How I Got Featured in a Fashion Magazine

Greetings if you came from the indiDenim blog. If not, you can see my feature here.

I was recently featured in Gainer–a Japanese men’s fashion magazine–and happened to be wearing my indiDenim jeans, so the good folks at indiDenim did a Customer Spotlight on me.

This post is the story of how I got in the magazine and my thoughts on whether or not some opportunities are as random as they seem.

The Story

Growing up, the word “model” was not one that was ever used in the same sentence as my name. Heck it still probably isn’t, but I recently had a chance to be one for a day.

I was on my way to work and it seemed an ordinary day like any other. I was a little bit dressed up because I was headed to a Cinco De Mayo party that evening, but otherwise I was just walking to the subway station in a bit of a sleepy fog.

Half way to the station I passed a couple of Japanese people that looked like they were lost. I’d gone no more than a few steps passed them when one of them called out, “excuse me.”

I looked at them out of the corner of my eye in my cautious New York way to determine if they were going to try and sell me something or hand me a flyer. As I remembered their lost look I slowly turned around as I upgraded them from pesky street flyerers to lost tourists.

To my complete surprise they complimented my style and said they’d like to take a few pictures of me for the magazine they work for. I was already running late and debating whether to blow them off and keep going, but a voice at the back of my mind told me I should stop and see what this is was all about.

As I’ve written about before, you should always keep yourself primed to investigate and take advantage of opportunities.

They showed me a copy of their magazine–a Japanese men’s fashion magazine similar to GQ called Gainer–and so I said okay and they took a few pictures of me right there on the street.

After they were done taking photos I gave them my contact info, thanked them, and headed back off to work. Knowing that they were probably taking hundreds of pictures while they were in New York and much of what they took probably wouldn’t make the final cut of the magazine, I wondered if my pictures would actually go to print.

During the next month I anxiously waited for the next issue to come out. When the July 2011 issue of Gainer Magazine finally hit the stand I rushed down to the Japanese book store and there I was bold and in full color on page 32!

Chance or Intention

At first glance this just seems like a random chance encounter. Like I had nothing to do with it other than being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. After all, I certainly hadn’t been out banging on doors of magazines trying to get a modeling gig, this opportunity just kind of showed up.

But as one of my friends pointed out to me, for every person they put a picture of in the magazine they probably walked by thousands that they didn’t. I’m a bit of a fashionista by hobby and it stood out when the right people happened to be around.

During the year prior to this chance encounter I’d spent a lot of time reading about fashion, having custom clothes made at my local tailor (shout out to Michael Andrews Bespoke), and experimenting with online tailors and places like indiDenim. In fact, the Cinco De Mayo party I was headed to that night was being hosted by MAB.

When you get deeply involved in something, related opportunities have a way of showing up whether you are seeking them out or not. Affinity to your interest makes you more likely to be in the right places and near the right people.

In this case I move to a fashion capital, then I become very interested in fashion, then I start dressing more and more fashionably, then suddenly I get approached by a fashion magazine.

Where would you like to create more opportunities in your life? What place can you go to where there are other people with similar interests? What place can you go to where there are decision makers for the field you are interested in?

And most profoundly, where in your life are you already doing this without even realizing it?