meet a yet to be discovered star... Roy Puertazs

As I constantly remind myself and everyone who reads what I write, I can never quite sufficiently express how grateful I am for the internet and its inhabitants. Take the case of today’s interviewee Roy Puertazs. Here is a man who upon first glance is a younger David Gandy and then upon further examination, he is a man of many moods and looks without looking like a Ken doll of sorts. 

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

If you frequent the likes of Facebook and Instagram, it is very hard not to spot the wannabes, the faux models and the “pay per view” set but we all make assumptions and in the case of Roy, my assumption was only vaguely related to reality. He is first and foremost the real deal professionally and then you discover how gracious, charming, warm, endearing, caring, hot and sexy he is as well. There is nothing aloof or icy about him nor anything standoffish, he is as genuine as one could wish for and more.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

I feel secure in saying that he and I are friends and not just in a virtual way even though we have never met. I sense a kinship that is very rare because there is great emotion that he exudes and his openness is so rare even if it was an actual face to face friendship… I think you get the idea of what kind of man lives in that body whose looks engender everything you might expect from a model minus the ego and attitude.

So, now you get to experience the charm, graciousness and warmth of Roy Puertazs in his own words….

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Jeffrey Felner: Can you give us a bit of background as to how you “arrived” at where you are now professionally?

Roy Puertazs: Well, it all started when I decided to leave a tiny city, invited by a scout to be part of a new faces team in a big agency in São Paulo at a time when the city was very relevant into the world’s fashion scene. I must say that it was really hard in the beginning, as I was used to the country/farm way of life: in a day I was milking cows, in the next, I was in front of cameras or on catwalks lol... all very new for me… and very exciting actually! Making the long story short, as time passed, I went modeling first in Mexico City, then Santiago de Chile, Milan and Istanbul and now I’m back in São Paulo while we face the pandemic.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

  JF: If you could choose any collaborator or collaboration, who or what would it be and why?

RP: I’d like to make a worldwide fragrance campaign, that would be great. Talking of cosmetics, go on modeling in Paris would be nice too, and it’s in my plan. Shooting with Mario Testino, Steven Klein and Bruce Weber is something I want as I quite like their images. Oh, and modeling in New York is surely in my plan too.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

 JF: If you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would they be and why?

RP: First person would definitely be my mother, as I spend very little with her and she’s a person I love and admire very much as person. I’d invite Donatella Versace and Giorgio Armani, as I’m a great fan of their work, history and relevance, then Bruce Weber would be great to have at the table too, that would be a nice talk about the way he works and his very specific eye. I’d love to have Naomi Campbell too, as she’s my favorite uber model, and I know she quite likes Brazil, we’d have lots to talk about. My friend Jeffrey Felner would complete this table, in a good restaurant in New York.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

 JF: Do you have any mentors or style icons that you admire and why?

RP: My style icon is David Gandy. He’s always been my reference as a male model. I like his persona, his history as a world class male model, all the big and splashy campaigns he has done... He’s such an admirable and enviable case of success.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

 JF: What has been your most exciting or maybe your most disastrous project so far and why?

RP: Modeling in Chile was very exciting, as I had the opportunity to shoot in beautiful landscapes. I remember one day I went shooting on a beautiful beach, such a nice sunny day, blue sky... but in spite of it, the temperature and mainly the wind was very cold that day, and well, that was sort of hard to shoot beachwear in such conditions, but not really a disaster lol. I thankfully haven’t really passed through disastrous projects so far...

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
******* FOLLOW ROY ON INSTAGRAM ..www.instagram.com/roy.puertazs  *****