Summer’s here. It’s hot. We’re thirsty. Even more so because of Pietro Boselli.
The Italian Stallion is in town as the newest endorser of lifestyle behemoth Bench, and he embodies all that is perfect in God’s good earth. An Armani model at 6, an Einstein devotee at 15, a University College of London (UCL) professor in math at 21, and a PhD holder in mechanical engineering before he’s 28. Add to that a handsome face and a sculpted physique that broke the Internet.
Pietro is the third male supermodel to deem Manila important enough as a fashion destination, after SM The Store enlisted David Gandy and Penshoppe snared Sean O’Pry.
Bench is no stranger to superstars from film, music and fashion as its endorsers, so why add Pietro?
“Why Pietro? Why not?” Ben Chan, the head honcho, quipped with excitement. “[We discovered him through] social media. I already knew he was brilliant, aside from being gwapo. Eh, gwapo na, tsaka matalino pa. At sobrang down to earth!”
A mind for numbers
Cindy Crawford graduated valedictorian in high school. Brooke Shields pursued a Princeton degree. So people shouldn’t be surprised that a beautiful face could come with a brilliant mind. It’s something that Pietro has had to deal with on a daily basis, because sometimes people couldn’t fathom why a model can be a math whiz.
“The more you learn mathematics, the more you understand that you don’t know mathematics. There is more to learn about mathematics, and once you start learning, your eyes are opened to a new world, and you can really do so many things with it, and it’s always like, you know, a new discovery,” Pietro explained at a lunch press conference at Shangri-La at The Fort, to a roomful of people who wield words for a living because they were scared of numbers while in school.
“Obviously, some people are more inclined to that than others but, if you’re a young student who feels like you don’t like mathematics, just try hard because, maybe, you have this idea in your head and you’re preventing yourself from discovering something potentially you could like,” he added.
The theory of stereotypes
When he was at UCL, Pietro focused on his studies and teaching, not entertaining any modeling gigs. Now that he’s finished his PhD in computational design of steam turbines, a project sponsored by Hitachi of Japan, he’s taking time off from academia and pursuing other opportunities. Debunking myths about models is one of them.
“The stereotype of models being not so bright is just derived from the fact that in this society, we perceive academic achievement as a sign of intelligence. So it’s just a measure we use to define like who’s intelligent or not. Perhaps, that’s not a very good measure, you know. Like if someone drops their education at 15 to pursue a modeling career, they might have a different type of intelligence. They travel a lot and meet so many people,” Pietro said.
“And like the guy who has three PhDs that stayed in his office all his life lacks that, and perhaps they’re perceived as boring precisely because of that, because you can’t relate with what they’re doing. And it just goes back to what I said before, like, they’re working on something that is actually major, but because you don’t understand, you don’t relate, it’s not easy to sympathize. This is how any human relation works—if you don’t understand, if you don’t relate, you don’t sympathize. It’s the same when you come across other cultures that you don’t understand or any other, you know, feeling or emotion that you don’t understand.”
Calculating confidence
It seems “insecurity” is not in Pietro’s vocabulary. “I don’t know, like I feel a bit confident about myself. You shouldn’t sit there and just contemplate: ‘What’s wrong with me?’
“I say I’m confident, for sure I am. In a way there must be some level of…there must be something that drives us to be better. I never say, ‘Oh, I’m not good myself, like, you know, I trained and I never check myself out on the mirror, ‘Dude, I need to work on this.’ When I went to the gym, and I made 100, I’d want to lift 120. I’m not like, ‘Dude, that’s amazing! 100!’
“I guess it’s the same with everything else that I do. Like in the academia, ‘I know this now, that’s enough. I’ve learned.’ No! I always want to learn more. You just have to find out any feeling you have, and just do something positive. I now find out what’s wrong with me, so I can improve from that, so you should be happy about it.”
About Bench
“I didn’t know much about the brand, to be honest,” he told Benchmark magazine. But when shooting the campaign in New York, he found pieces that he’s partial to. “I can definitely see that the quality of the underwear is really good. And they have a huge variety, as well! Like sporty ones, more classic—I like them all. The compression shorts and long johns were comfy, really comfy. The fit was really nice.”
Pietro later that day after the presscon closed the three-day Bench Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2017. It’s the brand’s opening salvo for its 30th anniversary celebrations. The holiday collections will be held in September, while the denim and underwear show will be sometime in November.
Image credits: Wong Sim