formal training whatsoever, some of the world’s top designers were also scrabbling to hire him, which was no mean feat, as competition for such major contracts was fierce.
The casting with Dior designer Hedi Slimane at the helm had resembled elements of the reality TV show
Model Behaviour
for which Jamie had auditioned five years previously, with hopefuls getting eliminated in stages until the judges are left with just two finalists. Although Jamie had failed to make the final cut in the TV version, in the real world he came away with first prize.
His brooding good looks had secured him the enviable contract as the face of the fashion house’s much-hyped fragrance campaign for Dior Homme and once again, he was perplexed that he’d been handed such a prestigious role. ‘Why am I the face of Dior Homme?’ he said in an interview at the time. ‘At Dior, they kept eliminating people until it was down to two. I wasn’t really focused on it at the time, you know. I don’t really know why Hedi chose me. I’m not the best-looking guy around.’
Reflecting Jamie’s nonchalant attitude to the casting, the photos featured the striking model posing effortlessly alongside the aftershave, in a crisp white shirt and black jacket. It was a print campaign with snaps appearing in glossy magazines, newspapers, billboards and bus stops … Jamie’s face was starting to pop up everywhere, all over the world. ‘It was effective casting, and it got people’s attention,’ David Farber, style director at
Men’s Vogue
magazine, said. ‘Clearly he wasn’t the typical model. He read rather like a “real” person but he obviously wasn’t some skinny waify model boy they found onthe street.’ Another admirer drooled, ‘He has the square-jawed profile of a Roman senator.’
The six-figure contract also meant that he reportedly had enough cash to buy into the two-bedroom home he shared with his father in Notting Hill – and Keira was replaced with another new love: a 1988 silver convertible Mercedes-Benz called Maisie.
Jamie was well aware that his success was due to the fact that he photographed like a dream, and he was quite clearly happy to run with it until something else cropped up. It required little effort and, despite being baffled as to how, he was quickly travelling down the path towards becoming the highest-paid male model in the world. Landing a fragrance campaign like Dior Homme is the holy grail for models, with adverts running for months at a time as do the residuals, meaning that Jamie was now earning serious money. ‘It’s a great business for now, a great way to make money and have a laugh. Who knows what’s next?’ he said shortly after the Dior campaign. ‘I put a lot of what’s happened so far to luck and right place, right time.’
Although he hated the hours of sitting around in his underwear getting bored, he loved meeting the outlandish creative types inside the fashion industry; also, it was a business so lucrative for him that it would have been mad to have given it up to go to drama school as he’d originally intended.
Despite the healthy cash flow and stunning good looks, Jamie knew he wasn’t perfect and one of his massive and unmistakable flaws was being a complete disaster on the runway. Even though he could pose and preen for hours in a studio, Jamie was still useless on a catwalk. Dior was one of the first fashion houses todiscover his bouncy gait and, in order to avoid embarrassment for all concerned, quickly amended his contract so that he didn’t have to appear on the catwalk when opening their shows. ‘I got everything out of the world that you can get. And I never did a fashion show,’ he said proudly. ‘It was part of my Dior contract to open its show in Milan […] but we had that written out as I have a funny, bouncy walk – not cool. It wouldn’t make a suit look any better.’
While his modelling career was ticking over nicely, his so-called ‘acting career’ was in
The casting with Dior designer Hedi Slimane at the helm had resembled elements of the reality TV show
Model Behaviour
for which Jamie had auditioned five years previously, with hopefuls getting eliminated in stages until the judges are left with just two finalists. Although Jamie had failed to make the final cut in the TV version, in the real world he came away with first prize.
His brooding good looks had secured him the enviable contract as the face of the fashion house’s much-hyped fragrance campaign for Dior Homme and once again, he was perplexed that he’d been handed such a prestigious role. ‘Why am I the face of Dior Homme?’ he said in an interview at the time. ‘At Dior, they kept eliminating people until it was down to two. I wasn’t really focused on it at the time, you know. I don’t really know why Hedi chose me. I’m not the best-looking guy around.’
Reflecting Jamie’s nonchalant attitude to the casting, the photos featured the striking model posing effortlessly alongside the aftershave, in a crisp white shirt and black jacket. It was a print campaign with snaps appearing in glossy magazines, newspapers, billboards and bus stops … Jamie’s face was starting to pop up everywhere, all over the world. ‘It was effective casting, and it got people’s attention,’ David Farber, style director at
Men’s Vogue
magazine, said. ‘Clearly he wasn’t the typical model. He read rather like a “real” person but he obviously wasn’t some skinny waify model boy they found onthe street.’ Another admirer drooled, ‘He has the square-jawed profile of a Roman senator.’
The six-figure contract also meant that he reportedly had enough cash to buy into the two-bedroom home he shared with his father in Notting Hill – and Keira was replaced with another new love: a 1988 silver convertible Mercedes-Benz called Maisie.
Jamie was well aware that his success was due to the fact that he photographed like a dream, and he was quite clearly happy to run with it until something else cropped up. It required little effort and, despite being baffled as to how, he was quickly travelling down the path towards becoming the highest-paid male model in the world. Landing a fragrance campaign like Dior Homme is the holy grail for models, with adverts running for months at a time as do the residuals, meaning that Jamie was now earning serious money. ‘It’s a great business for now, a great way to make money and have a laugh. Who knows what’s next?’ he said shortly after the Dior campaign. ‘I put a lot of what’s happened so far to luck and right place, right time.’
Although he hated the hours of sitting around in his underwear getting bored, he loved meeting the outlandish creative types inside the fashion industry; also, it was a business so lucrative for him that it would have been mad to have given it up to go to drama school as he’d originally intended.
Despite the healthy cash flow and stunning good looks, Jamie knew he wasn’t perfect and one of his massive and unmistakable flaws was being a complete disaster on the runway. Even though he could pose and preen for hours in a studio, Jamie was still useless on a catwalk. Dior was one of the first fashion houses todiscover his bouncy gait and, in order to avoid embarrassment for all concerned, quickly amended his contract so that he didn’t have to appear on the catwalk when opening their shows. ‘I got everything out of the world that you can get. And I never did a fashion show,’ he said proudly. ‘It was part of my Dior contract to open its show in Milan […] but we had that written out as I have a funny, bouncy walk – not cool. It wouldn’t make a suit look any better.’
While his modelling career was ticking over nicely, his so-called ‘acting career’ was in
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