MODA Lookbook Episode 10: Glow-up Doll
Welcome to Episode 10 of MODA Blog’s Lookbook series! We wanted to offer our wonderful team the opportunity to create and direct more editorial content for your viewing pleasure. Completely student styled, modelled and produced, the MODA Lookbook hopes to inspire, empower and challenge the talent of our community. Keep your eye out for more lookbooks coming soon~!
“If you are a muse, you just know somebody loves you, and they want you to be around because things start happening for them.
You wake them up, and you say, ‘Come on, look at this’.
…And they look at it…
…and they suddenly know what to do.”
These were the words of one legendary Muse - iconic American Model, Pat Cleveland, who famously inspired artists in the ranks of Halston, Andy Warhol, and Antonio Lopez. Just as the classicists may tell you, a muse is a near mythic being who somehow breathes life into the inanimate, who draws one’s eyes towards something and makes it special. This figure of the muse is one which has never faded from our cultural lexicon; they are constantly reborn, sustaining lifelong magical relationships with artists of all kinds.
I’ve been lucky enough to find myself face to face with muses across my time at University, many of whom you can find on this very blog. I can attest to their ability to change the train of my creative process, or influence the planning of something new. There is something there, in their esprit, in their love for what they do, that resonates with me and I’m sure with countless creatives out there. Muses capture an creative’s artistic point of view, but manipulates it to be something far more powerful than what it had originally been.
Though in this era of social distancing, and quarantine, it’s been trickier to come face to face with the muses in my life, and truthfully, I began to worry I would lose out on that kind of creative shot of adrenaline moving forward…until I met Brad.
Brad Maple is truly a one-of-a-kind bona fide star. An international model, having worked across the United States and Asia, with plans to move towards Europe after college, Maple has the kind of muse-appeal that you can find in those very special kinds of beauties. With piercing blue eyes and naturally yellow-toned lips, Brad absolutely stunned me with his unique look, and he was kind of enough to let me capture him through my own lens.
So for the 10th instalment of our Lookbook series, I bring to you Brad (The model) captured by Andrew (the photographer), in an exclusive photo-story and interview for MODA. Experience the shoot to find out all of Brad’s thoughts on fashion, modelling and how his career blew up! We hope you enjoy MODA Lookbook episode 10.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Gold Star: Brad Dazzles in vintage Yukata (Editor’s Own) and Chains from Vitaly, McQ and H&M,
Brad, can you tell our viewers a little bit about yourself? What do you do at the University? And maybe how you got started with modeling?
Hi, I’m Brad Maple. I’m a second year Public Policy major here at the University, I haven’t really joined any clubs yet, but I’ve always looked at MODA and thought, that might be fun to do. If I’m being honest, I’m not super interested in fashion, which I know my agents and all the people I work with are gonna hate me for saying, but I really do enjoy this whole modeling thing.
I was discovered in a Spencer’s in Philadelphia in the summer before my Junior year in high school. I was just leaning against a wall next to some Marvel tees, when this lady approached me and asked me if I had ever considered modeling. I told her ‘no’ and she asked me if I would ever consider it. She slipped me her card and when I showed my friends, they told me that it would probably just be a summer thing. It was totally not just a summer thing. I worked for the rest of high school, flying between New York, Philly and across Asia. My agency told me that when I hit 18, they could send me to do the fashion week cycle, but truthfully, I’m not too sure I could stand on my own two feet in that chaos, I’m getting lightheaded just thinking of it.
How do you find this whole double-life then?
Haha, it’s the best and the worst of both worlds I guess. No 16 year old could imagine being on camera for so long. I don’t even really have an instagram…I mean I have one, but I decided to keep it on private, and I only let close friends follow me. It’s weird sometimes when people come up to me and ask to take pics. I’m just a regular guy, I put my pants on one leg at a time and I float when I jump into a swimming pool, but these people sometimes treat me like I’m some kind of inhuman creature.
Being as popular as you are, how do you find managing your fanbase? What are those interactions like?
When I see them in real life, they all say the same things- “I love you” or “you’re so hot”. Recently I’ve been getting a lot of “You’re shorter in real life” and like I think anyone would feel kind of weird hearing that, but like when a fan says it to you in tears, you kind of take it as a compliment. Sometimes I even get “re-scouted” by those shady Fake Agents who are looking to make a buck , and sometimes I play along, but other times I let ‘em know who I am. Fans can get kind of wild, but I always knew it would be part of the job I guess, and I think I wouldn’t have blown up had it not been for my fans.
Have you made it to TikTok yet?
I can hardly stand, man. Do you think I’d be much of a dancer?
“Fashion operates as a kind of masquerade. Nobody is who they are; everyone is someone else. I’m never who I say I am, every day I get to become someone new.”
Have you had to do anything wild on set yet? What are some of the strangest things?
I’ve done some crazy shit. This one time, I did a shoot, and there was this other model, right, and they were dressed up as a carrot. The director gave me a pair of rabbit ears and made me chase the carrot around for the shot. Another time, I was doing like a catalogue, and the photographer just pulls out this maid’s uniform, and was like “why don’t you put this on?” Needless to say, the pictures didn’t make it to the catalogue, but they made for a pretty fun instagram post.
It’s weird sometimes. I feel like people often see me as a kind of plaything or a doll, constantly subject so some game of dress up. Today I’ll be a biker and tomorrow they’ll put me in a suit and make me act like James Bond, and on another set, I’m a rabbit, chasing around a carrot. All these people live inside of me that sometimes I forget who ‘Brad’ is. I used to like it, but now I think I’m ready to find that old Brad again. Fashion operates as a kind of masquerade. Nobody is who they are; everyone is someone else. I'm never who I say I am, every day I get to become someone new.
This shoot is all about you being a special kind of Muse, how would you say social media has changed the kind of ‘Musehood’ experienced by models today?
Thanks man, that means a lot. I don’t really like to think of myself as someone else’s muse, I just want to be Brad. Like, I enjoyed shooting with you just because we got to wear our own clothes, but you really did me dirty putting me in that wedding dress. Only for MODA I guess.
Right. With social media, it seems like the idea of a muse has become a lot more ubiquitous. There was this idea that a muse was a really lucky, kind of rare encounter. They would just fall into your lap at a casting or walking down the street, or I guess at a Spencer’s…but nowadays those encounters can totally happen digitally. And it’s super easy now, you don’t even have to leave your bed! Plus I heard brands hire people just to scout instagram looking for their next muse, that shit’s kind of crazy, but like it makes sense I guess. I don’t think it diminishes the “Musehood” of any person to now be able to access each other’s images at your fingertips, on that level, it makes sense to me. The weird part is that we have access to everyone’s pictures, or worse, that people’s next paycheque depends on what they post. That’s kind of fucked, but it might just be something that I’m afraid of.
What advice would you give to anyone trying to pursue both their career and school at the same time?
I can only really speak for myself and different things work for different people. But something that I think can apply to a lot of people is to just know yourself. If you feel like you’re deflating, don’t be ashamed to take it easy. For a lot of us, capitalism is so deeply imbedded into our psychologies that we think that when we take a break, we’re being unproductive or we’re not valuable, and it really helped me to realize that my self-worth is not determined by how much money I make for someone else. It’s great if you enjoy your work and feel empowered from doing it, but you don’t have to feel great at work if that’s not what you define as success. If you feel like a boss when you come home and cook or when you log into League of Legends, that’s totally valid. Our lives don’t have to be defined by our contributions to an economy eh?
Cast and Crew:
Director + Photographer: Andrew Chang
Model: Brad Maple
Makeup + styling: Andrew Chang
