The clothing labels that have retail stores give the models gift cards, and the smaller brands simply pull clothes from the showroom racks. Lykov points two thumbs at the ensemble he's wearing. "This is like two seasons of Patrik Ervell. If it's a designer I really believe in, I'll do it to support them, 'cause it advances my career too."
Between fashion weeks, Lykov said, the goal is to do editorial shoots to beef up the model portfolio for the next season. They don't pay much, he said, "but you need them for the show castings, and it's good to have nice tear sheets in your book. You also do catalogs, like Barneys [New York] and stuff, which pay well and let you pay the bills."
The men can have careers into their early 30s, but Lykov waves off the notion that he might spend the better part of the next decade on the catwalk. "I want to earn some cash and go to school in America for the film industry. I want to try everything -- acting, editing, producing -- everything in the film industry." (His father, Aleksandr Lykov, is an actor back in Russia.)
But for now, the model who was plucked from obscurity to be the face of the Jil Sander fall 2007 and spring 2008 ad campaigns says he's already looking ahead to "campaign season," when the luxury brands start the search for the models that will represent their labels in the season-long print ad campaigns. "Campaign season comes a month or two after the shows," Lykov explained. "This is where the money is hidden. You wanna do that -- that's your goal."
First, though, Lykov has a little matter of some downtime to schedule. Stepping out of the deli and into a frigid Friday afternoon in Manhattan, he checks his BlackBerry. "I wanted to go to Miami Beach for a vacation 'cause some friends are going to be there, but they're only going to be there for a few days, and I've been traveling so much I just want to go to one place and sit for two weeks."
He pauses for a moment, then makes a decision: "I think I'll go to the Dominican Republic and just lie on the beach for two weeks. What I earned in Paris will just about cover that."
Then he smiles a big smile, shoulders his backpack and heads down the street. Toward the subway station.
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adam.tschorn@latimes.com
