As the face of Calvin Klein Collection, Clark Bockelman has been a constant presence in popular culture. Discovered after returning from studying abroad, Bockelman quickly moved from being an unknown to becoming a favorite of photographers like Bruce Weber and David Sims. With his austere good looks, it’s easy to think Bockelman shares similarities with the icy protagonist from those stylized ads, but in real life, he’s more farm boy than city slicker. With a passion for sailing and a burgeoning career in production, Bockelman defies expectations. Sitting down with Style.com, the model discussed his journey to the top and how his latest projects have taken him behind the camera.
It seems like you were really thrust right into modeling after being discovered.
I started modeling on a Monday, and I met Bruce Weber the next day, and then that Friday I shot for Carine Roitfeld for CR Fashion Book’s second issue. It was with Alessandra Ambrosio and Irina Shayk, so I got thrown right into it. It was my first day, my first editorial, my first real job. I was salsa dancing on Golden Beach in Miami with two huge supermodels.
How did you first get involved with the Calvin brand?
I was walking around Soho, I was kind of lost, and this guy across the street kind of yelled at me and ran over. He was like, “Are you a model?” I said yes, but I wasn’t signed with anybody, I didn’t have anything. It turned out that the guy on the street, his name was Calvin Wilson, and he worked for JV8 Inc., who at the time freelance-cast the Calvin Klein men’s shows. He scheduled me next morning at 9 a.m.—I was meeting Wilhelmina at 10—and I did a fitting at Calvin. I had been on a boat for a long time in the Caribbean: I was too heavy to model, my hair was longer, I was really tan, I had a beard. I came in for the fitting, and I couldn’t put my shoulders down because I was too big for the jacket. I was told to lose weight, about 15 pounds. About two months after that, I went back in, and then that was the final casting. That’s when I met Italo [Zucchelli] and Panos [Yiapanis] and Nian Fish and Guy Trebay from The New York Times. That’s when everything really took off: They wrote that story in The New York Times, and it just kind of built up from there, and a couple of months later they flew me to Milan, where I did the show.
How do you go about embodying the Calvin man in your advertising work? Your personality is so different from that very slick image.
You know, Italo and I were just interviewed about this, and he said that what embodies Calvin Klein is a very strong presence, so I use that. I’ve been really into mountaineering, climbing, traveling—just standing at the tops of really high-altitude environments. So [when I shoot], I just kind of imagine that: I’m at the top of the world, I’m this very strong presence.
What was the most difficult part of having your life change rapidly?
Moving to the city was tough—I didn’t know a single person, and I’m not a city person by any means. It’s taken me two and a half years to finally get into the groove of things and to figure out where my places are and what I want to do. Everyone throws suggestions that you “may be doing a show,” but that doesn’t mean anything. You see a lot of guys that go in there, new faces, and then you never see them again. And they struggle. I just got very lucky. I did five looks in that first Calvin show, and I didn’t know at the time how unusual that was.
Do you think coming from a small town in Indiana has helped ground you?
I have noticed that people can just pick me out as a Midwesterner! They go, “Oh, you must be from the Midwest—you’re nice.” And having grown up and worked on a farm, I think that’s what has drawn me toward the production aspect: I don’t like to just sit around, I like to get my hands dirty and be involved.
It sounds like a good respite from fashion.
It’s completely opposite. And I’ve had a lot of people say that, it’s like, you know, “How do you fit in with this fashion thing?” I don’t. Fashion is great in that you’re always meeting new, interesting people and getting to travel, but anytime someone pitches the idea of getting me on a sailboat or having me outside, I’m like, “Yes, please, that would be amazing!” You’ll get better pictures [of me] than you would in a studio because I’ll actually be in my natural element there.
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