Schön!: Why don’t you start by telling us a little about how you got into modelling?
Duncan: After I finished school I took a gap year and moved down to Brighton, which is a seaside town in England. I got a job as a chef and was working as a chef for about 6 months, then one ordinary, boring day I got sent out to buy milk for the restaurant. On my way out, my agent, whose my mother agent in London, came up to me and said, ‘I work for a modelling agency. Do you want to be a model? Can I take a picture? Can I take your number?’ At first I thought he was taking a piss, I thought he was joking. I said, ‘No, get away from me, I’ve got to go buy milk,’ and he said ‘Come on, come on, just one picture,’ so he took it and a of couple days later I get a call telling me, ‘Come to the agency, we want you,’ I was like, ‘Oh God.’ I went in, it was all pretty crazy, and then a week later I was doing London Fashion Week.
Schön!: Wow, that was a fast turnaround. So what was that week before, was it hectic, were you excited?
Duncan: Super hectic, I was going to castings for the first time, meeting all these other models. It was pretty nerve-wracking to be honest.
Schön!: What would you say was your favourite part of your first Fashion Week?
Duncan: Definitely stepping out onto the catwalk for the first time – that was just such a rush. It’s such a rush every time, but that first time, I just remember.
Schön!: Other than the first time, what were some of the highlights?
Duncan: My first Fashion Week I only did two shows. It was great, I really enjoyed it, but New York Fashion Week was the best, I did 14 shows.
Schön!: What were your favourite experiences there?
Duncan: This is going to sound really pretentious, but I felt famous in a way. I was having a private driver pick me up to take me from one show to take me to the next, there was no time, with shows back to back to back. I was just going along with it, thinking, ‘This is amazing.’ Y3 was a lot of fun – it was in an old library, and they gave most of the models different routes to walk. It looked pretty chaotic from outside. I was walking across this big warehouse room and there were three drummers playing. So much electricity in the air.
Schön!: Would you say that preference for the crazier sorts of runway shows translates to a preference for crazy photoshoots?
Duncan: Yes, I don’t like shoots that are boring. Had a shoot yesterday where they didn’t know what they were doing, it was bit slow. I like it to be, ‘We’ve got good ideas, let’s play – jump about and take pitures of it.’
Schön!: What’s the most exciting experience you’ve had so far?
Duncan: Sort of most exciting and terrifying was Prada . Getting ready for that was the most terrifying experience of my life – my second ever runway show was Prada, in a huge hall where there were about a thousand people. Also what really made me nervous – the first runway show I did was just up-and-down, it was easy, but at Prada there were steps and you have to go round round round the whole room and come back and I was just thinking, ‘Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall.’
Schön!: Is that a real concern for boys?
Duncan: Yea, not as much as girls, but its still like a big threat (laughs) – I feel like I’d just crawl up into a ball. At Nicholas K, one of the girls – she stumbled, and her picture was of her foot bending like this. She nearly fell over. I felt so bad for her, I remember her coming back saying ‘Oh my God, oh my God,’ nearly crying.
Schön!: What are some things you’re looking forward to?
Duncan: Of course I’m looking forward to the January shows, that’ll be fun, I generally prefer shows to shoots, they’re more engaging, it’s my sort of thing. I’m terrible at posing so shoots don’t come easy to me.
Schön!: What other projects do you have upcoming or what do you want to get into?
Duncan: I don’t know, I’ve been asked this this week – I had a casting with a guy who wanted to do a short film with me, I’ve never done much film-related, was never much of a drama kid so I’m a bit sceptical, but I’d like to give it a go.
Schön!: You should – you’d never modeled and it took you a week (laughs).
Acting is a completely different thing, I hear.
Schön!: What’s something people wouldn’t guess about you off the bat?
Duncan: People never guess that I like cooking, but I worked at an Italian restaurant for six months. I really like cooking Italian, also like Mexican food, Caribbean food, I cook almost every night.
Schön!: What do you personally consider beautiful in fashion?
Duncan: Before I got into modelling I knew absolutely nothing about fashion – I was not into it at all. I tend to focus more on fit – I like simple clothes that fit really nicely.
I quite like smart but simple stuff, like when people reinvent classic items of clothing. I’m not really into the quirky side of fashion so much – I mean, I’ll wear it on the runway, but not in public.
