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Essex man David Gandy is the most successful male model of his generation. Here he explains how to turn a healthy gym habit into a lucrative recipe for living
Words Dan Jones Styling Eric Down Photography Hamish Brown

he world, or perhaps the internet, likes to bestow unofficial titles. Hepce, Lionel Messi is The World's Best Footballer. Stephen Fry is Britain's Cleverest Man. Jersey Shore is history's Most Addictive TV Show. And so ono By the same token, David Gandy is The World's Best Looking Man. The 30-year-old Dolce & Gabbana model made his name by being impeccably chiselled fram head to toe. Well groomed, well dressed, and gymbuffed: Gandy causes female swooning and grit-jawed male jealously wherever he goes. Not bad for a bloke who was a fat kid and a scrawny teenager, and says he still has to overcome painful shyness to talk to the girls who are melting over him. "Inever aspired to be a model," says Gandy. "Ifell into it really, and I learned my trade along the way." Although Gandy believes in working things out as you go along, he's a decent enough gent to share his tips for successo We can't guara:n.tee that poster campaigns will follow, but it will sharpen up your style, help you gain and maintain lean muscle, and enable you to

~ Gandy spends more time than the average man in his underpants. So he needs to make sure his workout doesn't let him down. "If l know l can get to the gym every day, l'Il do separate muscle-group workouts," he says. "l do pecs, arms, shoulders, and back on separate days, then one cardio session." If you only have a few days to work out, Gandy recommends going all-out for circuits. "Pick exercises that hit every muscle and d030secondsofeach: Maintaining a 28" waist at 6ft2in (188cm) means being disciplined with your nutrition. "If there's something there, l'n eat it,"Gandy says. "l know l'm weak that way." So he keeps his fridge junk- free and stocked with chicken, hummus and fruit to keep his metabolism fuelled. But the biggest ~nemy is an empty fridge. "If there's nothing there, then you can't eat it:' he says. "But if there's nothing to eat, you'll go out, which is when you'll cheat." Shop online to get a week's metabolic energy delivered to the door and avoid the biscuit aisle. Although he watches his eating habits, Gandy doesn't let them kill his sociallife. "If there's dessert in a restaurant, have it," he says. "Don't be pedantic. l've been on planes with guys shaking up their protein saying: 'l can't have aeroplane meals.' To me tha1's not living life." lnstead, Gandy advises a balanced approach. "llove my food and drink:' he says, though he notes downing six pints of Marston's every night will be a man's undoing. "l1'sdifficult to get definition if you drink a lot, as i1's so calorific," he says. If you're cutting fat but don't want to take a vow of abstinence, Gandy recommends vodka on ice with a dash of cranberry.

BREAK
The face (and body) of Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue

Dolce & Gabbana's Light Blue fragrance campaign (above) is responsiblefor bringi ng David Gandy to the world' s attention. Shot by Mario Testino, it stars an ultra-toned Gandy, wearing very little and getting up close and personal with

supermodel Anna Jagodzinska, also wearing very little. Looking for some inspiration to hit the gym? This is it. This is the shoot that transformed Gandy from commerciai model to face of Dolce & Gabbana and overnight star.

CHILL YOUR EGO

Aside from watching England play football, there are few more stressful experiences in a man's adult life than a big job interview. Gandy is no stranger to them, experiencing more in one week than most of us will have in a lifetime. "l might have 10 or more castings

SHIFTYOURBELLY Setyollr alarmclockbalfanbollrearly "Getup and do your c~rdio before breakfast. You
don't have anythingin your stomach, so itburns all the fat. You eat straight into your fat reserves"
a week," he says. "And while they're not usually long, you have to be abie to make an impression in a few minutes. I1's pretty difficult." He says the best image to try to put across when you first meet people is one of humiIity and an easy nature. Trying to impress an interviewer with your cut-throat instincts and an iron will can be very offputting and you're more Iikely to convince them that you're a difficult person to work with. "People want results," says Gandy. "You want people to meet you and think 'this guy seems like he'lI work hard, he's very polite, we'll have a Iaugh with him, and we'll get the best results possible'." Many ambitious men and hot wornen are a pain in the posterior. Others are merely difficult to engage.
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Gandy says. "They're not interested one iota in anyone else apart from themselves, and that go es for a lot of people." He finds the best way to get along with a difficult colleague or the icy beauty at the bar is to kill your own ego before approaching them. Make it you~ mantra for successo "l don't really like talking about myself because l'm always interested in other people," says Gandy. "I take an interest in where they've been, h.ow they got there, their life, their family and everything." NB: at the point they pull out the iPhoto slideshow of their last walking holiday, you are within the bounds of civility to Iose interest and sidle away.

TRUST YOUR WAY 'Smart-casual' is a phrase thatGandyregardsasa modern abomination. "l'm a bit traditional with my style," he says. "I went to a wedding recently in Italy and there were peopie wearing flip-flops with a suit - it was one of the worst Iooks l've ever seen." He reckons British men should revel in traditional British styIe: sharp tailoring influenced by Savile Row. And you should err on the formaI side. If in doubt, he says, "thinkMad Men. Donaid Draper has done wonders for men's styIing." Less so their livers. Gandy trusts his instincts in his work, too. Like any other industry, the modelling business goes through different trends. He was down on his luck a few years ago when alI the work went to waif-thin blokes who could squeeze into spray-on jeans. But he didn't let it get to him. In any working environment, you're bound to feel the pressure

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"I do triple-clap press-ups: Iperform one with

a double clap, one with a clap behind myback, and then another one with no clap. You need to work up slowly to this"

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~ focusing on the long-term. "I1's no good saying 'I want to re-brand myself, I want to be this person,'" he says. "I was never going to be a skinny Dior guy, even though tha1's where all the money was at the time. Tha1's just not me." Gandy trusted his intuition and stood firm, believing the fad would passo "I thought, 'this is silly,''' he says. "l've always been quite a big lad." And luckily

he was right. "Success is about having achievabie aims and a great team araund you to support you when things are difficult," he says.

ASK THEASSISTANT
Time spent in America has taught Gandy one or two things about styling. The big secret? Use a free guide to get the best out of the high street, and ask the shop assistant. "People tend to think that personal styling is something tha1's only available to celebrities:' he says. But actually, i1's there in every shop and men in the US use the service a lot more.Gandy says the biggest hurdle is asking. "In Britain shop assistants ask 'can I help you?' and we say 'God, no: and run out of the shop." Looking for the best in -store stylist of them alI? Gandy recommends Joe Ottaway at Liberty, in London. And, as one of the best dressed men out there today, if Gandy likes him, we like him. mrI

MAKEA GOOD IMPRESSION

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"Ialways think that the best image to try and putacross when you firstmeet people is one of humility and an easy nature"

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