Stas Vokman: the fine mustache and white briefs of a daddy

There are models you look at and appreciate. And then there’s Stas, who you look at and immediately want to grab a drink with — or not drink anything at all, actually. The guy has that look of thirty-somethings who’ve been around the block and seen a thing or two: fine mustache like a 70s cop, dark eyes with a hint of weariness, smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. And the body of a guy who walks, sweats, moves. Not some overly-tensed gym body.

The series starts in a hotel room, in black and white. Stas is sitting on the edge of a bed, back against an angled mirror, shoulder tattoo visible, still in white briefs. Light streams in through a window beside him. The mirror reflects his profile, and you get the feeling you’ve caught someone looking at himself. A bit of modesty, a bit of provocation, and that way that real men (with a capital M) have of looking at their own reflection without admiring themselves.

Then we switch to color. Pale green stairwell, tired yellow walls, backwards cap, dark blue t-shirt that clings a bit under the arms. White briefs stretched tight over his ass. Hand gripping the wooden railing, pants pooled around his ankles, like he was caught mid-movement. You can feel the afternoon sweat, the poorly ventilated hallway, the yellow fluorescent light. It’s very Pasolini, but more modern. It’s very hot too.

What Fiorentino knows how to do, which is different from the polished studio shoots you see everywhere, is let the guy breathe. No frozen poses, no lighting that erases imperfections. You see the hair on his forearms, the tattoo peeking out from his sleeve, the elastic mark from his briefs on his hip. You see that he just moved. That’s eroticism — not the statue, but the guy who just turned around because he heard a noise in the stairwell.

The return of the mustachioed daddy

Physically, Stas checks all the boxes of a certain aesthetic renaissance we love: fine mustache, square jaw, high ponytail, and those 90s white briefs we thought had disappeared with the Bad Boy parties in Pigalle. It’s almost vintage, it’s totally current. The late-thirties daddy is back, boys, and he wears his mustache like a signature.