Paolo Roldan: Filipino Male Supermodel
Paolo Roldan continues to make waves in the United States and Europe. He’s among the world’s top male models, and possibly the first male supermodel of Filipino descent.
Roldan migrated with his family to Canada, when he was nine. The young Paolo grew up in Quezon City, and in 1999 returned to the Philippines in a bid for a career in basketball, a dream that was ended by a knee injury.
He returned to Canada and worked as fashion buyer for a menswear store. On a buying trip to New York, his exotic good looks caught the eye of the late David Bosman, founder of Boss Models, who’s credited for popularizing the concept of male supermodels in the 1990s. He is currently signed to Why Not Management in Milan, Elmer Olsen Model Management in Canada, and Soul Artist Management in New York. Paolo Roldan was exclusive to Paris Fashion Week-showing Givenchy Men Fall/Winter 2010 and closed the label’s show in January 2010.
Ever since, Roldan’s been perpetually working, as seen in his exhaustingly impressive resume which reflects his supermodel status. Walking the New York, Paris and Milan runways, as a consistent favorite for the likes of Givenchy, Armani and Todd Snyder. He’s also stormed the runway for Vivienne Westwood, Phillip Lim, Hermes, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Bastian and many more. Then there’s him nabbing many a campaign, from Givenchy to Perry Ellis, and appearing in the glossy pages of fashion magazines worldwide including Arena Homme+, Vogue Paris, and VMAN.
At the Fall 2016 Menswear Collections, the baldheaded Roldan walked for Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and Ports 1961. He also had the coveted honor of opening and closing Armani’s Menswear Spring 2016 collection in June, aside from walking for Givenchy, Michael Bastian, among others. His ad campaigns include Gap x GQ and the clothing brands Todd Snyder and Tatras. And this year, 3.1 Phillip Lim taps Roldan to star in its fall-winter 2017 collection lookbook, and Vogue.com recently named Roldan their street style obsession.
