Willy Cartier – an Androgynous Model

Androgynous modeling has come to stay and one of the most wonderful things about the concept is having two models in one and for the price of one. Until recently, the market for Androgynous models is greater in Europe than it is in America. But there is a paradigm shift, more people, organizations and agencies are demanding for more androgynous models particularly in New York, thus, the market is growing and so are the models. There are so many of these androgynous beauties out there who are ready to give grace the covers of your magazines, runways among others. One of such beauties is Willy Cartier.

The French-born model became a popular name in the fashion industry after he was featured as the face of Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci Fall/Winter campaign in 2010. That singular appearance opened countless other opportunities for him to appear in editorial and advertising campaigns for other big names in the fashion industry as well as other fashion labels.

Cartier was born in Paris France on the 15th day of September 1991. There isn't much about his early life but some sources did state that he initially wanted to be an actor and as a result attended French prestigious theatre school Cours Florent.

He also attended the Académy International of Danse where he studied dance, music (classical, contemporary and jazz) and theatre, which would later give him an opportunity to take part in the musical Aïda. His fame exploded in 2010 after he was chosen by Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci for his fall/winter campaign. Willy has a passion for modeling and has been involved in. Before his major breakthrough in 2010, he was in an editorial for the spring edition of Vogue Hommes Japan, fall edition for WAD Magazine, for GQ Style Germany, among others.

After the success he recorded with Riccardo Tisci fall/Winter campaign, he was sought out by other big names in the industry in the likes of Benetton and Evian for high-profile modeling that has turned him into one of the most sought for models in the fashion/modeling industry. In 2011, he was on the spring and the fall couture runways for Jean Paul Gaultier.

In 2012, Willy Cartier graced the editorial pages of several celebrated fashion magazines like Carbon Copy (he would later appear on the cover page) Bullett Magazine, Out Magazine, Marie Claire Italy, IO Donna, Lurve Magazine, Numero Hommes, 1883 Magazine. Willy also modeled for Marithe et Francois Girbaud and Big Star Jeans in its spring ad campaigns. He also walked the runway for Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, Public School and Bespoken and was also on Givenchy Pre-fall lookbook.

He has been on editorial pages of Schon Magazine, Men’s Uno China, Galore Magazine, DSECTION Magazine, Redmilk Magazine, Vulkan Magazine, Elle Kazakhstan, and has also been on the runway for Yohji Yamamoto, En 1 Noi, Elle US, Skingraft, Hugo Costa among others.

Asides from modeling, Cartier has done a few actings too. He was in the short film The Legend of Shalimar, alongside Russian model and actress, Natalia Vodianova. In 2011, he appeared in Woodkid’s cinematic video for “Iron.”