Our Brief Talk today is with a very promising European model called Paolo Petru. We very recently came across his work on twitter and we wanted to find out more about him. His striking looks (and amazing blue eyes!) come together with a brilliant mind, open to grasp new experiences and learn new things. Paolo is in the very first steps of his modelling career but our experienced eyes say that he can go very far. His pure and almost poetic way of describing the world around him is like a breath of fresh air. Enjoy his interview below, the first ever on any media, to find out more about his life, his hobbies, his dreams and fears and what underwear means to him.
Name: Paolo PETRU
Born: Romania
Resides: Italy Roma
Website: www.paolopetru.com
Instagram: @paolo.petru
Twitter: @petrupaolo
Hello Paolo, could you tell our readers a few things about yourself?
First of all, I’m very sorry for your readers for my very bad english. I’m still learning english and french and I have to make more effort. My mother tongue is Romanian and I speak well Italian and Spanish.
Well, I am very glad to give you this interview! You want a scoop? It’s the first interview I give for a website and I hope your audience likes it! I did’t know your site and this allowed me to discover it and find that it is very well done. It makes me want to buy all the clothes you feature… The problem is that it will cost me a lot! (he smiles)
So, my name is Paolo and I am a 20 year old guy. I was born in Eastern Romania and left quickly to Western Europe.
Currently, I live with my family in Italy, in Rome, but I travel a lot… I love to travel you know, I travel between Italy, Spain and Belgium and soon I hope to visit many other countries. I love sports. I spend at least two hours every day at the gym, at the swimming pool… Yes, here in Italy we have luck to have always good weather (he smiles). Also, cycling and especially rugby because I love to practice this sport.
This may seem a bit surprising, I mean for a model to play rugby, but I don’t think so, especially when you see now calendars such as “The Gods of the Stadium” with very masculine looking guys now also like to show their bodies. Well, my doctor says I have to watch my back because it is a hard and violent sport but I really like it and when I like something it’s hard for me to stop… I’m a greedy boy! (he laughs)
How long have you been modelling? How did it all start?
Well as you know now, this is the first interview I give, so you can imagine I am far from being a professional model even though I’ve already worked with professional photographers. I just do exchanges as TFCD at the moment, which is good for everyone: for the photographer or the brand having the opportunity to work with a new model and for the model who can enrich his look book and portfolio with new professional photos. I think it’s a win-win for all. Of course we must credit each other and get paid travel and accommodation costs so that no one is losing. I haven’t had yet big contracts but I’m looking for an international model agency and professional photographers as well as brands contracts.
It’s a friend who is a civil airline pilot (with a passion for photography) who convinced me to get into this work. He insisted so much that I agreed to pose for him and do some testing. In fact, I really did not think I was “taking good” the camera lens as he says. I thought, yes, I may be cute but nothing more, I am just a normal guy. After showing the first tests, a lot of people around me told me, “but yes, go ahead, you’re good at this!” and then my friend told me ” you know perfectly how to play in front of the camera but also you take very good the light!” He is not a professional photographer but photography is his biggest passion… after airplanes. And then I started. But as I said, I only just started and I am just a young novice in this very difficult world.
What is your greatest accomplishment as a model so far?
Well, difficult to answer this question as you can imagine with what I’ve told you before but I can say that in the beginning it was difficult to me to look at my pictures. It may sound strange but sometimes I had difficulty looking at myself. But now I can say that in three months, I’ve really changed! I can’t stop looking at the details in the photos and the clothes I wear.
I think the most important thing for a model (as with any other job) is to get out of the bed in the morning and say “I’m happy doing what I do” and do this every day. I am very motivated to succeed in this very difficult profession. I know, success will not be won in advance, the model agencies won’t serving me contracts on a silver platter, you have to fight, communicate, exchange, make a lot of photos and still be glad and happy with whatever you do in your everyday life. My pilot friend, I mentioned before, helps me a lot with that.
Otherwise, the best achievement that I succeed in doing, was to change my underpants in 20 seconds when the photographer said: “Paolo, hurry up, the weather is changing”. (he laughs) You see? It’s not much and I still have much to learn from this business.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Ouhhh lala (I learnt that in french!) Difficult to project myself into the future, I don’t like that! I am a “Carpe Diem boy”, enjoying the present moment! It is clear that if I would ever be a famous model, in 5 years I will be 25 years old, and I must have my feet on the ground when doing this job. It’s like sports and I know it with rugby, I will not be able to practise it all my life. It’s the same with the profession of a model, we must be prudent and realistic, aware even, even though I’m young and I have all the fire in me to go far and succeed… But to get back to your question, I will say: to make magazine covers or photos regularly and pictures for major brands but already thinking about retraining for the future…
What is your dream job or campaign you would like to work on?
Well, I think that if I could join a campaign to promote young people to do more sport, to move, not to play only video games but to leave home, playing sports with friends, I would be happy.
I think we don’t insight much on doing sports with friends. Not only for the benefits that can bring to our health but also as a social benefit. I love team sports, sports we play together, we win together, it’s strengthening the social cohesion and I think that our society is a little too closed on itself. You probably understand that I am also a fan of reading. I love reading everything, especially on the web, I love to try and understand the world around me. Therefore, a campaign that could promote sports and people understanding each other would be awesome!
And now it’s time to talk underwear! How often do you buy underwear?
(He laughs) I like your questions! Well, I think I buy some every month, two or three pairs. I cannot get more because the ones I like are a little “bijou” and I cannot permit myself, at the moment, to buy more. But now with my new way of working I hope I can try and test a lot of brands.
Do you have any favourite style of underwear?
The advantage today, unlike our fathers and grandfathers, is that we, young men, now have several kinds of underwear we can wear. Briefs, trunks, boxers, leggings, slips, thongs… black, white… all colours! For me, it is simple, I wear everything!
I have a preference for trunks – boxers but I do dare to go with a string or a jockstrap obviously and especially with sports. But I can also wear boxer shorts. The only thing important is to feel good with yourself and today we can say that we, guys, are fortunate for having plenty of choice. You know, I have memories as a kid when I saw my grandfather out of his room in his underwear and walking in it around the house. I have always wondered why men had to wear such simple and basic things and women could wear sexy and colourful things. Today, this has changed and I am very happy about it. Us men, can now have underwear not only sexy but also sophisticated and colourful, to reflect our mood and our desires of each day.
It’s like I said, before, men dared not to show their bodies, but now I am proud to live in times when male underwear has a place and when we also have the right people to have sites like yours and our favourite brands trying to always satisfy our needs better.
When I talked about this with my grandfather, he looked at me smiling and said “You have chances now, you can go shopping with your girlfriend and she will now pay you new underwear. That’s the difference, I never knew that!” He’s right, it’s a pleasure to go now and buy underwear and to talk about it with friends or with the person you love. That’s freedom and a new way of living and I appreciate that very much.
Do you have a favourite underwear brand?
Well you know I’m a model beginner, so I don’t know yet all the underwear brands but I must say I tried quite a few. From brands I know I like Addicted, ES, Calvin Klein, Abercrombie, Emporio Armani. I like their style, they power men with more value. I also wear some practical DIM underwear. And I have just discover a Greek brand called Modus Vivendi which I like their new style and originality. They have very original men’s tops. We can say us, boys, now have also cute tops to put our body and our chest in more value. I am beginning to test more famous brands and I hope that with this interview I can test more of them. (he smiles)
What do you think makes a great pair of underwear?
The fact that it makes you feel really good and not just from a point of comfort of what you put on. Feeling good about yourself can go through wearing the underwear you like. I’m convinced! I have my own special underwear for example when doing interviews or contests! For me, underwear is precious. When you think about, it’s the last piece of clothing you take off before being completely naked. It’s the last thing you see before being fully naked.
For me, underwear is as, if not more, important as a shirt. This could also be the last piece of clothing your partner will remove before you get down to doing cracrac boumboum! (french expression).
So it is very important that this little piece of fabric full value whatever body you have. And not only athletic looking guys would be the ones to wear sexy underwear. Underwear is universal and everyone has the right to care for it.
It is a sign that you pay attention to yourself and your appearance even in intimate moments and this is really important.
Going back to my grandfather discussion, which I love… I love very much my family… and always about male underwear, he told me one day: “It is not the plate you eat, it’s what’s inside!”. So I told him about the success of Apple, the willingness of Apple to perfect the packaging of their products just to give us the desire to unpack it with grace. The care that Apple has brought to the packaging of their products is one reason for their success. Today, new brands of men’s underwear are like the packaging that Apple has created. They give you the urge to look, to discover with your eyes, a first touch the product, and then unpack almost lovingly. This is now the men’s underwear of today and it’s wonderful! The development of what we have the most precious, us, the guys. To be proud now of our underwear!
Thank you for the interview and the great photos Paolo. It has been a pleasure!
Credits
Model: Paolo Petru
Photographer: Didier Coppens
Underwear: Emporio Armani
Swimwear: ES collection, Addicted
Tank top: Modus Vivendi