December 11, 2014 |
The iconic stylist – and icon of style in his own right – Cortina has an enviable year-round glow. A permanent colouring that true 10 Men fans will know to be authentic. See the Winter 2010 cover of 10 Men, on which Cortina appears near-starkers, arms stretched across the back of a restaurant’s banquette. See the tan lines (left from low-slung Speedos) just visible above the table top that has been placed strategically in front of him. Phew! A startling image for good Catholic kids – the kind we once were – given the combination of unbridled sexuality and that pose that’s somehow a bit Christ the Redeemer.
Our thoughts always tend to venture somewhere tropical in the presence of Cortina – a subtle samba beat rattles in our heads whenever we spot his strapping frame at the shows, or when he stops briefly, along the Tuileries perhaps, to stare down the lens of some street-style photographer. He will often be found attached to his accomplice – the equally iconic fashion editor Anna Dello Russo – whose exuberant, near-carnival approach to dressing merely heightens the whole effect. Cortina was born in Miami, so you can at least say his look is innately flavoured with a little of that kind of heat.
Having honed his abilities styling up a shoosh load of bloody good looks for editorials, runways and celebrities over the past 30-odd years, Cortina’s very presence has itself become a walking-talking series of beautiful images waiting to be captured. It’s sometimes as though he has just stepped out of a Technicolor film in the Anderson & Sheppard suiting he so often sports – we’re thinking a little Ol’ Blue Eyes a la Tony Rome, if Sinatra had been more perky when it was made. Except, of course, when you look closer, there’s a 21st-century ease, a little more edge going on with his appearance. Much like a film star of old, there’s a certain mystery to Cortina: his words are measured, and we can’t help hanging off each and every one.
What are you wearing?
“White T-Shirt.”
How about what we can’t see?
“No cologne, no hair products, no underwear.”
What’s your biggest fashion luxury?
“The ability to choose.”
Are you a carry-on or excess-baggage kind of man?
“Carry on.”
Your biggest sartorial turn-on?
“Simplicity.“
How do you dress to impress?
“I don’t.”
What’s your hangover/out-for-a-pint-of-milk look?
“Pink pyjamas.”
Or what does your off-day outfit consist of?
“A Speedo.”
Photographer: Ben Grieme
By Vincent Levy
