How Shaun Ross Made the Fashion World His Own

Shaun Ross, the first ever albino model, is absolutely crushing it right now.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Photography by Edward Cooke
Styling by Caitlan Hickey
Grooming & Barber Cassie Kurtz

Shaun Ross shows up for his fashion shoot in Greenpoint with an entourage…of sorts. There’s Joel Mignott, a fellow model, and Kimmie, Shaun’s eight-month-old greyhound puppy. Shaun sits in the makeup chair and begins talking to Mignott about the previous night’s post-VMA party thrown by Rihanna (he doesn’t name drop—I ask). As they talk, they’re both swiping through Raya, the dating app that’s basically Tinder for people who go to Soho House. Suddenly, Shaun shows his phone to Joel. He’s found a photo of himself on another man’s account. “That is so tacky,” he says, as everyone, including the makeup artist, laughs.

On set, Shaun is totally a natural, but becoming a model was hardly inevitable. Growing up as a kid in the Bronx with albinism, he was teased for his looks. Now 25, Shaun is now a successful model, and nine years prior (at 16), he became the first ever working albino male model.

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 “When you are the first at something, it’s never ever that easy,” Shaun says. “All these models out there today that are ‘different,’ that didn’t exist. Me and Diandra Forrest [a female model with albinism, with whom Shaun appeared on Tyra in 2009] were the first ones.”

I asked if he ever worried about only getting work because of his albinism. “It was a novelty, totally,” Shaun recalls. “People definitely wanted me because of a novelty, and I didn’t catch up to that until years later. I didn’t like that. I try to flip that script. You’re not about to use me because I look cool. You’re about to get a story that goes behind this look.”

With success, Shaun has become more comfortable saying no to ideas that clash with his self-identity. “I know how I want to look. Don’t put certain things on me,” Shaun states. “I’ve noticed that I’m now at the level where I can say, ‘I’m not doing that.’ I wouldn’t want to shoot with someone who tells me to ‘act masculine.’ First of all, what is masculine? What you see is what you get. Either you shoot it or you don’t.”

His “be myself” attitude has paid off. In the past few years, Shaun’s popularity has grown significantly. In addition to regularly appearing in big-name fashion publications, he’s starred in music videos for Beyoncé, Lana Del Rey, and Katy Perry. He recently became the international face of Axe body spray, which he considers a huge win because of the brand’s “super beefy” masculine image. Shaun has parlayed his success and increasing visibility into acting roles, including a recurring character on The Man in the High Castle, and says he hopes to transition completely from modeling to acting.

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As Ross prepares to be photographed, the vibe feels more like a group of friends just hanging out. To an outsider, the hair and makeup process may be too subtle to recognize. But there are a lot of brush strokes and powder applications involved in making photos look professional. Eventually, I realize they've been working the whole time, and that for a model, nearly everything you do—going out, being photographed, eating—is part of the job. It sounds exhausting, but, as Shaun explains, “It never feels like I’m working, because I enjoy what I do.”

Eventually, Ross is ready to model the day’s first outfit. The stylist dresses him in a shiny, plastic-looking white crocodile-print Kenzo suit with a white Stetson hat. The photographer’s camera is connected to a monitor that displays the photos as soon as he snaps them, and it makes fashion photography feel vaguely like alchemy. In person, Ross is posing in an absurd outfit. On screen, he appears cool, charming, and rugged.

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Watching people who are very good at what they do is always impressive. But it’s especially fascinating when it’s unclear what exactly makes someone excel in his or her particular field. Yes, models are generally expected to be attractive and fit, but anyone who’s seen a friend’s awkward amateur headshots or modeling photos knows there’s much more to it. The good models appear both confrontational and totally unconcerned with what other people think. More than that, there’s an “it” factor, and Shaun Ross definitely has it.

A few minutes pass, and the photographer already has all of the shots needs. Shaun quickly changes into an all-black Alexander Wang get up. Again, the process seems effortless. The crew is ready to wrap when someone recommends including Kimmie (the greyhound pup) in a photo. The result? Shaun squatting, elbow on his knee, other arm out, finger snapping as Kimmie looks up at his owner’s hand. It’s an instant hit in the studio. Shaun takes a picture of the monitor displaying the image and voices his approval. “This s**t is actually ill.”

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