BLAZING BLAZERS
MAX VON ISSER
Max Von Isser is a model on the go! This busy young man is shooting campaigns, walking the high-end designer runways of Europe and New York, as well as zipping around the streets of Manhattan on his razor scooter to the next go-see. We were lucky enough to have Max model some vintage suit jackets for our most recent menswear editorial with an accompanying interview, inquiring about his successful career in the world of male modeling. https://www.instagram.com/maxvonisser/?hl=en
PONYBOY: Max, did you leave your home state of Arizona to become a model?
MAX VON ISSER: Yep! I love Arizona with all my heart, but there’s just no way I could have had the career that I’ve had so far without being in New York City, as well as the other major fashion cities.
PONYBOY: How did you actually get started in the world of modeling? Were you scouted?
MAX VON ISSER: An acquaintance of mine has a photographer friend back in Tucson. He told me a few times to shoot with this girl, Stephanie Lew. She’s awesome! Look her up. I gave in and figured, “What’s the worst thing that can happen? If anything, I’ll get a good story out of it.” Once she posted the pictures on Facebook, I got contacted by more and more photographers to take photos. The next thing I knew, I had my book in New York City, brought it into Fusion, and boom-all-of-a-sudden, I was doing amazing things!
PONYBOY: What’s been your favorite job so far?
MAX VON ISSER: Patrik Ervell took me out to Santa Cruz, California to shoot his campaign a few seasons back. That was the first time I had a multi-day shoot in a really cool location, so that was really special for me.
PONYBOY: And what was your worse job? You don’t have to name anybody’s name. Ha! Ha!
MAX VON ISSER: I’m gonna leave any traceable details out of it. But basically, things were really bad on this shoot, but I finished it anyway. Later, I told my agent about how unprofessional and crazy it was, and the photographer caught wind of it. The next thing I knew, the photographer was threatening to sue me for defamation of character. Shit sucked balls!
PONYBOY: What designer’s do you favor?
MAX VON ISSER: Robert Geller is definitely up there as one of my favorite designers. I’ve worked with him a ton and he’s always so nice to everybody (random assistants and backstage photographers included.) Not to mention, his clothes are dope and fit my aesthetic so well. I’m also super into Ovadia & Sons, Chapter, Patrik Ervell, and Siki Im. I always love wearing clothing by designers I’ve enjoyed working with because I feel a stronger connection to it.
PONYBOY: What photographer do you aspire to work with?
MAX VON ISSER: If anything I hope I get a chance to work with Ryan McGinley again. I worked with him for the Adidas Pharrell Williams campaign, and he just had so much energy and was so good at turning all of us random models into somehow looking like we were old friends.
PONYBOY: The general public feels that modeling is an easy job, that you’re basically getting paid for your good looks. What are your thoughts on this?
MAX VON ISSER: Well, they’re not entirely wrong. Sometimes modeling is the sickest job out there. You end up working for a great client with great people for an amazing rate. And you just think, hell yeah, this is dope! But then there are other times when you have non-stop castings for weeks at a time, in cities you’re fairly unfamiliar with, and end up doing essentially nothing except for stressing out and wasting time and money. That’s often the reality of modeling, and when you’re going through that part, it’s really not fun.
PONYBOY: What are the perks of being a male model?
MAX VON ISSER: For some reason, you’re able to pull off a lot more goofy junk. I don’t know why it is, but just having the title of being a model kind of changes people’s perception of how funky or boring you might be. I ride a razor scooter around Manhattan, watch a ton of cartoons, tell people dumb jokes, and occasionally wear tabi shoes (think ninja shoes) out to bars. I am actually the definition of a goofball, but people have explicitly told me “Eh, you’re pretty. You can pull it off.” I don’t really understand how that works, but it does. Thanks for the genes, Mom and Dad. You did me a huge favor!
PONYBOY: Modeling is known for having a short life span. What’s the next chapter in your life?
MAX VON ISSER: I’ve got a degree in marketing from the University of Arizona, and I’m studying Japanese. I hope to eventually move to Japan. Essentially I’m hoping that through my connections, the knowledge of the Japanese language, and my degree, I can eventually get myself a good job out there.
