The world's most in-demand male model

As the world's most in-demand male model, David Gandy is constantly on the move. 

David Gandy: "I used to go economy, which was tough because I'm 6ft 3. But that's my life and it always has been." Photo: Lorenzo Agius

The first thing you notice about David Gandy is that he is startlingly handsome. The second thing is that he's actually quite shy, which is endearing, and not what you'd expect from a man who shot to fame by cavorting around in unfeasibly tiny white trunks in Dolce & Gabbana's now-iconic 2007 Light Blue men's fragrance ad.

Photo: Lorenzo Agius

This 32-year-old from Billericay in Essex is now said to be the world's highest-paid male model, and was the only man in the line-up of British supermodels who strutted their stuff during the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. 'It was lovely to be represented,' he says. 'England isn't the best at everything, but with fashion, we are pretty much up there. We have so many iconic fashion brands, and the girls here from Kate and Naomi to Lily are the top in the world. We should shout about that.'

Gandy was born in Essex, of working-class parents who built up successful businesses, first in freight, then in property. They too are keen travellers, and used holidays as a way of educating David and his sister, Claire, who now lives in Spain. 'We've been on float-planes to see the brown bears in Alaska, we've been to see the Amazon rainforest, to the Galapagos Islands. My dad thinks he's David Attenborough II, really.'