PAUL SCULFOR may have worked with the world's most beautiful women, but it took Naomi Campbell to prompt him to chat to the one model he describes as the industry's best looking.
"All the models I've worked with are lovely in their own ways but I think Christy Turlington is stunning," he says. "I was on a shoot with her and Naomi [Campbell] and I told Naomi how gorgeous I thought she was and she said 'I'd better introduce you then.' She went straight up to Christy and said 'This is Paul, he thinks you're pretty' then walked off! I was so embarrassed I can't tell you. I didn't really know what to say so I sort of said I needed the loo and ran off."
Essex-born Sculfor, who has modelled for Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace and Christian Dior, says the industry's attitudes towards the perfect male ideal are changing.
"When I went for my first casting with Donatella [Versace] she said to me 'I want real men to do my campaigns.' I think music has a lot to do with which models are seen as in fashion. If you look at the Nineties, when skinny male models were really in, the music was Nirvana and Oasis - and models looked like the boys that were in those bands. Music's changing and so is modelling. I think having really skinny guys keeps a lot of people out of the market. You want an image that will really sell clothes."
Sculfor is now trying his hand at acting. His first film Di Di Hollywood, loosely based on the career of Penelope Cruz, is out now.
"Acting is 100 per cent more difficult than modelling," he says. "At the same time as a model you make a choice between just sitting there and looking pretty or whether you decided to tell a story. If you work with photographers like Mario Testino or Bruce Webber, you have to act."
Having been recently voted the most Elegant Man of the Year by Spanish GQ in July, Sculfor says his approach to style has always been low key.
"I think you either have an essence of style or not," he says. "I wasn't conscious of the way I looked before I started modelling but I've become more so" he says. "The only styling tip I always go by is not wearing socks. I went to my sister's wedding without socks and my Dad was so cross."
Despite having reportedly dated Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz, the 39-year-old says his work hasn't helped him in the ladies stakes.
"Actually it's the total opposite in my experience," he reveals. "Either they presume you'll be self important and self regarding and reel off all this stuff about you before you've even opened your mouth, or they're intimidated. It can be quite difficult."
Paul Sculfor is currently represented by Storm Models.
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