Hoyt Richards

Blanco y Negro
"Blanco, Luz Cegadora"
Year: Fall/Winter 1994
Models: Hoyt Richards and ?
Ph: Jonathan Miller
Fashion: Roberto Verino, Paul Smith.




Translation:

Even if his name is not very known out of the fashion world his face is very familiar for many people, Hoyt Richards started his modeling career 9 years ago with photographer Bruce Weber, now when young models have a cool and easy look Hoyt is very classic and elegant, the perfect gentleman.

He's known as the Cary Grant of the 90's but he doesn't care too much about fashion, "the most important thing is how you are, not what you are wearing", he knows that The Supermodels are the stars but he thinks people is now getting a little more interested in men's fashion and male models, "sometimes we felt discriminated but this is a women business".

Hoyt, who felt very identified with fashion designer Ralph Lauren, achived his biggest goal when Italian magazine Mondo Uomo dedicated him a whole issue, "I'm very proud about that, it was the first time I had a big responsability in the elaboration of the project"

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THE NEW YORK TIMES
EGOS & IDS
Creating 'Mondo Me'
By Degen Pener
Published: November 29, 1992

NAME: Hoyt Richards.
IDENTITY: 30-year-old model.

HOME: Upper East Side.

CURRENT ACTIVITY: Being admired in Mondo Uomo, the Italian men's magazine, which has devoted 58 pages to him in its November/December issue. Mr. Richards, shown above, organized and produced the shoots with photographers like Greg Gorman, Bruce Weber and Peggy Sirota.




Q. What was it like working on both sides of the camera?

A. It was a lot of humble pie. I'd been in the business eight years and I hadn't paid attention to hardly anything. I had totally taken for granted all these other roles.

Q. Like what?

A. I had to scout locations, work with budgets, catering, layouts, editing. As a model, I was used to showing up at a job and just having to be fabulous.

Q. Which shoot was the most memorable?

A. They had these pipes for the shoot in Egypt. I don't smoke, but I just kept smoking on it for like 15 minutes.

Q. What happened?

A. I stood up, we shot six frames and I fainted. My eyes rolled back. I got nicotine poisoning. I basically didn't know where I was for about three hours.

Q. There are some other photos where you've got a black beard. Did you dye it?

A. No, we took mascara. But that's nothing compared with what the girls have to go through. You're basically creating illusions. One of the worst things that can happen to a model is for you to start thinking that you're as wonderful as your pictures are.

Q. You were a good friend of the late Frederick Von Mierers, who founded the group called Eternal Values and was accused in a big Vanity Fair article of selling gems at outrageous prices by claiming they had mystical properties. What do you think of him, looking back?

A. He was a dear friend of mine. It didn't sound like Vanity Fair was talking about the same person. It read like a TV movie script. Orgies and stuff like that. I was like, 'Where was I for all that?' He was the most down-to-earth person I'd ever met.

Q. What do you do besides modeling?

A. I have a construction business that a bunch of my buddies and I started in North Carolina. I found as I got older I need that grass-roots therapy. Getting out there pounding the nails. It's a great way to bring me back to what things are really about.

A version of this article appeared in print on November 29, 1992, on page 94 of the New York edition.