Here you are Jon´s latest interview:
Perfection speaks Euskera
MIGUEL ANGEL´S DAVID IN THE CATWALK
With hardly 23 years of age, this pure breed Basque man has conquered the main catwalks all over the world becoming our most international top model.
His face appears on billboards in the biggest cities and if you open any magazines nowadays, you will surely find his image hidden under some photographic composition, as the real male ideal reference.
Should we do an analogy, if we were in the Renassaince period, Jon Kortajarena would be a sort of David by Miguel Angel. That is, a synthesis of ideals mingled in a canon of beauty to represent his fellow citizens´ aspirations and the female mind´s wishes.
A sweet stare, strong features, 1,89 of height, a disturbing attitude mixing an innate elegance and a dash of rebelliousness expressed in his carefully careless style. All this enhances his attractiveness. It is for this, perhaps, that Tom Ford has just chosen him to represent his menswear line.
Jon´s work in fashion world fits the communicative function of image in our current visual culture. A confluence of factors which intervene in the phenomenon to turn a simple model into an icon, and of course, we are not talking just about beauty.
His presence was noticeable in Valencia Fashion Week, with the discretion of real stars, who speak with the kind of simplicity and usualness about something which represents pure glamour for some or frivolity for others. He walked like a genuine dandy for Alex Vidal Jr as if his figure was escaping from the catwalk and he became the Adonis of Pasarela Cibeles, where every single designer wanted to count on him to present their collections.
This young man addicted to yoga and allergic to gyms speaks in English with an incredible fluidity with his colleagues backstage and we also had the chance to meet and talk to him. A direct, accessible, gentle man with a very clear idea of what fashion is about and his role in this frenetic world.
E: What is the main function of a model?
Jon: You put yourself at the service of the philosophy of a collection, a brand or a designer. In that complex machinery there is an essential part supplied by the model, and it is not only a physical matter, but also an attitude, almost as if you are acting.
E: What do you feel are the keys to become a successful model as in your case, which have made you climb to the international Olympus?
Jon: To be a good person and to have your career in good hands. And above all, to respect yourself because this is a world which can give you everything, but you must know very well what it is giving you and how, what you want and how you want it. Lots of doors are opened for you, but you must be clever to mark your own pace and design your own career.
E: Did you already know Valencia?
Jon:Yes, Fonsi Nieto invited me to the motor races and I came one weekend, you have no idea how I enjoyed it!
E: You seem to be a person with contagious energy, how would you define your style?
Jon: Well, I am a bit of a hippy but with care, bohemian but somehow classic. I think everyone looks for their own style, mine is a balance between comfort and elegance.
E: How is it for you a Fashion Week like Cibeles?
Jon:For the boys it is much quieter than for the girls. But the fact you have to spend hours and hours within the place, not seen the sunlight in all the day is very tiring. You sleep very little and you eat badly, but this is how things are, this is my job and I got used to this. But in Madrid I always try to see something of the city and my friends here…
E: How do you disconnect from the turmoil of spending so little time in so many cities?
Jon:Whenever I can I go away from the city, to a rural house or a good spa.
E: You are a very young boy, don´t you prefer to disconnect going out with your friends to a wild party?
Jon: I am not the kind of boy for night parties. Sometimes I feel like going out and having fun but to relax and feel good I don´t need to go out in the night. .
E: Your looks have made you one of the most popular models out there, are you so successful with your co-workers?
Jon: The girls don´t even look at me! (laughs) Here you don´t have the time for anything because everybody minds their own business, your socialize very little. It is true that I sometimes see girls who draw my attention, but eventually you get used to seeing so many beautiful people that it lacks the initial importance
E: The fact you are always surrounded by beauties makes you pay more attention to the looks or the inside of a girl?
Jon: I at least look for other things apart from an impressive look. Eventually you try to be with someone who fills you. I look more for how I feel when I am with someone than their physical appearance. I cannot lie either, if they also have a pretty face, that´s better. But truly, I am more impressed by someone who is spectacular in the general sense, not only their appearance.
E: Would you try acting?
Jon: I would love it…but if that happened, as I have been so related to fashion world, I would have to study and prepare myself very well, and be honest with myself, to know if I can do it properly or not. Never as just another experience. I know that I would enjoy it because I have already been in theatre groups and I always enjoyed greatly my little roles.
E: Were you born like this?
Jon: How?.
E: This beautiful, I mean
Jon: Laughs, my mothers says no, when I was born I scared her because I was so ugly! She reminds me that all of me was a huge mouth!
E: Carla Bruni spent her waiting hours backstage reading Dostoievski, do you also instruct yourself backstage?
Jon: I love reading before I go to bed and in my bed, quietly. Backstage is a madhouse. You end up hysterical
E: Like the Italian model, do you foresee your future protected under a powerful shadow?
Jon: To me, the only thing that matters is to have someone who really loves me, makes me happy and laugh…I don´t mind power or they money they can have!
E: Has life made you pay your debts?
Jon: I am nobody.
E: Which scent can seduce you?
Jon: Human (laughs)
E: Being originally from the very North, Ccan´t you still stand coldness?
Jon: I can´t! My grandmother comes from Córdoba (in Andalusia), that must mean something...
E: What else can´t you stand?
Jon: Lies, cheap gossip, gossipmongers, I can be critical myself but I never judge others.
E: Everything feels better when you don´t do it often?
Jon: So they say...being sex the exception to the rule.
E: When you fall in love, do you try hard?
Jon: I do. I give myself completely...to death.
E: Can you describe yourself using only three adjectives?
Jon: Humble, hard-working and a dreamer
E: What would you dislike to hear about yourself...?
Jon: That I am a bad person
E: An unforgettable sports moment?
Jon: The day I scored a goal when I was a little boy in Bilbao
E: What do you like doing when you are not working?
Jon: Making love, watching films and lazing on the sofa
E: What or who do you envy?
Jon: Strong people
E: What or who do you detest?
Jon: Gossip
E: What were you doing the day The Prince and Doña Letizia got married?
Jon: I was eating a nutella sandwich
E: What is the thing it has impressed you most lately?
Jon: Parents who kill their children and then commit suicide. I find that terrible
E: When and why did you last have a laugher attack?
Jon: Any of my little sister´s outbursts...she is eight.
E: You wouldn´t like to die without...?
Jon: Without getting totally mad of requitted love, without doing a film, without proving those I love that I love them...
his bone structure is so amazing!
