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bed with hypothermia on chocolate brownsheets is soon forgotten when the billboardis in every subway station and the dollarsare transferred to your account.

Or the time I did 173 different outfitchanges for a corporate wear catalogue thathad me on set from 6am-11pm, with a 15-minute break and the third degree burn Igot from the stylist who decided to iron mypolyester jacket while I was still wearing it.

The other side to the equation was beingon some shoots where I felt guilty aboutbeing paid. Travelling first class, staying inluxurious hotels at exotic locations waswhen reality was way better thanperception.

Working with wonderful, interesting,creative people, also beat the councilsupervisor who checked on my manicuredparks. To work with the likes of MickeyRourke, Carl Lewis, Mark Wahlberg andElton John, or to hang out in nightclubswith Michael Jackson, Motley Crue, andJack Nicholson, or to date Cameron Diazand Belinda Carlisle, was, at the time, thereality of the world I lived in.

My upbringing of not making a fuss ortalking “shop” and treating everyone equal,held me in good stead when working on setor meeting people of fame.

I was 19 and Mickey Rourke was at thepeak of his powers when I won the gig to sitnext to him at a bar for a Suntory whiskeyshoot. As expected, he was late, whichallowed all lighting, props, ambience andthe look to be perfect so he didn’t have towait around. The moment he laid eyes onme I could feel he didn’t want to be there,sitting next to a male model.

Not much was said in the first hour butas time went on, the silence becameuncomfortable. I didn’t let him know I wasa fan and even pretended I hadn’t seen hisfilms, and by lunchtime he was followingme around like a bad smell – askingquestions about Australia, talking sport,fashion, food and all things normal.

This is how I played it with all celebrities.They love to be treated as normal.Crouching on the starting blocks in a suit atTokyo Dome next to the great athlete CarlLewis was a memorable moment.

FUN fact: Nightclubs were free entryand so was the alcohol. It was nothingto walk in and order 20 drinks for a

laugh because you could. We were soindulgent. It was the models and actors thatmade the clubs popular so we were givenanything and everything to attend andhave fun.

In the end it became so monotonousthat we spiced things up to have fun. I usedto work with some real characters, wholoved fun, taking the mickey out ofthemselves and others, so wigs and dress upoutfits became the norm at some of thebiggest and best clubs in the world.

IT’S A profession many aspire to butonly a few get to experience, and I wasone of the lucky ones. For more than20 years I lived the modelling dreamand yet, during my time in front of thecamera, I never felt comfortable

telling people what I did for a living ortalking about it.

But now, after being out of the businessfor more than a decade, I’m happy to givean insight into the life and times of aninternational male model – the good, thebad and the ugly sides of this industry.

It started for me in 1987, and within thespace of two weeks, I went from mowinglawns for the local council to a modellingcontract in Tokyo. I was 19, in a countryobsessed with western culture and people. Iwas in the right place at the right time.

With my portfolio of four pictures, Iwould head to my agent to get the rundownof the day’s castings. A casting is, in essence,a job interview. You walk into a room andbehind the table is the client, advertisingrepresentative, photographer, stylist, make-up artist and a few others. They look you upand down, while checking out yourportfolio, and talking a foreign language.

Sometimes they don’t even look at you.You know then you’re not what they’relooking for. On average, I would go to eightto 12 castings a day, starting at 10am andfinishing at 9pm. Subway, taxi and legpower were the means of getting about,which I loved, as it was all so foreign to me.

Beautiful women also surrounded me 10hours a day, which sure beat looking atgrass clippings.

Once you did get a job, things gotinteresting – fun, arduous, amazing,tedious, exciting, lavish, punishing,unbelievable, dramatic, fulfilling, boring,painful, profitable, fortunate … alldepending on who you were working for,with and where.

The finished photo or TV commercialwith me lying on the beach, surrounded bywhite sand, palm trees, a drink in hand andgirl by my side, looks like the life of Riley.At times it was, especially as my alternativewas the company of a Victa lawn mower.

But not always. Like when it’s a 2am callto drive for three hours on unsafe tracks,then be caked in make-up as you sit chilledto the bone (you shoot summer in winterand winter in summer) while listening to amale diva make-up artist who finds anyexcuse to apply body bronzer to you; and tothen be romantic with a girl who whingesabout being tired and the pimple youcannot see, while missing her boyfriendterribly, who has breath like the local dogkennel.

Or standing at the bottom of Mt Fuji,doing swimwear in the snow, where Ibecame so cold, I turned blue. To rectifythis they spray-painted me with brownpaint. Spending the following three days in

Paul Giles is a former Calvin Klein model, living in Adelaide, who has seen up close and personal the world of fashion and the celebrity it creates – along with its heady highs and miserable lows

O N T H E R U N W A Y

MY MODEL lifew o r d s p a u l g i l e s

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promote your brand. While on set, it is ateam effort, which makes a great endproduct. I always loved fashion so to workwith some of the biggest designers in theworld like Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani,Versace and Calvin Klein was unreal.

What goes on behind the scenes toproduce a collection is amazing. The vision,creativity and hard work is not obviouswhen garments are displayed on therunway. Yes there is stuff that is so way outthat it could be mistaken for a fancy dresscostume, but I still admire the individualityand process involved.

I’VE been asked many thousands oftimes if I got to keep the clothes. Itdepended on the client. With my love of

threads I would buy items at cost, especiallyfrom the top end designers. A lot ofclothing I still own and wear today, some 25years later.

I’m also asked, often sarcastically, what Iachieved from being a professional smiler.This is my response: I learnt things that arebest taught by experience rather thantextbooks – independence, confidence,positivity, resilience, people and socialskills, acceptance, humour, tolerance, andthe value of keeping an open mind.

I’m so grateful to have experienced twodecades in the business, seeing andexperiencing things I could never haveimagined while always having a laughalong the way and not taking the wholething too seriously. How could you whenyou were wearing fur coats, hats, gloves

everything in sight. A rare commodity inthis game. We played table soccer with twoglasses and a 10-yen coin. She was the lifeof the party with the energy of a Duracellbattery. She was not the classic beauty butwas cute, and after a few times going outtogether she went back home as mostmodels did. It came as no surprise that afew years later I saw this girl on the bigscreen. I’m talking about Cameron Diaz.

AS WITH any profession, along withthe great people, there were also thedifficult, bizarre, emotional and

insecure. I witnessed men six foot threeand built like Greek gods in tears becausethey missed out on campaigns. I sawstunningly beautiful girls come to blowsthrough jealousy. I saw famous girls drinkmen under the table ... a client and modelcame to blows about disagreement on apayment. I saw models stuffing their shoeswith $50,000 cash when leaving to go backto their homeland. I saw people thinkingthey would make millions and go homewith nothing, their egos shattered. I sawgirls not eat for two days because they hadswimwear to shoot. I saw the healthiestlooking individuals live on canned tunaand rum and coke for 60 days straight.

I saw small community farm peoplebecome rich and famous. I saw people playwith sexuality. I saw washed up people,older than my parents, trying to succeed ina young person’s industry. I experiencedbeing rich and poor, flavour of the monthand yesterday’s paper, being in love andlonely, happiness, sadness and everyemotion in between.

But what a ride. What an experience.What a luxury to do something I did nothave to study for, or ever dream of doing.

For that reason, plus being an Aussie, Ididn’t think I was better than anyone else.For me, it was a remarkable way to earn,learn and see the world. As my olderbrothers continuously reminded me, keepyour eyes open, your mouth shut and yourteeth clean, or else come back home as thegrass always needs mowing.

I loved working with photographers.They were hard working, creative, fun andhad the power to influence the client and

Once in Tokyo, we decided that the lastoutfit we wore on shoot had to be worn atthe club for the night. When doingJapanese workwear catalogues, cheapdepartment store flyers or traditionalJapanese bridal wear adverts, your outfitsfor the night turned some heads. After afew weeks of this game, due to ourinfluence this attire became fashionableamong the clubbers, along with the ’80spermed wigs we wore with pride.

When I saw Michael Jackson at the clubLexington Queen once, I made a bee-linefor him and did the moon dance, beforeasking him how I went. Jackson wasn’t asimpressed as the crowd, who went wild.

Another time in a club, Jack Nicholsonwanted to hang with us for some reason, somy mate play wrestled with him for 30minutes on the couch in the VIP area whileI refereed. Pinning Jack down for the threecount is still talked about today.

I once drank with Nikki Sixx fromMotley Crue, who after finishing his bottleof Jack Daniels threw it against the wall ofthe club. Continuing the party back at hishotel room was like something out of aHangover movie. Framed gold records andguitars everywhere, clothes and cashamong the room service, leftover food – itwas a penthouse suite with a difference.

One night I was introduced to BelindaCarlisle from the ’80s girl band The Go-Go’s. After a few dances we left and rode inher limousine around Tokyo talkingarchitecture and gardening for hours (I hadno idea about either subject), eventuallywatching the sun come up.

WORKING and hanging out withbeautiful women came with theterritory and after a while, I did

not think too much of it. However, LindaEvangelista and Claudia Schiffer took mybreath away. I don’t think photos did thesegirls justice. In the flesh they were surreal,too perfect.

I remember when Claudia walked past(and did not even notice me). Not only didshe look like a goddess, but smelt amazing.I was rarely lost for words but I was at thatmoment, totally. Another time, I wasintroduced to a girl by a friend and, afterdinner, remembered thinking howinfectious she was, a great storyteller whowas the first to laugh and joke around, witha tomboy manner, who ate and drank

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO ME IS TO MAKE THINGS REAL, NOT HAVE MODELS WHO ARE PERFECTLY GROOMED ORCLOTHES THAT ARE TOO PERFECT. IT ALL HAS TO HAVE A TWIST BECAUSE THAT’S HOW PEOPLE LIVE – TOMMY HILFIGER

1 Working for Calvin Klein 2 Cameron Diaz 3 Claudia Schiffer 4 Making warm look cool 5 ... and cold look hot

and scarfs in 35C weather, or wearingbudgie smugglers in -2C?

Or changing clothes more than 100times in a day while make-up was appliedwith a trowel to cover the sweat pouring offyour forehead as the lights were so strong.

Or when the girl next to you was so tallyou had to stand on telephone books togain a few needed centimetres. Or walkingthe catwalk with tissues stuffed in the endof your shoes, three sizes too big.

Or when they dyed your hair blond andit turned green. Or when you go on a three-day shoot and the chain-smoking clientsets his alarm every hour in the middle ofthe night to light a cigarette and you’resharing the same room.

Or when a lion cub that was supposedto be friendly and tame decides to see whatyou taste like. Or when the location driverfalls asleep while driving on a five-laneTokyo highway and you’re sitting in thefront. Or when the pin pulling in yourpants jabs you so hard it breaks and youneed tweezers to pull it out.

But I never complained. After all,wearing an Italian suit while driving aGerman sports car, with a beautiful girl inthe passenger seat, and the camera andlights flashing, were never part of the jobdescription for my local council’s parksand gardens. ●

Paul Giles is an SAWeekend columnist, runs image consultancy stylshift.com.au and is author of The Gentleman’s Guide to Cool; Grooming, Clothing, Etiquette

I EXPERIENCED BEING RICH AND POOR, FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH AND YESTERDAY’S PAPER, BEING IN LOVE AND LONELY

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