Hot ticket Denis has got the look

HE HAS been photographed by international fashion lensmen Calvin French and Sean Drakes and has graced pages of Panache and Black Elegance magazines in the US. He has also appeared in Caribbean Man, in addition to his extensive work on the local fashion front. Now, model Denis Ali eagerly awaits the June issue of the Italian fashion magazine, Gentleman Options, an elegantly exquisite fashion guide that caters for the elite young male, in which he will be featured. Paul Robert Pryce, another local model and friend of Ali has also appeared in that magazine. Despite the verity that he’s covered almost every aspect of the high profile profession that is fashion modelling, Ali is the first to declare that he’s no super model.

“Are you crazy!” he said. “I’m just a kid who tried to attain a dream and loved the moments trying to get there. The correct height of a fashion model is five feet eleven inches to six feet two inches. I’m five feet eight inches.” He described his entrance into the glamorous world of modelling as “being in the right place at the right time.” “There are a lot of lovely people out there with lovely bodies, but the modelling industry is like a lottery,” he said. “Every model works toward that dream of turning what they do into a successful career. But it’s who can make that dream come through, or who can make it come through for you.” Seven years ago, this young East Indian chap, with his ideally sculptured figure, came on the modelling scene and became an instant hit. His long, curly-hair and great muscular physique, winning smile and photographs, particularly of his rock-hard abs, have graced newspaper pages. Before long, he was in print and television ads promoting items such as clothes and beverages.

And why not! He has a great personality. He has appeal, and meeting people and making new friends is one of his many hobbies. This ladies-magnet is still very much in demand as companies, particularly local fashion houses, court him to model their menswear. If you see him now, it’s quite a different picture. He has substituted his incredible bulge for an even more narrowly-defined figure and the curly hair is all gone. Yes. He’s bald. The 26-year-old heartthrob said the ability to reinvent himself has impacted positively on his marketability. “Reinventing my look is as important as drinking glasses of water. I can be anyone I want to be,” he said. “People like that. You have to be smart in this industry. You are only as good as your last image. Never walk around feeling you’ve made it.” 

But it’s his humility which helped him to attain and maintain the level of success he has. “I can handle the attention I receive now because I’m humble. But I wasn’t always that way. I had problems in the industry at first. My ego had stifled me for a while. My growing pains showed me humility. It’s easy to handle the attention and the spotlight now.” A fitness buff, Ali is a businessman operating a restaurant in his home district of Tunapuna. He is an International Sports and Science Association certified personal fitness instructor, a party promoter and he acts as an agent for young prospective models through his two-year-old company, Blue Rap Management. “I am very goal oriented,” he said. “I get my passion and kicks from attaining goals. Everything I do, I do with a passion.” He comes from a family of career professionals. His father is a successful businessman, one brother is a chemical engineer, the other is a lawyer and his sister is an insurance executive. Ali’s entrance into modelling was purely by accident. He was 17 years old , small, asthmatic and always ill. “I could see my heart beating when I looked at my chest,” he revealed.

On his doctor’s advice, he joined a gym with the aim of gaining weight, as the first step to better health. He changed his diet and one year later, Ali was in ripping form. Lauded for his well-sculptured body, he was urged by a close friend, Paula Obe, to send his photographs numerous advertising agencies. He did. Soon, Maria Farrell of Lonsdale Saatchi and Saatchi called him in to cast for a Du Maurier ad. “I went and I got the part. I performed magnificently in the commercial,” he said with a smile. After that endless offers poured in but he was forced to turn down some of the projects.  In 1999, he won the popular Mr Anchorage competition. One of the prizes was a three-year local modelling contract with Cocoa Velvet, operated by Christopher Nathan. However, Ali’s personality won over Nathan, and he was immediately offered an international contract for three years.

With Cocoa Velvet as his spring board, he met modelling scouts Jay Alexander and John Balboa from the US-based Elite Model Management who were in TT looking for modelling talent. He also met BET stylist Rick Davy. That same year, Ali was a finalist in the TT Fashion Model Awards, but scored no major triumphs. He didn’t let that get him down though. According to Ali, “loving yourself is key to being a model.” “You have to love yourself as a child. You have to grow up in a home where people love you and make you feel good. That’s where confidence grows. That’s where you develop that belief in yourself.” He made the point that modelling is not a job where you pose, but do  real life acting. “Your looks only goes so far. It’s not just standing in front of a camera. You have to know how to project with your face and know which side of your body is better. Know when to tense your abs and relax your shoulders and even when to give a happy eyebrow. That’s the level that I take it to, because I’m a perfectionist. The model should make the photographer’s job easy,” said Ali.

His sheer calm in front of the camera is a direct result of acting lessons he took, tutored by Errol Seetahal and Frank Durity. Ali was the first male model for the Catwalk stores promoting the company’s Drydock line of clothing. He is now responsible for the ad campaign for their other clothing lines. He was also cast for MTV’s Fashionably Loud programme, modelled for Radical Designs, was auctioned at the controversial “Single, Sexy, Sold,” project and does fashion shows for charity. On the popular Oasis Male Calendar he was featured in February.  He has done commercials in Guyana and travelled to Barbados for scenic photo-shoots. Curious about what things were like in the fashion capitals Ali, a few years ago, chose New York as his observation ground. He said: “I took a lot of money and went to Manhattan, to experience the world of modelling on my own. It would have been cheaper for me to go through an agent, but I did it anyway.” There he tasted the harsh reality associated with the industry. 

He didn’t go to Miami since he has the Latino look and he would have been lost in that crowd, and the language barrier in Europe deterred him. Outside of business and modelling, Ali keeps very active and his hobbies include going to the gym, staying healthy and playing football. He writes poetry and enjoys listening to music.  Dinner with good company or even sharing a bottle of wine, mixed in with some good dialogue stimulates him. “I like getting into peoples’ minds. If I had to choose another career path, I would have been a psychologist,” he said, “like my uncle.” Describing himself as a romantic, he said: “I am not afraid to give a compliment where one is deserved. I don’t internalise my affections.” And hear this ladies: he’s single! Still focused on his other goals, Ali cannot commit to a relationship, but he said if Ms Right came along he would not let her get away.

His advice to aspiring models: “I tell them like it is: what you do can make or break you. If you are easy-going you can survive. I ask them if they can tolerate the multiplicities of sexuality? It’s a fraternity of different sexualities. You have to see people and love them for who they are, but above all knowing your role is important.” Fortunately, Ali knows his role, which has made him a hot-ticket for lensmen everywhere and we can expect to see his face on the covers of many major fashion publications in the future.