The Double Life of a Model

Jon Malinowski Runway star Lyle Lodwick was plucked from Brooklyn’s streets and thrust into fame. He talks to Alisa Gould-Simon about his semi-secret identity and what he's wearing to Burning Man.

If you've strolled through SoHo at any point this summer, then you've likely come face-to-face with 21-year-old model Lyle (née Eric) Lodwick. The striking, more-chiseled punk than classically handsome mannequin is currently the face of Topman; meaning, thanks to Topshop's recent outpost opening in New York, posters featuring Lodwick's increasingly ubiquitous mug have been pasted all over downtown for months. Lodwick was likewise especially visible at this season’s men's Fashion Week, where he graced runways for the likes of Burberry, Tim Hamilton, and Dries Van Noten. Having entered the modeling industry less than two years ago, Lodwick has been featured in Dazed & Confused and Japanese Vogue Homme. And just last week he shot his first magazine cover—for Sportswear International—and was dubbed a "star in the making" by New York magazine. But, the "crazy trip," as Lodwick sums up his success thus far, is only half of the story of the Williamsburg-by-way-of-Maryland model who is known by his friends and music fans as Eric.

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Although Lodwick has been modeling a relatively short time, his fashion inclinations date back to the magnet high school he attended in Maryland. "I had a lot of friends that were always modifying their pants to make them skinny before you could really get skinny jeans," Lodwick recalls. So, he followed suit, personalizing his clothing by adding extra fabric onto the pockets of his jeans among other things. Modeling, however, never entered Lodwick's mind until after he dropped out of Johnson & Wales a year into studying entrepreneurship and moved to New York.

Friends in the industry encouraged him to try his hand at modeling—one of whom introduced him to a casting agent who subsequently booked him for every hip young model's dream job: posing for art-cum-fashion photographer Ryan McGinley. That is, aside from the fact that the job required getting completely nude in a very cold Manhattan photo studio. While McGinley's shots of Lodwick never appeared in the debut issue of TAR magazine, for which they were intended, the meeting helped launch his career. Shortly thereafter, Lodwick was handpicked to disrobe yet again for Sigur Rós' music video, "Gobbledigook" (which McGinley art directed and helped cast). And, just like that, Lyle Lodwick the model was born.

"When I was getting into modeling I kind of wanted to keep everything that I already had separate from the fashion world," Lodwick says of his decision to save his birth name for his personal life and particular projects (such as music). So, he made his modeling debut with a moniker borrowed from his grandfather: Lyle. "[Fashion] is based on image, so I thought it would be cool to redefine myself," he says, adding "the other thing is that my grandfather died before I was born and the only memory I have of him is pictures, so I thought that was kind of fitting."

Lodwick's last name, on the other hand, is immediately recognizable to anyone working in media, as well as Gawker frequenters, thanks to the model's elder brother Jakob's infamy within the industry. Having helped found the Web site College Humor  before leaving to spearhead video sharing/social-networking porthole Vimeo, Jakob Lodwick has become a favorite figurative punching bag of the aforementioned media-gossip-mongering mecca.