This week we got to meet the hottest man in fashion, former Mr Tommy Hilfiger Tyson Beckford, who stripped down to his teeny tiny swimming shorts for Calzedonia’s spectacular swimwear catwalk show in Rimini, Italy. We headed backstage to chat to the muscle man himself, and caught up on how he gets his body looking that good, who is on-screen wife is and what it takes to make it as a model…
Grazia Daily: Woah you’ve got a lot of tattoos!
Tyson: “Yeah I have a lot, but you normally don’t see them because I wear long sleeve shirts the whole time – but for this show I gotta be naked. Well, no, I gotta wear something!”
GD: Do you think girls look good with tattoos too? asks hopefully
Tyson: “Girls? Yeah I’ve seen a few girls with really good ones – model type girls all tattooed up. It’s not for everybody of course, but it’s pretty cool to see a girl like that.” [His stunning girlfriend Shanina Shaik walked in the show too. And yes she is ridiculously good looking.]
GD: How to you prepare your body for a catwalk show like this?
Tyson: “For a show like this, first I start from the inside out, so it would be a diet of lots of salad, lots of tuna fish, LOTS of fish. Pretty much I eat just fish and chicken, so I would definitely cut the carbs out two weeks before, and just start going nothing but salads, vegetables and fruits. So today, [bear in mind this was almost 4pm] I’ve only had one salad, two bananas for breakfast and lots of fruit. Oh and a lot of water. “
Tyson and his fellow models arriving at the show on Tuesday night
GD: Sheesh you work hard. Do you ever let loose?
Tyson: “Yeah probably tonight, I’ve got some time off before my next jobso I have some time to eat normally again and then train hard. And then we’d go from just doing abs and a lot of jump rope. “
GD: What advice would you give for any up and coming models who want to be the next Tyson Beckford?
Tyson: “I would say to get yourself in shape, then get some really good pictures taken of you. Make an appointment with various agencies. At least five. I say five because most likely two out of those five are going to want to see you, so the more options you give yourself, the better. And then take advise from all those different agencies, and put it together before you go see the sixth one – you know? That’s how I see it.”
GD: What new rising stars in the model world should we be keeping an eye out for?
Tyson: “We found some really good models on our show Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model for season 9 coming up, and I think the world will see that too – it’s the best series we’ve ever done. Elle [Macpherson] has said it, I’ve said it, and we’ve got our new judge Dannii Minogue, so it’s definitely the next level.” [We don’t totally know this Americanism but we’re going to presume he means it’s amazing.]
GD: Was Dannii nice to work with?
Tyson: “Dannii was a pleasure to work with, that’s my on-set wife! No we’re just good friends, she’s easy to work with and we bonded right away from the first day on set.”
GD: So you know in the UK we’re obsessed with Cara Delevingne – have you met her?
Tyson: “Yes I know Cara, she’s a cool girl.”