How Alton Mason Became the World’s Only Male Supermodel

In a subterranean bunker beneath Paris, Alton Mason materializes to a soundtrack of ear-splitting German techno. Wearing a long black coat and colossal platform boots, ropes of thick, braided hair framing his fiercely angular face, he looks like a Marvel hero flirting with the dark side. We’re in the concrete basement of the Palais de Tokyo, about a half hour before Mason will walk in the Rick Owens fall-winter 2023 runway show, and Mason is wrestling with a decision, stroking the goatee that dusts his cantilevered jawline.

“Rick comes to me about an hour ago,” Mason tells me, “and says, ‘It’s totally up to you, but do you want to shave your beard?’ ” Read more at GQ.