I'M IN VOGUE AT FIFTEEN
Schoolboy Alex spotted by top fashion photographer
By Samantha Booth
DAVID Beckham had better watch out, because Scots teenager Alex Gardener is after his male model crown.
The schoolboy from Edinburgh has been signed by Select modelling agency and has already completed a shoot for Vogue Italia - all at the tender age of 15.
Famous photographer Ellen Von Unwerth was so impressed with the teen that she now hopes his picture will appear on the front cover of the prestigious magazine later in the year.
In fact Ellen, who has also photographed David Bowie and Kate Moss, demanded that Alex do the photoshoot in Paris after seeing just one Polaroid snap of the keen rugby player.
Alex said: "It was amazing to do the shoot, although when my mum texted me to say I was going to Paris to model for Vogue, all I was concerned about was getting back in time for my school play.
"It wasn't until Vogue picked us up from our hotel in Paris in a huge yellow bus with blacked-out windows and with its own make-up and changing rooms, that I realised just how big it all was."
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Alex had been with Select for just 10 days when he got the Vogue job.
For years people have been stopping him in the street asking if he was a model or if they could take his photograph, but he was more concerned with playing rugby and hanging out with his girlfriend of two years, 14-year-old Alice O'Dwyer- Smith, than posing in front of a camera.
Then in April this year he asked his mum Janet, a former model herself, if she thought he could make some pocket money from fashion work.
The 41-year-old mum-of-three said: "I always knew he had something, but he had never seemed that interested before.
"He got through to the final three a couple of years ago in an audition for the Greyfriars Bobby film.
"In the end they said that even although he wasn't right for that part, the agents wanted to sign him, but Alex didn't want to know.
"So when he decided he would give it a try, I thought we may as well go straight for the top.
"We visited London to go to a few agencies but when I phoned Select first, described Alex, and said that as a former model myself I knew he had something, they sent a car round for us and signed him on the spot."
Afew weeks later he was being flown out to Paris for the Vogue photoshoot. The theme was a Kennedy-style family going on a winter tour of Europe in their private jet, and it meant that Alex spent the day surrounded by Tiffany diamonds, Cartier watches and vintage Chanel gowns.
None of which fazed the down-to-earth teenager, although he was slightly taken aback when two female stylists grabbed him the minute he arrived and stripped off his clothes.
The Edinburgh Academy pupil said: "It was a bit odd, but I got used to it and it was a great day. I can't wait to do more like it in the future. I think modelling for Ralph Lauren would be great."
And it was Alex's own personality which clinched the winning picture for Ellen.
The shoot was nearly over and Alex had been trussed up on the private jet in a tuxedo.
Having being told he could relax, he sat down on the plane's steps, pulled off his tie, and ran his hands through his hair so it stood up.
Ellen instantly demanded her camera back and started to take photographs.
Janet said: "Ellen was delighted and reckoned that it could be the picture for the front cover of the magazine."
The Select modelling agency are also in no doubt about what kind of future Alex has in store.
The agency's head of men's new faces, Devon Parsons, said: "Alex has a unique look that fits perfectly with the current trend for male models.
"I am certain he has a huge future in male modelling."
And Janet is adamant about one thing - no matter what happens in her son's modelling career, school always comes first.
dailyrecord.co.uk
