s also the David Beckham for H&M which is a great range. Then there’s also D&G. Overall, this range is all about fit and comfort.

Who do you think the collection is aimed towards?
Everyone! Older guys would like the briefs and the classic woven boxers. Admittedly, these are also a kind of ‘girlfriend trunk’ – the type your girlfriend would lounge around in. Girls in guys’ underwear has that kind of relaxed, really sexy look. The trunk is the biggest seller and the hipster is kind of a new thing, a happy medium between the two. So you see it covers quite a wide spectrum.

How does it feel to be a part of the new men’s collection?
Extremely proud. I’ve been working with M&S for many many years and they’re great, they take really good care of me! I’ve always wanted to do this with a British brand and releasing the collection in London was also really important to me as it’s my favourite place to be. But M&S backed me the whole way from design to release, they’re such a great brand.

In terms of guys looking good in their underwear, what hair removal products would you recommend?
I’m quite lucky in that I don’t have to do much but I guess I would use electrolysis or waxing, something more permanent.

What other products do you always have in your wash-bag?
Aveda and Kiehl’s hair products are great. Moisturiser, and Dolce&Gabbana Light Blue. Toothpaste too!

Source: 09.18.14 ~ Thegroomingguide.com
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Auction in support of Male Cancer Awareness Campaign

September 21, 2014, 6:59 am
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Today, MCAC has announced its online auction to raise awareness of Male Cancers. The charity tries to educate men and their partners on the importance of early detection in avoiding death from prostate, bowel and testicular cancer because they do not know how to detect symptoms in the early stages.

As a part of the #SKYBALLS campaign, the auction offers the chance to choose among 24 items including posters, several training and coaching sessions, dinners, VIP passes or signed articles by celebrities. All the money raised will be in support of Male Cancer Awareness Campaign 'SKYBALLS'


After supporting the international movement #FeelingNuts with a symbolic gesture last Thrusday, once again David Gandy will collaborate with this worthy cause by donating a Signed  Dolce&Gabbana Shirt and Jacket from his personal collection.

Bid, don't miss the chance, win two personal items of David Gandy's clothes and support #SKYBALLS campaign!

Deadline: September 28, 2014
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David Gandy talks with Daily Mirror (September 2014)

September 21, 2014, 10:28 am
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 Sparks fly as David Gandy gets down to basic

He's the world's most famous male model and as he launches his own range of underwear, Mr Tightey Whitey himself tells Amber Graafland about his late-night sessions in the gym, Becks and the story behind his scar.
 
09.19.14 - By Amber Graafland | Daily Mirror 



David Gandy is a big guy. And I mean really big. Meeting “The Tightey Whitey Man” to talk about his latest venture, a range of ­underwear for M&S, all I can think about is how ginormous he is. But I should probably mention that he’s fully clothed and I am referring to his stature – all 6ft 3in and 14st of it – not to mention his handshake which envelopes my entire hand.

Dressed in a dazzling white T-shirt and skinny jeans with a stylish blazer, he’s ridiculously handsome.

Not conventionally though. His nose has been broken and he has a scar below his right eye from a disastrous New York taxi ride eight years ago when a friend accidentally slammed the cab door in his face.

“There was a lot of blood,” he recalls. “And, yes, I think my mate probably did think he’d ended my career at one point. It was two weeks before I shot the Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue advert and it looked horrendous. I had a huge black eye and yes, I guess it was a bit of a worry. Eight stitches later.”

The 34 year old from Billericay, Essex, might be the world’s foremost male model, with so much written about THAT body, but in the early days the fashion was for weedy looking men. At model castings he was always greeted with, “Hey, it’s the big guy!” and he reveals: “I couldn’t even get one leg in the trousers at a Dior shoot.”

But everything changed in 2006 when he appeared in the now infamous Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue TV commercial. Or as he’s been known to call it, the “On the boat with the pants” ad.

Advertising aftershave and shot by famous fashion photographer Mario Testino, it featured David relaxing on a boat drifting in the Mediterranean in tiny white trunks – an enormous leap from when he was ‘discovered’ in a modelling contest on This Morning with Richard and Judy.

The raunchy TV ad with David ­frolicking in the boat with a sexy female model got 11 million hits online and saw a 50-foot billboard of him displayed in Times Square. Everybody wanted to know who the hunk in the white trunks was and David Gandy mania ensued.

When I suggest a natural synergy with modelling underwear and designing his own range for Marks & Sparks, he laughs. “I think it’s a common misconception that I have modelled loads of underwear throughout my career.

“I find myself having to remind people that the Light Blue image is from 2006 and other than that I’ve only done the Dolce & Gabbana underwear campaign in 2009 so actually there have only been two photoshoots of me in underwear.”

He also laughs at my suggestion it must be his most memorable work. But pants or no pants, Gandy is credited for causing a seismic shift in the male fashion industry from the skinny to more ­masculine and there’s no question he raised the bar in the six-pack stakes.

So who has the better six-pack? Him or rival David Beckham?

He looks taken aback for a second before replying: “I don’t know. But I guess I haven’t looked that hard.”

He is well aware that he’s up against the ‘other David’ who has his own sellout range in H&M and has joked that he should stick to his day job and leave him alone, but he acknowledges that all the brands are using celebrity faces now.

“For some jobs, I’m more likely to be up against Brad Pitt and Clive Owen than I am other models,” he explains.

So how does he keep that body looking so perfect? He shrugs.

“I never really know how to answer that question because people expect some amazing shortcut or fitness secret and it simply doesn’t exist. It’s a lot of hard work unfortunately. There is no big secret,” he says, without a hint of an Essex twang.

“When everyone else is out partying late at night or curled up at home watching a film, I am probably at the gym, usually around 9.30pm to 10.30pm. It’s my release and now it’s just a part of my routine. I played so much sport when I was younger so I am used to training.

“I brought out a David Gandy mobile fitness app a few years ago just because so many people would ask me how I keep in shape.

“I think it’s quite simple but then I guess I’ve been doing it for so many years I know the rights and wrongs. Basically the more sweat and tears, the better the results.”

So back to the pants. What makes the perfect pair? “For me, it’s comfort. Most guys, like women, have a favourite item of underwear, the pair that makes them feel sexy and confident. Mine are hipsters, in a beautiful material. You don’t know you have them on and they haven’t lost their shape.

“I wanted to rival big brands like Derek Rose but I don’t want them to cost £45 and I want them to be attainable.

“I also wanted to keep things very subtle, I didn’t want loads of branding over everything. So I brought in houndstooth, a traditional pattern, but not many people have used it for underwear, that I know of anyway. That’s a bit of a nod to my love of traditional tailoring.”

So when he’s not posing in underwear what does he get up to in his spare time?

“I am a complete petrolhead,” confesses David, who got his racing licence in 2012.

“My love of motoring was already ­established by the time I bought my first car, a 1.1 Fiesta Ghia with electric windows that would only open if you pressed the button and banged on the door.

“We called it ‘The Beast’. I remember taking a girl on a date in it. Both the doors broke and she had to climb through a window. It’s not surprising that I never saw her again.”

Ask him if he’s dating anyone now and he remains tight lipped. Just over two years ago, Gandy was dating Mollie King from The Saturdays and more recently he wasspotted with model Sarah Anne Macklin.

Choosing not to discuss his private life as it’s been rumoured he’s dating Mollie again… David’s simply much too much of a gentleman to give anything away. Which only makes us love him more.

David Gandy for Autograph underwear and loungewear is available in store or online at marksandspencer.com.
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Meeting David Gandy (by Victoria Isa Daniel)

September 22, 2014, 3:05 am
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We would like to give a very special Thank You to Victoria Isa Daniel from Carlow (Ireland) for sending us the touching story of her exciting adventure to meet David Gandy at M&S Flagship Store in Dublin last Thursday. Thank You for being so kind and Congratulations!


On my birthday of 9th of September I was surfing the web as I do every evening around 8pm. Suddenly I came across a campaign of David Gandy for Autograph. I reflected back to the time when I first laid my eyes on the British supermodel, it was the month of May where he made a guest appearance on my favorite late television show “Alan Carr Chatty Man” I was in awe by him. David was a pure English gentleman; he looked elegant and sophisticated in his three piece grey suit. He was so entertaining to watch and soon became my favorite male model; even so I bought the D&G perfume he had promoted.

Through the months, I have admired David and his lifestyle and have become a fan of his work. His name became very well known and I considered him to be the most successful and well known supermodel of 2013 onwards. Referring back to my laptop it said that he was going to launch his new underwear collection in M&S called David Gandy for Autograph. I scanned through the promotional video and the line, it was amazing to see Gandy work hand in hand with designers to form the product and then model it. His Facebook soon showed where he would be to promote his collection, and to my surprise one of them was Ireland! I was delighted with the news and was determined to show up for the meet and greet.

The day soon came, the 18th of September, my plans to get to Grafton Street by 12:30 the time Gandy started the meet and greet was sabotaged by the times of the train from where I lived into the city. As I am a student, I left school at the earliest I could and traveled 2 hours with my mother on the train to Dublin to meet David Gandy, the British Gentleman of the Century. I had told my close friends about my journey and they knew how long I have talked on and on about him! It felt like a late birthday present.

When we arrived in Dublin it was 12:50 and it was typical Irish weather - dark and gloomy with rain falling from the clouded sky. My mother and I took the luas quickly to Abbey Street and raced to Grafton Street arriving outside M&S for 1:20. To my disappointment the line was closed and they wouldn’t let anyone else in. A steam of disappointment clouded my face. Just a few seconds ago I was full of excitement racing through the streets of Dublin with joy and now it felt as if that joy had been taken away from me! A security man approached me with some workers wearing the logo of M&S, I explained how I had traveled for the event and that I had been a fan for about a year since his Dolce and Gabbana ad campaign. They took pity on me and let me into the line. I was thrilled. 


One of the other workers came up to my mother and I and told us there was no guarantee that we would get an autograph or our picture taken with Gandy because he only wanted to meet the first hundred and he was leaving in an hour. As the hour passed we saw many people turned away from the line and others who were in front of us left the line because they so no point in waiting. My mum and I had friendly conversation with the security guard, he had grey hair and a broad smile. He believed he was lucky and so got me to rub off him for luck. He thought of an idea, I should leave the line and he would hold my place while I go into the main shop like a customer and take pictures from afar, maybe if I didn’t think it is worth the wait and the disappointment I should leave.

I strolled into the shop; it was very crowded many people waiting in queue to talk to and snap a shot with the handsome supermodel. I stood there and took a handful of pictures. I went back to join my mum at the end of the queue and I had hope that maybe just maybe luck was on our side today. I decided to wait till I hear the officials say he has left the building. Every so often a woman would come and do a head count of those who were left, my mother and I being the last ones. It was up to the PR team to decide whether he leaves on time or stays to do everyone in line. Gandy had already been there 20 minutes over his appointed time and I was starting to fear that he would leave with just 10 more people to go.


As we stepped inside the store, I gripped my mother’s hand with excitement I could see him clearly! He looked so elegant in his crisp blue shirt with a beige cardigan and grey suit with white stripes. We drew closer and closer to him. I prepared my phone for pictures and handed it to one of the workers. I felt very nervous, I approached him looking at the ground he immediately got up and kissed my cheek. I was in utter shock. He had a welcoming smile and a great handshake. When he took a seat, he asked about my day and what I did, I explained the whole situation of the day to him and he regarded me with his full attention, occasionally turning away to sign his autograph on the flyer for his campaign. He was very intrigued by my story and said he appreciated all my efforts to come and see him, laughing at his joke about keeping it our little secret about missing school as a student. He was everything I expected: charming, handsome and funny. My mother became so emotional when he shook her hand and embraced her and since we were the last people to meet him he took time to converse with us and offered to take pictures of my mum and me separately and together.


It was a great day for the both of us and taking the train back I was glad that I waited and hoped. It was definitely the highlight of my year! This leaves me with my first item crossed out of my bucket list; Meet a celebrity – David James Gandy




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David Gandy talks with 'Sassy Hong Kong'

September 22, 2014, 8:12 am
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Gandy first caught our eyes in his famous Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue fragrance ad – his smouldering good looks did not go unnoticed! He’s modelled for every major fashion house you can think of and now he’s teamed up with one of our favourite British brands, Marks and Spencer, to create his own men’s underwear and sleepwear range for their Autograph collection. And did we mention that he’s modelling them too? Phew! Is it getting hot in here? The collection launches in Hong Kong on 23 September, and includes a selection of eleven underwear pieces in four different styles, eight different vests and jersey nightwear… all in slimming and sophisticated styles using premium materials.

Sassy Hong Kong chats to David about his new collection, what he looks for in a woman, his work for Comic Relief, his love of cars and whether the film Zoolander has any real life parallels… there’s more to him than being just ridiculously good looking!


How have you found the design process? Do you think that modelling has helped you to be a better designer?
As this is my first venture into designing, there have certainly been challenges, but working with the experts at Marks & Spencer has made the process a lot easier. There’s a lot to learn, but I have also been very focused on how I want the collection and the packaging to be. Though I’m not sure modelling in particularly has helped with designing, being in the fashion industry and observing the many creatives and designers that I’ve worked with certainly has helped. When it came to brainstorming the ideas for the campaign shoot, then of course my experience with photographers helped too. I’ve learnt what works and I’ve learnt from mistakes that have been made in the past.

What is your favourite piece from the collection?
My favourite pieces are the trunks and the houndstooth dressing gown. We have packaged them beautifully, in high-quality boxes with a houndstooth print – they have a very British feel to them!

What do you always buy from M&S?
I wear everything from M&S – from the t-shirts and the cashmere, to the dress and casual shirts and the suits. The quality and attention to detail is, in my opinion, the best on the British high street.

In your opinion, do women have more of a preference when it comes to men’s underwear? Boxers or briefs?
Everyone has a different preference, men and women. At M&S we are all jokingly taking bets on what will be the most popular…  Most of the women there prefer men in the hipsters or trunks. Within the range I’ve designed, there is a classic pair of woven cotton classic boxers that I nick-named the ‘Girlfriend Boxer’, as I think it’ll be the pair that your girlfriend will steal and wear around the house.

What’s been your most challenging modeling moment so far? 
There have been many challenges to modelling. The main one being trying to change the stereotypical ways that people from within, and outside, of the fashion industry see male models.

When did you know you’d ‘made it’ in modeling? Do you ever get used to seeing yourself plastered on billboards?
I always wanted to create an iconic image. Dolce and Gabbana and Mario Testino definitely did this with the concept for the Light Blue fragrance. I’m not sure you should ever believe you ‘make it’; I believe you should always try to better yourself and to evolve.  You have to adapt and never become complacent as there is always so much competition – not just from other models, but now celebrities, actors, sports people and musicians.

Apart from modelling, you’re also a bit of a petrol-head. You’re an official car reviewer for British GQ… that must be fun! What exactly does it entail… apart from driving around in fancy cars (wink!)?
It doesn’t always mean the cars are fancy! They may be classics, hybrids… really anything that I think is a clever piece of design or engineering. I have total freedom in what I talk about, but GQ isn’t a motoring magazine, so I try to appeal not only to fellow petrol heads but also to the reader who has little or no interest in cars. For me, that’s a real challenge.

What do you look for in a woman? What are your ideal qualities in a partner?
Someone who is humble, funny and doesn’t take themselves too seriously!

What makes a girl ‘sassy’?
I’m sure that women are born sassy. They are bold, strong, and full of life. I also think they can be sassy through fashion – what a women wears says a lot about her.

You started the ‘Blue Steel Appeal’ for the charity Comic Relief in 2013 – how true to life would you say the Zoolander film is… can you relate in anyway or is it purely comical?
It’s definitely a highly exaggerated, comical take on models and the fashion industry. I can’t say I relate to it, no! But there are certainly a few characters that I can recognise… and the film is fun.

Will you continue with the ‘Blue Steel Appeal’ and are there any charities that you regularly support or want to work with?
The Blue Steel Appeal will certainly continue to raise money for Comic Relief through the fashion industry. I am also ambassador for Battersea Dogs Home in London and Style for Soldiers, as well as many other charities that I try and support as much as I can.  I recently donated my fee from the campaign I shot with a Filipino brand, SM, to the Yolanda housing projects which will help build 11 new homes for the victims of the typhoon.

Source: Sassyhongkong.com
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Meet & Greet with David Gandy during the launch of his underwear range for M&S in Hong Kong

September 23, 2014, 6:10 am
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David Gandy landed this past Monday in Hong Kong, "The Pearl of the Orient," the third stage of his worldwide launch tour of his highly anticipated men's underwear and sleepwear collection for M&S #Gandyforautograph. 
The international male model arrived at the M&S flagship store to meet and greet customers and fans who were waiting in a queue for hours.



 

While getting to know their impressions about the range by first hand, David Gandy was also interviewed by Esquire Hong Kong and we will look forward to showing you the interview as soon as the published edition becomes available.



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David Gandy talks with 'The Irish Times'

September 24, 2014, 9:27 am
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You may not recognise his name, but you probably recognise his face. With his gentlemanly style, piercing blue eyes and soft manner, David Gandy is often referred to as THE male supermodel
By Dominique McMullan



New!

 
Three words to describe your personal style?
Contemporary but traditional and discreet.

Who are your style icons? 
 James Dean, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman. I look to history for inspiration.

Did your mum dress you well? 
Not at all. She dressed me in some awful stuff – think tracksuit bottoms three inches too short. Mum has always said I was very specific about what I wanted to wear, so she mostly just let me at it.

What’s your beauty regime?
I use Dr Lancer moisturiser and rose oil when my skin gets dehydrated. I also trim my beard. That’s pretty much it.

What one beauty product should men have?
A good-quality moisturiser.

What one style tip would you give to the men of Ireland?
Be an individual. Find the unique style that suits you and that you feel comfortable in.

Do you ever feel pressure to maintain your physique?
I feel pressure but it’s from myself. I feel better having a muscular physique and after going to the gym. It’s just a natural thing for me.

The rise of the more masculine man or the machosexual has been attributed to you. What does that phrase mean to you?
I think it describes men who are comfortable being men. People like Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, who had style, but were more interested in restoring old cars than getting their hair dyed.

You are known for wearing suits. How does one become a modern gentleman like you?
I just feel the most comfortable in a suit. I don’t think it matters so much what you wear, though, it’s more about how you treat people; your family, friends and strangers alike. Being a gentleman is about having an opinion and standing by your beliefs.

What do you think it is about you that people find attractive?
You’d have to ask them!

You are best known for the Dolce & Gabbana ad in which you appear in quite small white pants. Do you ever feel uncomfortable on shoots like that?
You learn to be comfortable. I’ve never been great at being the centre of attention but when you’re in the modelling industry, sometimes there is just a necessity to strip off. It’s part of it; if you don’t like it you shouldn’t be in the business.

Tell us more about the Dolce & Gabbana shoot.
I didn’t know what was going to happen. I hadn’t seen any creative, I hadn’t seen any mood boards, I just had these small white trunks thrust upon me and that was it.

Describe the perfect pair of pants for a man.
Comfortable with a good fit and made of good material. You should never really realise you have a pair of pants or boxer shorts on, they should be that comfortable.

David Beckham did the white pants thing after you, do you think he should have kept his trousers on? No, I don’t think many women would have been happy if he had!

If/when you settle, where will that be?
It would be nice to have a few locations: sun, ski and somewhere in the UK.

Have you ever been to Ireland?
Many times, for work and for pleasure. I actually have a stag do in Dublin next month.

Any plans to get married and have kids?
I don’t see marriage as a necessity, but children are a definite – I absolutely adore kids. When it happens it happens; it’s very hard to have a relationship when you’re never there at the end of the day.

Describe your perfect woman.
Humble, fun and with a great sense of humour. Someone who you feel like a team with, like it’s you and that person against the rest of the world.

What’s next for David Gandy?
A holiday would be nice.

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David Gandy Covers ShortList Magazine (September 2014) (Picture Update)

September 24, 2014, 10:20 am
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David Gandy covers this week ShortList Mode issue, the fashion and grooming issue of the popular British magazine. The British model is captured wearing clothes of Dolce & Gabbana, Paul Smith or Alexander McQueen among others, in a confident and relaxed attitude by the photographer Richard Stow. David Gandy also shares his perspective on individuality sharing childhood memories in this personal editorial entitled, "The Model of a Man."    

Pick up this issue at your nearest tube station in London or online at Newsstand.
David Gandy with Annabeth Murphy-Thomas (Select Model Management)
(Scan courtesy of Denise Woodcock - London)




DAVID GANDY: MODEL OF A MAN

Girls, classic cars and, erm, luxury underpants. Male supermodel David Gandy ushers David Whitehouse into his very own fantasy world.

Maybe we are all kneaded into shape by a divine baker of people, but if so, he or she is at best inconsistent. Regardless, 19 February 1980, the day of David Gandy’s birth, can be considered a remarkable day in the kitchen, not just by the baker’s wobbly standards, but by any. Popularly considered the world’s biggest, perhaps only, male supermodel, Gandy is in person as he is in portrait – immaculately proportioned, part sculpture, part human – a man set apart by the alignment of muscle and bone beneath skin. To be in the same room as him is to hop the red rope that parts punter from exhibit. People edge around the walls as if mindful of the signs, ‘do not touch’.

Instantly you assume that because he looks like, and indeed is, someone somewhere’s fantasy, he’s living out a fantasy version of a man’s life. Then you see the great watch and the sharp suit and the fast car and the beautiful girlfriend, and you realise, the knife of jealousy twisting in your gut, that he is, he actually is. He’s the James Bond no one is trying to kill.

“I have [all those things],” he says, “but that’s just because they’re my loves. My expensive habits that I can fulfil. I’ve just restored a Sixties Mercedes-Benz. It’s a hobby, the enjoyment of something classic and old-school. I appreciate design, and design for me doesn’t stop at clothing. It’s architecture, materials, everything. It’s a lifestyle. I’m not going to be able to do it forever. One day I will have a family and responsibilities. Hopefully I’ll have a boy, and he’ll be seriously kitted out when he’s older.” Never before has something been uttered that so many men wish they could truthfully say.

SET SAIL

Gandy lounged to fame aboard a yacht in 2007 as the face of Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue fragrance, a campaign that saw his image loom over Times Square and on billboards worldwide, putting paid to the idea that wearing white pants is a fundamentally bad idea. Having charged the public imagination with the kind of sexual fireworks that makes people crash their cars, he set about trying to achieve a parity between his career and that of female supermodels, whose pay and treatment in comparison to male counterparts represented a topsy-turvy version of the struggle for equality in every other workplace on Earth. He wanted to capitalise on what he’d won in the genetic lottery, to become a brand, and in turn has morphed into an ambassadorial figure for the billion-pound British fashion industry, both here and abroad. A statesman for Savile Row. We meet him at a point in his life where he has gone full circle, in underpants terms at least, as Marks & Spencer launches David Gandy For Autograph, a 28-piece underwear and sleepwear range that he has helped design.

“Everyone has their go-to underwear. You can have 20 pairs, but you have your favourite. I wanted to create your favourite underwear,” he says, and his success – indeed, any man’s success – might be measured by the fact that his mother doesn’t buy them for him any more. “Not for quite a few years. Though ironically, if she did, they’d probably be from Marks & Spencer.”

Back when his mother did buy his underwear, the posters on the teenage David Gandy’s bedroom wall were not of bands or the cast of Baywatch (“I never had pin-ups,” he says). Instead he had pictures of the things it was his goal to one day own, starting with an Amiga 600 computer, and moving on to far more stylish aspirations: a Ferrari F40 and a Porsche 959. But it took a while for his sense of personal style to catch up with his desires, as evidenced by an old photo of him outside 10 Downing Street, where his grandfather worked on Margaret Thatcher’s staff.

“You’d laugh at this picture of me and my sister,” he says. “My grandad took us up there one Saturday. Now we look at that picture and ask our mum if she actually knew what we were doing that weekend. Why did she not dress us properly? We were wearing hand-me-down ankle-high tracksuit bottoms, the most awful trainers in the world and sweatshirts that didn’t fit. But there is something lovely about it. Now we live in a world where we’re judged on what we own and what we look like, not on what we do. And that grinds on me a little bit nowadays.”

PICTURE IMPERFECT

Gandy is evidently uneasy with our new culture of vanity, and he might well be. Here is a man whose image is his trade, yet whose image is taken and shared every time he sits down in a café next to someone with Instagram on their phone. In a world where everyone is posting their own photographs online, where does it leave the man who is paid to do it best?

“I do envy people in the public eye and stars of the Sixties and Seventies and Eighties who could still have a lot more privacy,” he says. “You’ve now got people Instagramming you in the street and tweeting saying you might be in London when you’ve told someone you can’t go to a meeting because you’re not in London. It sounds strange, but I still don’t like having my picture taken. I am still quite naturally shy, which is something I’ve had to overcome. I sort of switch. I always say that my suits, when I wear them… it’s almost like a suit of armour. I put it on and it’s protection for my real self.”

This dedication to privacy means he doesn’t appear on panel shows. He doesn’t take the countless offers he’s had to appear in films, or host his own TV programmes. Instead he endeavours to embody a lifestyle as tailored as his Savile Row suits. The watches, the cars, “the creation of an iconic image”, unsullied by our modern obsession with celebrity. He fronts a number of charities, has twice spoken on the subject of style at the Oxford Union, and even appeared in a part of the 2012 Olympics’ closing ceremony devoted to what was best about Britishness. He’s also a loud advocate of an aspect of homegrown dressing that he feels we’ve lost.

“Before globalisation, before the internet, you could have a really individual style. Don’t get me wrong, you can still do that with a good tailor. But back then, everyone could be an individual with their style. Nowadays a trend is set overnight. It’s been Instagrammed, it’s been tweeted, then it’s in the shop and suddenly everyone is wearing the same thing.”

Individuality, though, is what Gandy does best. It’s a flair much coveted by the current incumbent of the Downing Street address he once stood outside, and those fighting to replace him in it. “The Labour party particularly,” he says. “In choosing the other Miliband they’d have had a much better face. But that goes back to JFK. When JFK and Nixon had the TV debates in the Sixties, Nixon was sweating a lot and JFK was a good-looking guy, and just like that the vote changed to JFK. Nixon might have had the better policies, but people weren’t looking at that.”

David Gandy is a man who understands what people are looking at, because usually, it’s him. And you do look. Too much. This arrangement of flesh and skeleton makes his an otherly presence. The shoot’s attendees try to act naturally, but the truth is Gandy seems to be, physically, on a different step of the evolutionary ladder, one of the X-Men, but not magnetic or blessed with flight. Just handsome, to an extraordinary degree. Some bakes just turn out better than others.

Source: Shortlist.com
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Meet & Greet with David Gandy during the launch of his underwear range for M&S in Paris

September 25, 2014, 10:39 am
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In Champs-Élysées this morning, David Gandy arrived at Marks & Spencer Store in Paris to share his Autograph collection with his Parisian fans. Following with the expectancy generated by this worldwide tour in its previous stages, the Essex-born model, now designer, signed pictures and met fans as the final stop on his 'GandyforAutograph' tour.






  


One admirer of David Gandy's asked him to pose with two best-selling books in the romance genre. As many fans consider him the embodiment of their main characters, needless to say these photos have been circulated among the readers.

Our many thanks to Mr. Gandy for granting us this indulgence.


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David Gandy on the 1 2 3 Show for Radio 3 Hong Kong (Audio)

September 26, 2014, 4:33 am
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Rounding out his Autograph tour in Hong Kong, David Gandy stops by Radio 3 for an interview with Noreen Mir. On the 1 2 3 Show, the two discuss his design thoughts for the M&S Autograph collection, how a Supermodel turned into a Designer, and his ability to suit up an alter ego while modeling as actors do to capture the moment on film.


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Highlights of 2014 'Gandy for Autograph' Worldwide Tour

September 29, 2014, 10:15 am
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David Gandy finished his first 'Gandy for Autograph' Worldwide launch tour in Paris. After these exciting days, here are the highlights we've gathered from the last few weeks from the 4 locations along his Marks & Spencer Collection tour.

We would also offer our sincerest thanks to Melek Nazenin & Nazreen Tajudeen from David Gandy Fans Australia  (@DGFansAustralia) for kindly allowing us to incorporate their recording of the Hong Kong event. Thank YOU so much and congratulations!


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David Gandy talks with Metro World News in Paris

September 30, 2014, 3:10 am
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David Gandy on his new underwear line, 
fitness routine and more

David Gandy is on the last leg of his promotional tour that’s seen him travel from London to Dublin then onto Hong Kong and now Paris, and yet he shows not a sign of jet lag. The so-called “male supermodel” looks as fresh as his crisply packaged new Marks and Spencer underwear and nightwear collection called “David Gandy for Autograph”. It’s difficult not to stumble into cheesy chick-lit territory when describing just how handsome the 34-year-old Englishman is, so I’m just going to get on with it: he’s in a fitted double breasted pinstripe suit, a light blue shirt with two buttons undone (oh, he beats Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy) and those azure blue eyes are enough to leave any onlooker floundering in his gaze. Then there are the half-naked pictures of him in skimpy underwear all over the Parisian hotel room. Where’s a girl to look? Back to the chest, of course and into Gandy’s pants… not literally.

By Elodie Noël
 

Not only are you the face of this underwear collection but you were also deeply involved in the creative process. In what way exactly?
This range is the first thing I have put my name to styling and collaborating-wise. I was always very much involved in the creative side with M&S when it came to shooting the campaigns. So first, I came in and told them what I wanted: a very premium line, made from great material but at an affordable price – I was pretty stubborn about it. I had a very high input in everything, including the packaging, the material used and the fits. I didn’t just sign someone else’s designs.

Why did you decide to design underwear? And not shoes or ties, for example?
I’m well-known for the famous Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue fragrance campaign I did back in 2006, and I had many offers from many brands to put my name on underwear, which is a huge and highly lucrative part of men’s clothing. But my collection isn’t only underwear, it’s also nightwear, and there will be cashmere coming out in October and as soon as I go back to London we will start working on the spring collection, since the reactions have already been so positive on this one.

What can we find in your own personal underwear drawer?
I’ve kind of chucked everything out and all I’ve got is my own range of underwear, and I’m not even joking! I’ve been working on it for months, so I’ve had all the underwear to test myself. But usually, I go for the hipster style, which is kind of a mix between a boxer and a brief.

Do you think more men or women will buy your collection?
[Laughs] I think so far, it’s been a mix of the two. A lot of women buy underwear for their guys but we know that women have been buying the dressing gowns and some of the t-shirts for themselves, which I find lovely. I think men in general are taking more time in choosing their own clothing, especially in the UK. Before it used to be their wives, girlfriends or mums’ task.

You recently said that you were “an advocate of Britishness”. What does it mean?
I think it’s about heritage. In Britain, we started tailoring with Savile Row: it’s where the tailored suit genuinely came from. In the collection, I’ve incorporated a bit of houndstooth and that’s how you can distinguish my range because there is no branding. It’s very discrete and elegant and for me it links back to British tailoring. I’m very proud to be British and I kind of push that Britishness with everything I do.

What are your top style tips for men?
Be an individual. That’s something that’s getting harder and harder to do, thanks to globalisation. I think most importantly you have to work out what works for you – I don’t really believe in following trends. I pretty much follow the old English traditions of suits and I look back at some Hollywood greats like Cary Grant and take my inspiration from there, simply because this is what works for me.

What is your daily health routine in terms of diet and exercise?
I just had a couple of croissants. In France, my diet isn’t as good as normal [laughs]! I’m probably not as strict as people would think but I’m very nutritionally aware. Basically, I try and stay away from any processed food, any white carbohydrates, but I still eat sweet stuff. If you want a biscuit for example, don’t go for the triple chocolate-coated cookie, have a couple of biscuits that don’t contain saturated fat. I eat quite cleanly — a lot of fresh fish, vegetables, which I love anyway because my family brought me up to eat very well. Fitness-wise, I used to play every sport available but now it’s only down to the gym, four or five times a week for an hour approximately.

You shot a video this year with Jennifer Lopez, which left quite an impression on her. She said afterwards that you were “almost perfect”. So how is it to know that you are totally J-Lo’s type?
I’ve known her for a few years and we had a good laugh on set. I’m honored that she would think that, then again, maybe if she spent more time with me she wouldn’t. But that was very kind of her.

Who is your own celebrity crush?
I worked with Christy Turlington many years ago. When people talk about “supermodels”, you realise what that means when she walks into a room. She’s almost kind of superhuman. She has this beauty, presence, radiance, and an unbelievable magnetism. That was a huge crush, but not only physically, I also admire what she has done in the industry, and her involvement in charity.

What’s your type when it comes to women?
Someone I can laugh with! If she makes me laugh and laughs at my awful jokes, that’s appealing. But, no, I won’t tell you any jokes, I would embarrass myself…

Source: Metro.us
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David Gandy talks with Irish Tatler Man (October 2014)

September 30, 2014, 8:18 am
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Fine & Gandy


A select few advertisements make an indelible impression. Eva Herzigova’s ‘Hello, boys’ billboard for Wonderbra is said to have been responsible for many a traffic pile-up, while Benetton’s adverts of the mid-90s, which included everything from foetuses to kissing priests, made headlines across the globe for their blatant shock tactics. Then, of course, there’s Dolce & Gabbana’s advertisement from 2007, featuring a photogenic Essex boy on a boat, his modesty preserved only by a pair of barely there white trunks. David Gandy shot to instant fame, initially becoming known as the “white pants man.” These days, however, his real name is arguably the best known in the men’s modelling world and he has proven himself to be far more than just a flash in the pan, as Domhnall O’Donoghue, complete with bitter lips, discovered.

A few weekends ago, an old colleague of mine joined me for something of a drink-fuelled night out. Three sheets to the wind, she proceeded to share with me a secret that she’d never revealed previously to anyone. I assured her that I would take it to the grave. It turned out that when she was just 10 years of age, battling to embrace her freckled face and fiery red curls, she took a dislike to her similarly aged next door neighbour largely on account of the fact that this young girl was the proud owner of beautiful blonde hair, sallow skin and brown eyes that apparently angels would exchange for their wings for one day as they were roaming around the fields of Donegal together.

My friend found herself unable to control her jealousy any longer and flung her leg out, causing the celestial cherub to fall flat on a rock, resulting in a broken nose and scarred forehead. That my green eyed and red haired pal didn’t turn into Aileen Wuornos is nothing short of a modern day miracle. Now, while I’ve experienced my fair share of envy over the years, I’ve never wanted to go so far as to cause them physical damage. Until today, that is.

Not only is David Gandy a global supermodel - the owner of the face and body that helped turn Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue into one of the world’s top-selling fragrances - it emerges that he is also a shrewd businessman, an avid philanthropist and an animal lover, as well as being ridiculously well mannered. And to add insult to injury, a recent naked shoot for a Dolce & Gabbana book revealed that, in terms of size, his ‘down below’ is as long as his list of admirers. It is a good job that this interview is being conducted via the old dog and bone otherwise, just like my would be serial killer chum, I might have been forced to stick the leg out.

The 34 year old has trouble ringing my phone and takes two attempts to get through. When he does, he apologizes profusely, taking full responsibility for the error. Needless to say, I don’t mention that it was actually my fault, my fat, clumsy fingers up to their old tricks. I deftly move the conversation forward and talk about something far more interesting than broken phone connections; getting sozzled in Ireland! I’ve been to Ireland so many times - not only for work but also on a personal level,” Gandy reveals with an added air of mischievous “I’ve lots of friends in Dublin, and I’ve been to a fair few stag parties over the years. In fact, I’ve to organise another one in October so I could be over there again soon.”

Ladies of Ireland, start airing and ironing your Sunday Best post haste.

When your body is your temple, and in Gandy’s case, his empire, it’s somewhat difficult to reconcile the idea of him living at large in Copper Face Jack’s, wrecking back one pint of Guinness after the other, though. “I think people have stereotypical views of models,” he concedes. “Being a British guy, I still like my drink, I still like my cakes and my fry ups and everything else. My favourite drink is whiskey." And that’s something that becomes increasingly apparent about the model as our conversation continues. Even though Forbes magazine reported that he earned $1.4 million in 2013 alone, the 6’3” Essex native has steadfastly refused to cut the apron strings with his humble working class beginnings.

His father, Chris, left school when he was just 14 and some time later, along with his wife, Brenda, David’s mother, he opened a successful freight and property company. What is more, his grandfather, James, even worked for a certain iron lady called Margaret Thatcher. This hardworking upbringing has clearly stood Gandy in good stead, and rather than spending his days plucking his eyebrows and thinking he’s the dog’s bollix, he is continuously searching for ways to expand Brand Gandy. Not only has the fitness fanatic created an app called the David Gandy Fitness Guide, but he also acts as a contributor for Vogue, GQ and The Telegraph, and is brand ambassador for Johnnie Walker Blue and Whey Hey ice cream, a company in which he owns a stake.

"I’m always trying to push the boundaries of what male models have done before or have achieved before,’ he explains. ‘If you look at the models from the 80s and 90s, they didn’t stick to one platform - they expanded, such as Cindy Crawford. I’m always looking for the next challenge, like doing this underwear line." The particular line of smalls he is referring to is the one that Gandy has exclusively designed for popular chain Marks & Spencer. The capsule collection, entitled David Gandy for Autograph comprises of 28 items ranging from boxers and briefs to sleepwear.

"I wanted to do something that was a bit different - decent but different and at an accessible price." Gandy explains. "The whole range has the best quality fabrics as well as the best packaging all of which I worked on. It was an honour to work with M&S on this, after all, they are experts - one in four British guys wear M&S underwear.”

When discussing past times, it appears to be something of a nice synchronicity that Gandy has such a vested interest in the underwear industry, as his own are sure to need frequent changing when pursuing his biggest passion: high-speed racecar driving. But, upon further investigation, it seems that this hardy would be Evel Knievel rarely shits his pants, despite the fact that last year, when competing in Italy’s legendary Mille Miglia race with fellow supermodel Yasmine Lebron as his wing woman, he found himself getting caught up in a nasty accident.

David’s Favourite Things

--- from Inset, last page of article ---
City:  London 
Hobby:  Racing 
Designer:  D&G - because I work with them so much 
Film:  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 
TV Show:  The Sopranos 
Album:  Michael Jackson, Off the Wall
Food:  Sushi and Asian 
Drink:  Whiskey
Car: XKSS 1950s Jaguar
Memory:  Being with my grandparents. My grandfather used to build clocks so I loved hanging out with him in his shed.
Favourite pastimes:  I love photography. Writing I love. Directing I like. Fashion, I really like. Food, I really like. I’m kind of all over the place - I have ADD in that way. 
Favourite trait in a person: I know it sounds so lame, but being true to yourself and being true to that is very important. 
Worst personal trait: I am vain, unfortunately. I have banished all mirrors from my bedroom. 
Sexiest trait in a woman: Seduction and elegance has to do with who you are, how you sit in your own skin - people find that as you walk in a room, how you speak to them and that is sexier than anything. All the rest is just accoutrements.
--- End Inset, last page of article ---

And it seems the tormented matriarch of the the Gandy clan is the only woman in her son’s life at the moment, with previous relationships with beauties such as The Saturdays’ Mollie King having gone the way of the Roman Empire. He is also quick to dismiss comments that global superstar Jennifer Lopez made about him recently, when she confessed having something of a crush on him after he appeared in the steamy video for her minor hit First Love. 

“I’ve known Jennifer for a few years,” Gandy mentions. “She’s very down to earth but I also think she’s very astute and a clever business and PR lady so, obviously, when she says stuff like that, people get intrigued about the person she’s [referring to] then they go and watch the video. So, she’s just being a clever business lady, really.”

While Gandy talks a blue streak about his own successes as a businessman, surprisingly, he gets somewhat tongue-tied when discussing his most lucrative commodity - his looks. “It’s strange,” he admits. “I suppose I’m very critical and I look at myself with a very critical eye - no matter what I’m doing, no matter what the campaign is.”

Funnily enough, it emerges that he was something of a chubby teenager, you can imagine that the haunting memory of being Chunk from The Goonies forbids him from ever getting complacent. Indeed, it probably spearheaded his interest in fitness and nutrition in the first place. “There is so much more information, especially in this country. I think the UK is the most obese country in Europe and I think we’re quite inept when it comes to nutrition and fitness compared to the rest of the world.  “It’s very difficult to tell people what to eat and what not to eat. James Oliver is trying as well - he’s doing a brilliant job.” Gandy acknowledges. But he is quick to defend the industry that made him a superstar when questioned about its role in perpetuating unattainable and unhealthy body ideals, particularly among women. 

“When you want to keep yourself in great shape, What we do - we use our bodies - so we should be in the best condition. If you look at Giselle, if you look at Victoria’s Secret models - their bodies are incredible because they work hard at it.” Something else that Gandy is currently working hard at is breaking down the boundaries that male models face on a daily basis. For example, the aforementioned Giselle, who Gandy has previously gone on record saying he doesn’t like very much, earned almost 25 times more than he did last year.

“You have to change the way people talk about male modelling. Most male models get absolutely nothing - they’re sort of second-rate citizens at shoots - separate from the female models and the photographers - so we have to change people’s way of thinking and that includes rates and everything."

A leading supermodel. A charity worker. An animal lover. An accomplished sporting enthusiast. A polite and hardworking businessman. And now, it seems, an equal opportunity rabble rouser. Sad that, the next time I see the cad, I’m tripping him up.


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David Gandy on Australia's 'Mornings' Show (Channel 9)

October 2, 2014, 3:29 am
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David Gandy was on Australia's 'MORNINGS' show today, discussing the launch of his underwear range for Marks & Spencer 'Gandy for Autograph' and his recent worldwide tour to promote the Collection. He joined David Campbell and Eva Milic to discuss what it’s like to be called the hottest man in the world as well as how he copes in such a demanding industry.



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Mark Your Calendar: Battersea Dogs & Cats Home's Collars & Coats Gala Ball 2014 with David Gandy

October 3, 2014, 3:53 am
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It's that time again for our four-legged furry friends to hit the red carpet for more adorable photos with David Gandy. On Thursday, 30 October 2014, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home will host their annual Collars & Coats Gala at Battersea Evolution in London.

This year's star-studded guest list includes HRH Princess Michael of Kent, and Battersea Ambassadors David Gandy and Dame Jacqueline Wilson OBE. Emcees of the evening will be Amanda Holden and Paul O’Grady MBE. Also expected to attend: Julien Macdonald, Henry Holland, Sarah Parish, Sue Perkins, Deborah Meaden, Cheska Hull, Ollie Locke, Alexandra Burke, Nicky Clarke and many more. Meanwhile, the charity’s canine residents will remind everyone why they’re really there with a doggie Guard of Honour – a red carpet lined with Battersea dogs and their handlers.

It costs over £18m to run Battersea each year and the Collars & Coats Gala Ball is all about helping to increase awareness of the important work the charity does every day to help thousands of animals.

And great news: there is a chance to WIN a pair of tickets to attend the event!

*WIN TICKETS*

Lucky, are you? To win a pair of tickets to attend and become part of the efforts of the annual fundraiser, enter your details at the following link by midnight on Thursday 23 October. The winner will be notified on Friday 24 October.

Tickets for Purchase

Contact Collars & Coats Gala Ball call 020 7627 9309, email collarsandcoats@battersea.org.uk or visit collarsandcoats.org.uk. For further information on Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and to pledge donations, visit battersea.org.uk.


Check our coverage from last year.

Source:  The Resident  and Harpers Bazaar UK
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David Gandy talks with Time Out London (October 2014)

October 8, 2014, 3:18 am
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Talking Shop David Gandy

The world’s top male model-turned-underwear-designer used to deliver pizzas, and fancies opening a souped-up store for chaps

By Katie Dailey

What is your favourite place to shop in London?
Sunbury Antiques is great. I’ve just renovated my house and picked up some pieces which I’ve integrated into the build. Like an old wooden art easel that I use as a stand for my flatscreen TV.



Do you buy vintage clothing?
Yes. New York has the best vintage shops. 

Have you ever worked in a shop?
No, but I have delivered pizzas.

Are you extravagant?
No. I’ve made some investments, but as a rule I’m not extravagant.

What do you take the biggest pleasure out of blowing cash on?
Vintage cars are a weakness. I’ve just bought and rebuilt a classic 1960 Mercedes 190SL.

What do you scrimp on?
I don’t spend as much as people would think on clothing.

Do you like a bargain?
Who doesn’t? There’s something satisfying about knowing you’ve got a good deal.

Which are your favourite markets?
Fulham Farmers’ Market is great for local produce.

Is there a store you’d love to make over?
There could be a real opportunity for someone to create a bespoke men’s shopping experience/store. Men shop very differently to women so to create an environment with that in mind with personal shoppers, a bar, great designers, tailors and vintage items: I think would be a great idea and I’d love to do it.

What does London do best?
We’re typically British and don’t shout about it, yet we do a lot of things really well. There’s so much fashion heritage in London, from the wellington boot to Savile Row. As an ambassador for London Collections: Men, I’m really proud of everything that it achieves, not only in terms of putting London on the fashion map but also in its support for established and new designers. It’s constantly evolving.

If you had just £10, what would you spend it on?
Petrol for the car, or Haribo.

What must you never run out of?
Steam.

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David Gandy Interviews with Insider Magazine (Irish Independent)

October 9, 2014, 9:37 am
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The 'World's Most In-Demand Male Model' tells Stephen Milton why he "hates the spotlight, likes getting older and professes we don't know the real him."


Fifty Shades producers were hardly thinking outside the box when they approached David Gandy for protagonist Christian Grey, a dashing, billionaire who can only enjoy sex if it’s accompanied by corporal punishment. Like the dangerous, dapper magnate plucked from the saucy psyche of EL James, David broods and smoulders. His wolf-like, brilliant blues are menacingly seductive, and he has cheekbones you might cut yourself on. Few others wear a structured, three-piece suit better. Sitting beside me, I bear witness to every panel and stitch groaning and stretching.

Alas, David refused the Grey offer. On revelation of the snub, he was quoted saying, “I was asked to go it, but said, ‘no’. I thought it was very badly written.” It eventually went to Jamie Dornan, an agreeably incredibly handsome alternative. 

Today, perched in a quiet corner of a Mayfair pub at lunchtime, while London’s city boys and girls natter and clink in the background, Gandy’s now taking a different stance on the rejection. “Firstly, I appreciated the book…” Now there’s a turnaround. “I read bits of it and whatever critics say,” he clutches, “it’s incredibly popular with immense power. “Jamie’s a great actor and he’ll do the part real justice. It’ ll be seen by millions and he’ll land a number of films from that. “Difference is, he’s been pursuing this. He did the BBC series, [The Fall]. “It’s something that Jamie wants and I’m a lot shyer than him. He’s a musician, he’s gone out with very famous women. Movie stars. He’s much more comfortable in that, whereas I’m much more secretive. “Fifty Shades is going to send him into the stratosphere and I still like to be able to go about my day.” 

And comes the zinger, “I really don’t like being the centre of attention.” Rolling your eyes tends to be the natural response when an underwear model claims ownership of a shy disposition. He crookedly smirks at my reaction, creasing his face.

“I am, I’m really shy. I don’t like being centre of attention.”

So a catwalk model who made his name emerging from the blue waters of Capri in a pair of tighty whitey Speedos — and nothing else — doesn’t like the spotlight? A man who’s now plastered across the country on billboards, posters and the back pages of magazines, flaunting lashings of tanned skin for his new underwear range for Marks and Spencer? “That’s work. That doesn’t bother me. But when I turn up to a red carpet, I still get butterflies. I’m just me. I really hide how nervous I get."

“At the GQ Awards recently, I was incredibly nervous. I didn’t want to get out of the car and stand there, everyone looking… Nine times out of 10, I want to say to the driver, ‘Just keep going, I want to go home’. But some people thrive on it.” 

Eight years since Dolce and Gabbana’s Light Blue campaign catapulted Gandy into the spotlight, he’s now the world’s second highest paid male supermodel. And unlike Kate, Gisele, Naomi and Cara, he’s arguably the only household name among the fashionable fellows. Posing and strutting on catwalks and campaigns for Hugo Boss, Carolina Herrera, Banana Republic, H&M and Lucky Brand Jeans, he’s also starred as the face and brand ambassador for Jaguar and Johnnie Walker Blue Label. And with his 007 appeal transcending mere ‘clothes-horsery’, the Essex hunk launches his David Gandy for Autograph range for Marks and Spencer. He’s now a one-man brand. 

After a successful run as the face and body of M&S Collection menswear, the 34-year-old was presented with the chance to design his own underwear and nightwear range. Varying from briefs to boxers, dressing gowns to long-sleeve tees, it’s a classy collection with a quality touch. And this ain’t just the regurgitated marketing spiel — I can vouch as a proud owner of a couple pairs, courtesy of the man himself.

Irish customers can also exclusively purchase several cashmere additions, including sleepwear trousers and cardigans. Surprisingly, it’s Gandy’s first design collaboration. Surely Dolce and Gabbana would have gotten first dibs? “I believe in affordability. People assume my wardrobe is just Dolce and I don’t spend that much on clothes. I’ ll be wearing a t-shirt and someone will think it’s Balenciaga and it’ ll be American Apparel.” So is anything in your wardrobe Primark [Penneys’ UK equivalent], I ask? “Ehhh... no,” he smirks, “I probably work to that cut-off point. That’s very disposable. I don’t really believe in disposability.” A fleshy, flashy advertising campaign, with Dave smouldering in a variety of undressed poses, has rather large proportion of the masses hot under the collar. The standard Gandy effect. 

Previously dating dimpled Les Miserables actress Samantha Barks and rumoured to be back on with blonde Saturdays singer, Mollie King, I wonder when he discovered himself hotter than most? The question irks the model. That shyness must be kicking in again. “I was never the successful one with the girls. There were always guys who were more successful at school. I thought they were better looking than me. Even at uni, I eventually found out I was known as ‘Model Dave’ on campus but I was completely oblivious to it.” 

Creeping towards his 35th birthday, has any physical insecurity increased for Model Dave? Or developed from scratch, in his case? “I’m not doing too badly. I see quite large bags under my eyes sometimes. But that’s work, that’s travelling. “I hear sometimes, ‘You look a lot older than you do in pictures’, and I’m like, ‘OK’. I’ve always wanted to look older.”

Bit of a dangerous desire for his profession? “Admittedly, you’re not going to be in as good shape as you were eight years ago. “When we shot for the M&S campaign, I was training for a good six weeks and was very proud of the result but you know, it’s harder now. “But everyone is so hung up on clinging on to their 20s. That’s never really been me.” 

A loud chuckle distracts us both. INSIDER turns to see two suited thirty-something females giggle nervously towards Gandy’s direction. They clink their glasses and resume conversation. One eye remains on the model. A frequent occurrence, I ask. “Yeah,” he happily chimes. “And I get asked for pictures all the time. Sometimes they’ll be physically shaking. That’s kinda strange. “I’ ll say, ‘c’mon, let’s have a laugh. Here have a look at that, what do you think. Oh, I look shit in that, we have to do another one’. And they relax after a while.”

He folds his arms tightly and stares into the distance. The tittering twosome maintain their surveillance. “I think it was Cary Grant who said, ‘I wish I was that Cary Grant. The Hollywood Cary Grant. Because that’s the image you give out to other people’. But it’s not necessarily you. “You know my image. And that’s not necessarily me.”


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David Gandy talks with 'Fuera de Serie' Magazine

October 15, 2014, 9:08 am
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IN BED WITH DAVID GANDY

He isn’t a conventional model. This impressive Brit has conquered the catwalk thanks to an image which gets away from androgynous mannequins. He has just debuted as designer of a men’s underwear range for Marks and Spencer.

The fact that you’ve been awakened unexpectedly in a typical morning and someone tells you that in a couple of hours the sexiest man on the planet is going to call you is both a shock and a frustration. So, do not envy me, readers, I haven’t had the pleasure to touch, or even smell, the most sought-after model of the catwalk. Barely, hear his whispering and sexy voice and make him laugh on the other side of the airwaves.

The mobile rings and I see a British telephone number on the display: hellouuu. “Yes, hello, It’s David Gandy”. But, David Gandy himself in person? “Yes, of course”. Oh, what a moment: on these occasions it’s expected a manager or assistant’s cold voice, and no, it was him handling the indicators while he was driving crossing London. “Yes, I’m driving, it’s the only free time I have this week. Don’t worry, I’m relaxed and I will concentrate on your questions”. How kind! Ay.

He was born in the British county of Essex (February 19, 1980). Son of a humble family, they could, however, give him an education in computer studies. When he was about to finish his degree (21 years), a flat mate made a joke: he pointed him to a beauty contest that he won, as you can imagine from the pictures, these and those where he starred for Dolce & Gabbana, Hugo, Boss, Gant or Carolina Herrera’s campaigns. Every year and invariably, he is chosen as the best dress man, the sexiest man, the top icon… besides, he has been ranked second by Forbes as the second highest paid male model (1,08 million € in 2013). The fashion industry owes to him the break from androgynous inertia in catwalk.

In just 48 hours he would star in the global launch of the underwear, loungewear and however range designed for Marks & Spencer (“IN BED WITH DAVID GANDY”), and I venture to ask:

Which is your ideal pant?
One that lets you forget you’re wearing it because you don’t feel it. And I also enjoy that the brand isn’t very visible, Calvin Klein type.

Of all the models you have designed, which are you using?
Hipsters which are a mix of boxer and briefs; I don’t know if you know about them.

Yes, yes, I myself use hipsters.
Ha, ha, ha… mine are not very feminine.

I mean the hipsters for woman [more laughs]. You are a male lifestyle’s oracle in the British press, what is the most basic in the image of a man?
The key is that what a man wears has to be really masculine, unmistakably for man.

Not for nothing you broke the skinny and androgynous trend in the catwalk. Tell me, how do you train to have those muscles, or they are 100% yours?
Nobody has such a muscular body in a natural way. I train four times a week, a routine that it’s intensified if I have any immediate underwear campaign. When I was a child I was very athletic. I did athletics, swimming, football, cricket, etc; and that is something that shape your physique.

Now, do you play any sports?
I love skiing but with my schedule I find it very difficult to do it. No, I am flesh of gym.

David, because your look is your brand, up to what point you get control over it?
I am very careful with my image and every time more with my public appearances.

But, is it true what I watch in an American TV report where you required to change your hairstyle for the advertising you were doing?
Yes, absolutely. I decide what I wear for each session, how I do my hair or what shoes I wear, and I choose the photographer. And for the hairstyle, my hairdresser has been one of my best friends for the last 7 years. Everything related to my image has to be under my control.

What did you feel when you see your picture covering the legendary Times Square’s 15 meter high wall?
Well, the truth is that I didn’t go to see it, it’s a shame, I didn’t get to, but many of my friends and my agent saw it, yes.

What I want to know is what did you feel when you began to look at your picture on fashion covers, bus shelters, etc?
I don’t really see myself, It’s like if I was seeing a character I play. I am very critical, the first thing I think is how to improve that image. My pictures for the Underwear’s Range of M&S will be on 400 busses in London, 700 bus shelters and tube stations, it’s going to be tremendous.

Would you like to try in the movies?
I did shorts and music videos. I receive many offers in my office, but I will only get into that when I receive something that really interests me.

David, is lucky an attitude, as it was said in one of his commercials?
No, the phrase isn’t mine and I don’t share it. I prefer the one that says: “Lucky happens when preparation meets its chance."

The sexiest, best dressed, top icon, best paid model? Do you consider yourself a lucky man?
I’ll answer you with a question: from the hundreds of models who work, how many do you know by their name?

No more than five.
Do you see? I can be fortunate for having a good physique yes, but if you know me it’s for my work, for having fought very hard against the androgynous cliche and win the game.

Source: Fueradeserie.expansion.com
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London Evening Standard's Home Tour with David Gandy

October 16, 2014, 5:52 am
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Inside David Gandy's Bachelor Pad

David Gandy has a guilty secret: rather than picking out suits or pumping iron, he prefers to spend his time off bargain-hunting for claw-foot baths or watching his Farrow & Ball paint dry. Laura Craick gets a guided tour of his new Fulham townhouse, four-poster bed and all.
By Laura Craick
 

A man in a very tight white T-shirt is speaking in tongues: ‘So we were going to get all the panelling made up, and I saw the guy’s work and the quality of the plaster, and I said, “I don’t know why we’re putting something else on top.” This is literally just dado rail, and that’s how we did it, all the way up. It looks good now, but to actually get all these squares, and to get all the plug sockets in and at the right angle... it takes a while.’

Plug sockets? Dado rails? The man looks like David Gandy but sounds as though someone has whisked him off in the night and replaced him with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Don’t let the modelling career fool you: Gandy’s first love is DIY. Perhaps this is an inevitable consequence of being 2013’s Second Highest-Paid Male Model in the World, according to Forbes; when you’ve appeared in a video with J-Lo and designed your own underwear range for M&S, true solace lies in B&Q.

There must be millions of women gagging to get a glimpse of Gandy's interior, and he is happy to show it to me, in exquisite detail, even if the one for which he is most famous remains firmly in his pants. And that’s fine. Call me weird, but I don’t fancy him. I know! What’s wrong with me? I’m sure he’s devastated. Happily, my obliviousness to his Popeye arms and ‘Blue Steel’ gaze allows me to focus fully on the job in hand, which is admiring the home he lovingly fashioned from a clapped-out shell in Fulham.

‘It was such a wreck — in a horrendous condition,’ says Gandy. ‘People walking out from the viewing said to me, “Don’t even bother going in.” That sort of got my juices flowing.’ Stop flirting with me, David; I’m not interested. ‘It was a bigger project than I wanted to take on but I had a good feeling about it.’

If Gandy’s taste is surprising, it’s only because you might expect a well-travelled man who’s worked closely with Dolce & Gabbana for so many years to be a little more… flamboyant. No. In fact, Casa Gandy is one part boutique hotel to two parts Surrey housewife, with only a soupçon of eccentricity. For example, few people have stumbled upon the idea of using an artist’s easel as a television stand. ‘I hate TVs on walls. You either make a room around it so it’s a feature, or you try to hide it with something like this,’ he says.

Everything in Gandy’s three-storey Victorian home (with dug-out basement) is a symphony of off-white, brown and greige, from the Farrow & Ball-painted walls (Elephant’s Breath is a favourite shade) to the oatmeal throws and curtains. Gandy loves a claw-foot bath, an antique trunk, a railway tile and a polished concrete surface (though his are resin). That these stylistic tics will go on to define the 2010s just as Moroccan lanterns and fairylights defined the 1990s does not diminish them. My house is full of them. Isn’t everyone’s?

As befits an ambassador for British menswear (he was appointed by the British Fashion Council to help promote London Collections: Men, the male counterpart to London Fashion Week), Gandy bought British wherever possible. The flooring, stair carpet and upholstery were all sourced from companies in either Chelsea or Essex (Gandy grew up in Billericay), while the builders were local, too. Most of the fabrics were sourced from Holland & Sherry, the Savile Row cloth merchants established in 1836. ‘Lots of the materials are Savile Row — houndstooth, Prince of Wales checks...’ he reels off. Thank God Gandy doesn’t have any children yet — the dry-cleaning bills would be horrendous.

Does he have anything from Ikea? ‘I can’t say I do. Actually, those picture frames are from Ikea, I tell a lie.’ What about eBay? ‘One of the baths is from eBay. A lot of it is from Gumtree — some of the chairs downstairs are, though we got them reupholstered. And I’ve taken stuff off skips. With permission,’ he adds hastily.

We come to the master bedroom, with its extremely large bed and slightly disconcerting teddy bear. What mood was he trying to create? ‘If an accomplished interior designer came in here, they would probably criticise me for mixing Georgian with Victorian,’ he says, somewhat defensively. ‘I don’t particularly care — I wanted what I liked. At the end of the day, it’s my house, it’s my home.’
Picture courtesy of Denise Woodcock (London)

What does he think is the biggest mistake people make with their homes? ‘Lighting,’ he responds quickly. ‘Usually too much. They have their overhead lights on, and it’s so white and cold, so clinical. Virtually every light in this house is dimmable. In here at night, all the lamps are carefully placed around so it’s a really nice mood, almost like candlelight.’

At this point, it is perhaps apposite to mention The Drawer. Obviously, Gandy has a walk-in wardrobe — more of a small room, really — and there, chalked on one of the many drawers that have been custom-built to keep his prodigious collection of clothing in order, is the name ‘Mollie’. Someone has written ‘Mollie’ on one of your drawers, I remark.


‘That may be there for a while, so, uh…’ Wow. A lady with her own drawer in the house, I say. Someone book the church. ‘There you go,’ he says. ‘Even though she steals all my clothes.’ I figure Mollie is probably famous, because celebrities never go out with normals. Later, I Google and find out that she is Mollie King, the blonde one from The Saturdays. Dedicated drawer or not, it can’t be easy maintaining your love life when you travel as much as Gandy, who is on a plane ‘every week or two weeks’. He misses London with the simple delight of a child. ‘When you’re watching the news, and they do a newscast from Parliament, and you see Big Ben, and a red bus, or a black taxi… it just makes me feel homesick.’

Gandy recently shot a video with Jennifer Lopez. Did she hit on him? ‘No. She didn’t.’ Wasn’t she between boyfriends? ‘I don’t know. I didn’t ask about her private life.’ Does he ever wish he could switch off his face and look more like Ricky Gervais? ‘I think Ricky Gervais would get more attention than me, so I’m not sure about that. I know everyone round here, and they all know me. I love that. That’s why I don’t ever really want to live in Notting Hill or on the King’s Road. If you don’t have a pair of Ray-Bans on [in those places] then you’re not accepted.’

We are now downstairs in the study-cum-snug, where I spy my first photograph of Gandy. To be fair, it’s hard to miss, taking up as it does the best part of one wall. ‘I think it’s about the only one I have. It was a gift from the photographer at the time. My mum keeps everything; maybe 60, 70-odd covers. I know lots of people would put them on walls and stuff, but I think that’s a bit…’

Gazing at the black and white image of his chiselled body, it seems a good time to talk about how he attains it. Any quick fixes for the time-pressed man? ‘There is no quick fix,’ he says firmly. ‘It’s about changing your lifestyle. I don’t even really believe in diets.’ You ate carbs, I say, somewhat accusatorially, having witnessed him earlier eating an egg sandwich. ‘You say I ate carbs, but I know they’re not complex carbs and that it’s brown bread and that I won’t be eating much of it and that eggs are protein,’ he replies with the expertise of a person who really loves his food. He tells me about the GQ Men of the Year Awards last month, and how he ate his own dinner, followed by the supermodel Natalia Vodianova’s. ‘The only other person who ate as much as me was Sam Smith. And Kanye West’s bodyguard — he was scoffing it all down.’

Is he ever like, ‘I can’t be bothered to go to the gym today’?
‘Oh, all the time. Especially when I come home late, when I’ve been working for 12 hours and have to go down the gym at 9.30pm, and be there until 10.30pm, and then eat dinner and try to get ready for bed.’

This sounds pretty grim. What does he do to relax? Is there even any opportunity? ‘I watch a lot of documentaries. Then Mad Men, The Sopranos... House of Cards is amazing. Dangerous on Netflix, though. Netflix kills me because it has that button that says, “Your next episode will play in 14 seconds.” And I’ll literally be in bed at 2am going, “Yes, I can do another one, I suppose.” ’

David Gandy: he’s just like the rest of us. Only with better pecs. And a dado rail.

The David Gandy for Autograph men’s underwear and sleepwear collection is available now at marksandspencer.com. Photographs by Tomo Brejc, styled by Anish Patel

Source: London Evening Standard

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