Behind the scene in Bruce Weber Land - Part II

Text by Julia Chaplin

Behind the scene in Bruce Weber Land - Part II

Being beautiful helps, but its not enough. At least, not in Bruce Weber land. It’s the first day of the shoot for Dedon and I’m quickly realizing there’s something very different about this group of models. None of them have that cliché pouty bronzed look. Somehow they all look like people you want to know, only better. Which makes perfect sense. Apparently, in order to get cast in a Bruce shoot he has to detect something “interesting” about you-- in addition to your chiseled jaw or bee-stung lips. Not surprisingly, when someone uses the international adjective “you look like a Bruce Weber model” everyone knows exactly what you mean.

            A 23-year-old blonde with icicle blue eyes named Kyleigh Kuhn is just back from the Bamiyan province of Afghanistan. She runs a non-profit called “Roots of Peace Penny Campaign” that helps build schools in war torn areas.  She’s only been modeling for three months and it’s mostly been with Bruce. Chris Tschupp, with the sandy good looks of a Malibu surfer, is a writer, actor, and screenwriter. Everything! But not a professional model. “I only model for Bruce sometimes,” he says.

            It really is like a big loose family in the Warholian sense.  Elaine Irwin, the former supermodel and lovely wife of the singer John Cougar Mellencamp, started posing for Bruce when she was 15.

“It was a Calvin Klein shoot,” she said, nestling behind Chris’ waifish torso to keep out of the wind. “Chris played my husband in a Ralph Lauren ad last year.”

            A male model that could easily pass for a 1950’s Marlon Brando is an itinerant worker doing stints as a fisherman and other odd jobs between Weber shoots.

            Stylist Deborah Watson who’s putting together a “casual elegant” look for the Dedon shoot clarifies the unusual situation.

“Not everyone here is a model,” says the Weber veteran. “Some used to be models and some are going to be models. Bruce has to have a feeling about a person to photograph them.”

Out here at the tip of Long Island, New York in the groovy beach town of Montauk (oops, I just gave away the location!) Weber owns a summer home and production facilities. Somehow an assortment of cool locals seems to seep into to Weberland blurring the line between fiction and reality.

Follow closely this casting anatomy. Heather, a cute girl with long sun blond hair and an apple pie smile, works at the local surf shop Air & Speed. While planning the Dedon shoot Bruce stopped by and asked her to help find him a wake boarder. Now Heather’s modeling in the shoot and her surfer boyfriend Danny was signed on as the production assistant. Danny makes surf inspired silkscreen t-shirts called DrugMoneyArt and stylist Deborah may use them in the photos. The security guard is a former New York City cop and his 8-year-old daughter Jill happens to be a gymnast and have long blond hair, so she’s been cast as an acrobat. I have a summerhouse out in Montauk too. Maybe Bruce will notice me!