By Guy Trebay, New York Times
Milan, Italy
MODELS do diet. Stop the presses.
“I dropped 30 pounds to do this,” said A. J. Abualrub, a young American model who is following the unusual success of last year — when, as an unknown, the Kentucky native of half-Arab origin was scouted by Ford models, had his hair bleached platinum and found himself signed to an exclusive contract with Calvin Klein — by doing the casting rounds in Milan.
“I’ve booked a lot more than I thought I would,” he said this morning, amid the cyclonic action (Adonises in skivvies, screaming producers, camera crews, minders, handlers, journalists, food service waiters, designers, stylists and always, away in a corner, a lone woman standing at an ironing board with a pincushion strapped to her wrist) that is a Roberto Cavalli presentation.
Already this week, Mr. Abualrub (who just turned 22 and whose given name is Ahmad Jalal) has been seen at Klein, Gucci, Versace, Armani, Bottega Veneta and, for that matter, nearly every other major designer show.
Now, at Cavalli, he was maneuvering his impossibly fat-free frame into a pair of skintight leather trousers that had a turned-down waistband inspired by surfers’ wetsuits.
Like everything else in the surprisingly low-key show (low key, that is, by Cavalli standards) of leathers with metal embedded between layers to resemble cicatrice, and of neoprene, and tank tops and suits reminiscent of bands like Alphaville, which was in fact playing on the soundtrack, there was not what you would call a lot of wiggle room in the pants.
“My natural weight is closer to 200,” said Mr. Abualrub, who wrestled in high school and who practices martial arts.
It was a challenge to take off the weight, he added amiably, a confession that will come as a relief to anyone inclined to throw in the towel on flat abs and just order the milkshake when confronted with a member of this race of gods.
“I see a nutritionist,” Mr. Abualrub said. “I only eat, like, maybe twice a day.”
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