PEACHES GELDOF: BOY CRAZY

Peaches Geldof picks her favorite It Boys of the season

There have been too many It Girls over the years to count, but a few of my favorites have to be Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick, groupie Pamela Des Barres, and even Paris Hilton.  But what of their male counterparts?  By studying this fascinating species, I've found that there are in fact different cliques of It Boys...

The Groupie
Often famous only by association, these guys also grab attention by donning loud outfits - or by simply being loud.  I once saw BJ Panda Bear - best friends with Kelly Osbourne - semi-naked at a pool party "dressed" in plastic bags with live goldfish swimming inside them.  Genius.  Jonny Makeup is my BFF, and he has cultivated lots of famous friends as American Apparel's most outrageous marketing princess.  He has a penchant for Jeremy Scott and blogs about his nights out (Makeup also performs in the gay rap troupe VIP Party Boys, and is a regular on E!'s Kendra show).  Then there's Blake Wood.  His tendency to skulk around London with a model du jour on his arm has prompted gossip columnists to speculate about this "dark skinny mystery man."  At last count, he's been linked to Paris, Amy Winehouse, Courtney Love, and yours truly.

The DJ
Attend any fashion or record-label party, and you can spot the DJ It Boy.  Flicking his bangs out of his eyes as he plays an obscure French synth-wave song, he looks up only to give the occasional party-photo blogger a nonchalant nod.  Think Steve Aoki, who seems to have single-handedly played every event in Los Angeles boasts bona fide It Girl Devon Aoki as his little sister.  Likewise, Greg K and Geordon Nicol from The MisShapes continue to rake in the cash after all this time by soundtracking runway shows and after parties during Fashion Weeks around the world.  Karl Lagerfeld has even called them his muses.

The Genetic It Boy
Their pioneering parents were once considered demigods, but what these kids lack in discernible talent, they more than make up with in looks.  Tara and Isaac Ferry, sons of Roxy Music's Brian Ferry, are both models and musicians.  Meanwhile, Django James-  son of Dave Stewart - dates Mick Jagger's daughter Georgia, has his own band, and has graced the pages of innumerable fashion magazines.  Speaking of Stones prodigy, James Jagger (Georgia's brother) bears a striking resemblance to his father, and can usually be seen strolling through London with blonde arm candy.

The Model
Gone are the days of muscular, masculine male models, and in their places are pale slips of boys.  With his vacant expression and faux rock posturing, the model Ash (who, hilariously, only goes by his first name) has garnered coverage in magazines.  Cole Mohr was shot by Juergen Teller for the recent Marc Jacobs campaign, and seems to have achieved It Status by wearing dresses and making bizarre faces.  Model-singer Jamie Burke has dated Kate Moss and Sienna Miller.  And then there's Nick Cave's song, Jethro Lazenby.  He drew gasps at the Charles Anastase show by stumbling down the catwalk totally wasted, smoking, and jeering at the crowd.  Naturally, he subsequently booked a million more jobs.

The Shutterbug
Ubiquitous on hallowed urban dancefloors, some party photographers have become It Boys in their own right.  NYLON favorite Mark Hunter, aka The Cobrasnake, is now said to collect tidy sums of cash just to photograph fashion events, and Yvan Rodic of the FaceHunter has become a tastemaker just by capturing endless shots of glassy-eyed long limbed aspiring It Girls worldwide.
--PEACHES GELDOF



This story was published on September 30, 2009.