Schön!: Tell us how you got into all of this.
Ronald: I’m from Philly, Pennsylvania. I was actually a janitor at Whole Foods for a year, and some guy came in and was like, ‘You should be a model.’ I did a few Philly Fashion Weeks, and some small photoshoots there before I got scouted by Fletcher Harrington, who owns a scouting agency overseas called No 15 Scouts. He sent me to Wilhelmina and New York Models and DNA, and Wilhelmina signed me on the spot. Nine months later, I’m here. Can’t complain.
Schön!: That’s amazing. Tell us about some experiences you’ve had recently.
Ronald: I just shot the River Island campaign. I had six looks to shoot over two days – was there for five days, had three days extra to hang out on beach and play basketball. I didn’t get in the water because it was breezy still, but I played basketball the whole week. It was during Halloween, so I got to see all the crazy people on the beach dressed up weird. Then I did commercial for Phillip Lim and a runway show for Target. It was the first show they’ve had. The runway was moving, with the dot was circling backwards and forward, and we had to dance – it was pretty crazy.
Schön!: Did you have a lot of time to rehearse?
Ronald: No, it was one day! Dancers were rehearsing all week.
Schön!: What’s coming up that you’re excited about?
Ronald: Fashion Week in Milan. Last year I was an option for Calvin Klein. I didn’t get it because I think I was too big and couldn’t fit into the suit, so I’ve slimmed down a lot and gotten a lot of work. I did Calvin Klein’s new jean campaign – I did their new presentation for their Spring Summer collection. Now I’m first option for this first fashion week in Milan, so hopefully it’ll be a lot of exposure, a lot of good will come out of it.
Schön!: What makes fashion interesting to you?
Ronald: Good question. I like preppy looks – I like bow ties, ascots, things like that. I guess in fashion, I like things are far-fetched, that make you stand out – pow! I like layers, and different ways to accessorise.
Schön!: So if you were to see a man walking down the street, what would him stand out to you?
Ronald: It would first be colours. I always wear colours – like in my bookbag, I have yellow basketball sneakers. I like crazy ties – white bow ties, neon-green ties, crazy stuff like that. Colours first, then after that, there are a lot of details. I just learned how to do this crazy tie knot called the Eldridge, it almost looks like the knot is checkered – took me like two days to get it straight, and I wore it to a Spike Lee premiere.
Schön!: When it comes to something like art direction, what’s a recent show that you liked?
Ronald: I went to San Francisco for an Academy of Arts show – it’s a school, and every year they have a show for the graduating designers. They had a big projection screen with a galaxy in the background. It was really powerful, they had black and blue, all the stars – everything! I almost thought the people were looking at it more so that the models walking down. Target was really cool too, the moving stage and all.
Schön!: It sounds like you really like things that are active.
Ronald: I do! I’m outgoing so I like crazy things.
Schön!: What’s a crazy thing you’ve done recently?
Ronald: I went fishing for the first time in years, which might not sound that crazy but I caught four fish, scaled them, cut their heads off, took the guts out (laughs).
Schön!: Did you eat them?
Ronald: Yes! Split them open, seasoned them, put fruit cocktail over them, threw them in the oven, and baked them.
Schön!: That’s pretty cool. I couldn’t do it!
Ronald: No? You should definitely try! You wanna go fishing? I’ll take you fishing. You could cut off their heads if you want.
Schön!: Tell us something about you we wouldn’t guess.
Ronald: I got hit be a drunk driver at the age of four – I have four metal pins in my right leg, I was in coma for a month – I went from there to being a state track champion, and I play football and basketball, so I made a pretty good recovery in my life from the injury.
