David Gandy for 'Vanity Fair' Spain (May 2014)

 English Version - Translated by DjG.com

DAVID GANDY, THE LAST 10 MAN

Since 2006 when he appeared in a perfume ad dressed in a tiny white bathing suit, he has been converted into the world's most desirable man and the first "star" in an industry where only the women have shone brightly. David Gandy, the most famous "top model", talks with us from London about Gisele Bündchen, alcohol, loneliness, nudity and love at first sight with Michelle Pfeiffer.

David Gandy (Essex 1980) traverses the lobby of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in London in search of coffee. Observing how people look at him is an exercise in sociology. Women pierce their gaze on him and pursue him until an obstacle threatens their physical view. The men dedicate more brief but intense looks as if they are admiring (and envy) that one meter ninety sculpted perfection just before remembering the basic British rules interpersonal space. Sitting down, coffee in hand, he looks at me with the most wanted eyes in the fashion world waiting for a question.

VF- I've observed how people look at you. Does it make you uneasy?

DG- You get used to being the center of attention. In a photo shoot it's all about you. What worries me more is living up to what people expect of me for because of everything that is said?

VF- For example, that you are the most handsome man in the world.

DG- Yes, those types of things.

And after saying this phrase, he coughs. During the brief conversation starter has also rubbed his eyes and has displayed some nasal congestion. These normal human gestures in someone whose name Google autocompletes with the words "most beautiful man" can confuse anyone. But Gandy says of himself, for example, that he has "an enormous nose and a giant ears. I'm afraid that those are the three only things that will continue to increase in size". Once he said he did not think his body was really spectacular. He clears it up for me: "You must be a very weird person to say," Wow. I'm spectacular! Or clearly an idiot".

VF: Which man is great for you, then?

DG: My idea of a man's-man is Steve McQueen or Paul Newman or Robert Redford. For the life they lived and the things that did and said. My concept of masculinity comes from the old school. Can you imagine one of these guys on Twitter?

VF: But you have a profile on Twitter

DG: I am obligated to. But I barely use it.

VF: And what woman is your erotic myth?

DG: I still feel a huge attraction for Michelle Pfeiffer. I've never been one of those who are intimidated when they encounter a star, but it happened with her. It was in New York. It was freezing and she was wearing a trench coat that covered her up here - he carries his hand up to his chin. But I recognized her. She looked at me and I gave her a small smile. She laughed and continued on her way.

He has thrown open a door for me to ask about women, but then the gentleman that I have sitting in front of me intertwines his fingers of his huge hands to form a barricade and offers me a clarification without losing his excellent manners-that he does not speak about his private life. He does tell me that he was late to the world of love: his first long term and formal relationship was when he was 21 years old, although he had occasional girlfriends since the age of eleven.

Funny how with certain occupations the issue of privacy works. Google requires 0.33 seconds to throw out 330,000 pages where you can see the man who will not talk about his private life completely naked. "I think I've never done a proper full frontal nudity. There is always something covered or dark. [After the interview I go back to Google to confirm that the idea Gandy's frontal nudity differs from mine]. I think we are sometimes too sanctimonious about it. Ewan McGregor and Daniel Craig appear nude in their films often and nobody asks them about it. Also, those pictures are artistic and masculine. That is how I see them. "

What is difficult to find is pictures of David Gandy dressed. During the photo session he walks countless times in just his underwear. When someone approaches him from his agency and asks him to sign some papers, he does semi-nude. The idea conveyed by Gandy is that if really want to be naked, someone would have to tear his skin off.

David's parents are entrepreneurs ("they had four or five businesses," answers elusively when trying to learn more) and he grew up with his sister in a town called Billericay Essex, who also gave the world pop idols (Alison Moyet) and champion swimmer (Mark Foster). When I pronounce the name of the town almost literally, the model laughs. "It's pronounced Bi-le-qui-ri! - he clarifies it for me -. I don't have much reason to go back there. My parents moved to the countryside nine years ago and the two friends I have left here usually come to visit me in London. "His sister is married to a Spaniard and lives in Benalmádena. "When I'm there and it's fifteen degrees my sister tells me it's a cold day. My nephews came to spend Christmas in Scotland and they had so many clothes on that they looked like dolls without joints. If they fell, they bounced. "

Gandy dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, but began studying computer science and in his spare time worked for the magazine Auto Express: he would drive the cars to the to and from the test track and then write about the cars that were tested and then they were scored on the pages of the publication. "From time to time I would get a Porsche or a Jaguar. The best job I can imagine for a 17 year old. "His car was a small car that was ten years old. But fifteen years later the situation has changed: the cars that Gandy has today are two restored classics (a Mercedes and a Jaguar) and a modern Jaguar F-Type, which amounts to 115,000 euros.

VF: Are you like those men who personify their automobiles?

DG: They are ‘her’. All classic cars are a woman.

Game Changer is an English term that could define Gandy (although a look at women's magazines and some gay forums would add a hundred more word that are not publishable here). It is that one who changes the industry and proposes a new paradigm. For years the top models that caught the eye of the public from small billboards on bus shelters ha a fibrous body but sort of scrawny - sometimes almost feminine - in which designers like Hedi Slimane had to fit clothes with very reduced sizes. . When Gandy met Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana at the birthday party of photographer Mariano Vivanco (a personal friend of the model and the one responsible for this session) , they chose him for the campaign of their perfume Light Blue . And muscle won . "Until then I had done,more than anything,catalogue work for signature brands and I didn't like it. When I was in Capri posing on a speed boat for that campaign I said yes, this is more like what I wanted to do with my life. "Gandy returned muscle to fashion ( missing from fashion since the late eighties) not only because of his looks but his gentleman ways : he collects old cars, he collects watches and is passionate about interior design. He is entirely in charge of decorating his new home in London, which has just been finished, and also his parents home in northern Essex. There is nothing in his life that comes close to the excesses of certain female colleagues or Zoolanders delirious and boastful storylines. "The worst part of this profession is the cynical and stereotyped ideas that people have about your job. Everyone thinks they know a lot about fashion and before you blink are giving you lessons on it. "

VF: Seeking information about you, I found an interview on a British show where you were asked directly if you were gay.

DG: Yes, but that has changed. People had the image of some models ... they were silent. I was the first who came and said: I am a model, I want to be a brand and am willing to talk about my work. Before me none had been interviewed on prime time. How do you expect people not to have preconceived ideas? This was a kind of tiny and secretive business.

VF: So you admire the great men who kept their silence, but you believe that supermodels need to be more open and talk.

DG: It's easier than that: if what they say about you is good, keep quiet. But if that comment is wrong, get out there and clarify it.

Gandy also triggered a small earthquake in the fashion world when, according to the Daily Mail, he had some sharp words about Gisele Bündchen : "I do not get along with Gisele . We didn't agree, we argued and didn't have fun. "

DG: I never said that - he says - . Basically the asked me: 'Are you friends with Gisele? '. And I said 'No'. My friends are people I've known for many years. But I have no problem with her. I admire her achievements and I have wondered how the hell she did it.

VF: Last year, a business magazine named you the top male model who earns the most money in the world.

DG: One time we wanted to find out how they knew what we earned each year. And they responded. "We make it up". That list is the biggest lie I've read about myself. It is complete rubbish.

VF: In any case you are in a privileged position. What is your biggest fear up there?

DG: Failure probably - he pauses - . No, no I did not say that, forget about it. I believe in failure, there is no success without it. I don't know what to answer. I'm probably not afraid of anything.

VF: Not even the idea of growing old?

DG: No. And it's something I notice. I play a lot of sport and I've start to feel pain in places where I had never felt pain before. But I think a man gains more respect as they age.

VF: Tell me something bad about yourself. Break the magic.

DG: I think I drink too much - he says seriously, leaving a long silence before adding sarcastically - . It's an English tradition, right?

VF: In Spain also customary.

DG: You have good wine to four euros. It's amazing!

VF: Do you lie often?

DG: I'm very honest. I only lie to my mother when she asks how many drinks I took last night.

VF: Really? You're mother asks you those kinds of things

DG: It's not necessary. A mother knows everything.

The trust between Vivanco and Gandy is shocking. They have been working together for years. Vivanco openly touches his back and chest. He showers him with compliments. But in a world like this it seems essential to strengthen ties with anyone who can accompany you on trips and meetings. Larry, the hairstylist, is also your friend. "I'm always alone. On airplanes, in hotels ... I spend about seventy percent of my time alone. I would like to come back as a dog and that my life would consist of traveling the world while people scratch my tummy - . At one point, while in the room next to where the cover photo is being shot I hear something coming from the empty lounge suite, a vibration accompanied by the voice of Frank Sinatra. He is singing the following: "You can be the king / you can own the world / [... ] But you are nobody till somebody loves you." It's David Gandy's Blackberry, which someone is calling and it goes unanswered. Amid this luxurious suite and while on the other side of the wall the flash of the camera sounds for this model as if it were cheering, the situation suddenly becomes a bit poetic. And a little sad .