Feature Article: Two of a Kind…

Twin models, must be something in their “jeans”.  On a Thursday morning the Starbucks café is fairly busy with people as I rush in as quickly as I can to find an empty table with three chairs. Ready and waiting, the first beautiful tall, lean and dark-haired brother walks in, Daniel. Dressed in skinny black jeans with a leather bomber and underneath a khaki cardigan and black tee with brown Doc Marten-like boots to top it all off. I wave him over; he politely says hi and proceeds to sit down. He tells me his brother is on his way. I walk over to the cash to put in his order; one tall hot chocolate with whipped cream. I’ve always wondered how models do that, whipped cream and all? Not two minutes later, sure enough, another gorgeous, tall, lean, dark-haired man walks through the door, Nicolas. Skinny dark blue denim jeans a white tee and a black cotton bomber with a Persian black-and-white scarf around his neck and dirty white chuck-like sneakers making the outfit complete. He grabs a seat. I chuckle as Nicolas orders the same drink as his brother. “Women make more money in two things, in modeling and in porn.” Twenty-one years old now, but starting at the age of seventeen with Mario Testino as their photographer and Zac Posen as the designer, they were quickly introduced to Vogue. They’ve also been in magazines like ID, Dazed & Confused, V Magazine and L’Umomo Vogue. Now they’re walking the runway in Milan, Paris and Toronto for big designers like Yohji Yanamoto, J.Lindeberg and Bustle. Nicolas explains how it all started. “I was waiting for my girlfriend... She came and met me… We stood there for a little bit. It was crowded… and this big guy, our agent, just kind off stopped and stared at me, I didn’t know what he wanted. After like five minutes he finally came up to me and gave me his card.” Daniel and Nicholas Pilaprat were born and raised in Canada, while their father, with a French background, was born and raised in Morocco. Daniel tells me, “My dad came here to study with the intention to go back to France, but then he met my mom.” She was born and raised here but, with a Scottish background. And true love it was. They’re still together. Nicolas and Daniel are both fluent in French and English. Comparing runway versus photography. Daniel says, “Honestly, runway is just fun”. Nicolas adds, “When we do it in Paris or Milan, it’s just huge. You go out and there are just flashes everywhere; you can’t see anything, but it’s just more glamorous. In Europe, the clothes are cool, it gives you the hype of being a celebrity.” Daniel says, “I was nervous for my first run down and then you go on, and then it’s just adrenalin.” Nicolas adds, “You feel kind of like a rock star.” Nicolas tells me “magazines are cool too, usually the people are cool. You hang out kind of just for a day.” He tells me “It’s especially cool when you like the way the pictures turn out like the one we did for l’Uomo Vogue. “I was nervous for my first run down and then you go on and then it’s just adrenalin”… “You feel kind of like a rock star.” Figure 1 It has like an old feel to it (figure 1).” Paolo Reversi was the photographer. Turning the subject to male versus female modeling they tell me that females make way more money because there’s just a way bigger market for woman’s clothes. Daniel says, “Woman make more money in two things, in modeling and in porn. There’s just a lot more money to be made in woman’s fashion.” For instance explains Nicolas, “A shoot we where doing for free once, another girl was getting paid three hundred bucks for. We’ve only been paid for a job once in Toronto out of the three years doing it.” Daniel says he did a job for Prada Sport at Holt Renfrew a couple of weeks ago that was pretty good; he said, “They paid me $600 for like five hours of work.” They also volunteered for Mac Cosmetics for the AIDS campaign. Daniel tells me, “We where on Dundas square on the screen, and we did a TV commercial for it. For my dad, it was the coolest thing; he went down to Dundas Square and was filming the screens and stuff.” Nicolas says the woman’s industry is a lot more competitive. “The guys industry ranges, I mean we’re skinny and we still do well, especially in Europe. Prada, Dior, Burberry, they’ll all take skinnier looking guys. And then D&G, Versace and Calvin Klein will take bigger guys. So for guys they’re still more lenient. They’re not as demanding about your body type. Whereas with girls, it’s just you have to be this skinny.” They tell me that models have been dying from eating disorders. Daniel also explains that girls have to walk the runway with a lot more attitude than men do and that he saw a girl on the runway at Toronto L’Oreal Toronto Fashion Week fall twice. He says, “Girls in Toronto don’t know how to walk, compared to girls in Europe. They suck at it. To them Toronto is their practice ground.” He tells me their agent taught them how to walk, and that it’s hilarious he teaches girls how to walk as well. On another topic, they both want to go into fashion marketing and are currently both studying at York University Nicolas says, “If I ever start my own company, I know that I would want to start it with my brother, because we agree on everything, so it would just be easy. We have the same taste in everything. Except for women.” Daniel says, “We’ve never been interested in the same girl; we’ve never had to compete over our girl, because, we don’t have the same taste really, I don’t think.” Nicolas adds, “I’ll agree that she’s attractive or that she’s cool, but I wouldn’t go out with her.” At the beginning of their career as twin models, their agent wanted them to look the same. Now their agent says that they’re becoming more individual; Nicolas is the more muscular one and Daniel the more feminine. Who knows where this will lead them to. As we left Starbucks, we said our goodbyes I thanked them heartily while Nicolas and then Daniel leaned in for a hug. Weak in the knees, I thought to myself; wherever their future leads them, they are certainly on the right track. And two is definitely better than one. By: Heather Britton