When Ruben Pol, 28, stepped out onto the runway for his first show, he had no idea what to expect. It was Paris Fashion Week 2015 and he had been given the task of both introducing and concluding the Dior Homme SS16 collection in a worldwide exclusive. As he walked between triangular flowerbeds of white roses – a tribute to the fashion house’s legendary founder and his love of the flower – it was a moment of heightened senses, but it was what he heard through the room’s sound system that really caught his attention.
left: Ruben and Matthijs wear SIMONE ROCHA, right: Ruben and Matthijs wear LOEWE
With rolling minor guitar riffs overlaid by haunting vocals and ’80s-style synth leads, the show’s backing theme was Kasvetli Kutlama, a 2012 song by Turkish dark-wave band She Past Away.
“The song was super, super cool,” says Ruben, who’s calling in from his home in Paris, with brother Matthijs, 22, on the other end of the line in his flat across the Seine. “It was really loud and when I opened the show it hit me from the very first moment, like, ‘Whoa, what is this?’”
It was a grand entrance to both fashion and the creative industries, which felt a world removed from what he had known. While it formed the foundations for a modelling career that has since seen him go down catwalks for the likes of Gucci and Saint Laurent, the show also set him on a musical springboard, which let him dive into the world and sounds of new wave. He and his youngest brother, Matthijs, make up Pol, a band they formed during the pandemic. Blending their loves of analogue hardware, noirish atmospherics and boundary-pushing couture, the pair are imbuing the decades-old post-punk-influenced genre with fresh faces, lavish-yet-classy fits and a modern musical attitude.
left: Ruben and Matthijs wear PRADA, right: Matthijs wears PRADA
Ruben and Matthijs grew up with their middle brother in Alphen aan den Rijn, a small town located about 40 minutes outside Amsterdam. They had “pretty standard” childhoods for Dutch youth and while they would jam together on their guitars at home, none of the siblings had designs on or dreams of becoming musicians or models. But things began to shift when Ruben was scouted from his Instagram page and the world of fashion opened his eyes to the intersections of the creative world and its disciplines, as well as its possibilities. “When I got scouted I moved to Amsterdam and I was surrounded by so many creative people,” he says. “Creative directors, photographers, musicians being on set – that was really the start for me to find out who I am and explore myself.”
Matthijs wears COMME DES GARCONS HOMME PLUS
Matthijs was himself scouted when he tagged along with Ruben to an agency meet and ended up dipping his toes into the modelling world while still at school. “I was so scared,” Matthijs says. “I remember looking at the photos [from my first shoot]… I was at a small high school in a farming town in the Netherlands at the time and I looked so extravagant. I didn’t want anybody to see them, but then a year or two later I was looking at the photos and was like, ‘Holy fuck, this is sick.’”
Like for many others, the enforced break of the pandemic saw them turn their creative energies towards something new. They began writing music, separately at first. “We were both stuck at home and I had just started getting into song writing and music, so we would send songs to each other,” Matthijs says. “At some point, we started thinking, ‘Why aren’t we just combining forces and creating together?’ Our vision and the feelings we wanted to express with our music was very much down the same line. And that’s how Pol started.”
Ruben wears MCQUEEN
The Chameleon, their most recent single, came out in December, following their eponymous 2023 debut EP. It expresses that vision with an assertive twang. Topped with Ruben’s characteristic vocals– sung in English and French – and led by a Gary Numan-esque synth line, the track is threaded together by dystopian, retro-futuristic sound design reminiscent of new wave’s late ’70s and early ’80s heyday. Its lyrical content evokes boundless possibilities. “Instruction / Follow the rules, they say / Abduction/ The language is erased / The chameleon is out of its cage,” sings Ruben.
“The song came about very naturally and, when we started to think a bit more about what it meant, we felt that the character of the chameleon could be a higher power,” Matthijs says, after being urged to take the lead in explaining the song by his older brother.“ Like spirituality or a religion – a power that can take you away from life and make you feel like anything is possible.”
left: Matthijs and Ruben wear BALENCIAGA, right: Ruben wears LOEWE
The siblings deliberately take a slower, more old-school approach to music production than today’s norm. Their studio features a giant mixing desk, classic synthesisers from decades past and a boxy monitor, with faders and pots everywhere; the setup looks as if it could be a control room in an ’80s sci-fi movie. Its extravagant setup is by design and a way of both slowing down their creative processes and pushing perceived boundaries.
“We live in a digital era now and I don’t think digital has had a good influence on everything. In the past people really had to work for things, whether it was making their own clothing, writing a song or producing a video or photo,” Ruben says. “It took more effort than using GarageBand on your phone or your camera app. You had to put in that extra effort to build an audience and that meant there was a necessity for quality. Nowadays, everything has become so easy and there’s just so much stuff that comes out.”
left: Ruben wears coat and trousers by VALENTINO, gloves, scarf and shoes by VALENTINO GARAVANI, right: Matthijs wears MCQUEEN
During the late ’70s and early ’80s, new wave was riding on a crest of popularity, as bands such as Blondie, Talking Heads, The Human League and New Order began to blend elements of punk’ shard-nosed sonics with pop and electronic sounds. It created a movement, both subcultural and with a mass appeal, that quickly merged into the mainstream.
Part of that effort was a distinctive and subversive style that the genre’s artists and fans embodied. Coloured hair stood to attention in dramatic shapes with gel, bold patterns in primary colours and extravagant frilled shirts were common, as was lavish make-up that added experimentation to classic punk outfits. It’s a legacy that the Pol brothers are keeping up themselves but adding a modern twist to. The brothers always perform live in striking garb, which often consists of ’70s collared shirts and ties, subtle patterned details and white-faced, shadowy-eyed make-up.
It’s high couture colliding with thrift-inspired fashion to create a cocktail that feels distinctively Pol. “We draw a lot from new wave and the New Romantic era especially,” Ruben says. “Figures like Steve Strange from Visage and the band Japan – the way they did their make-up and the clothes they wear is a huge inspiration.But we really don’t try to become these artists, we drop them in a big pool of stuff that we love and try to make it our own.”
left: Ruben wears MCQUEEN, right: Matthijs wears shorts by COMME DES GARCONS HOMME PLUS, necklace and shoes by AMI, Ruben wears COMME DES GARCONS HOMME PLUS
Pol pulled out several striking looks for their first tour, which they’ve just returned from, with plenty of pinstripes and buttoned-up shirts. It took Ruben and Matthijs across Western Europe, from Paris and Amsterdam to Berlin, Rotterdam, Bilbao and Madrid. “We had quite clear references for the tour, but quickly realised we’d need to have somebody make the pieces for us because they’re not just something you encounter at a vintage store,” says Ruben. “So we started looking in our closets and just being like, ‘We’ll make it work.’” A London date had to be pulled at the last minute due to complications with customs, despite them having the required paperwork, but overall the experience was “incredible, a special experience”, according to Ruben, before he turns to his younger brother to ask, “And Matthijs, what’s next?”
Pol are working on their next, longer-format project, the younger brother says, coming out next year. There’s a synergy and a natural back and forth between Ruben and Matthijs as they speak, as well as clear expectations of each other that most only hold their dearest to. Ultimately, it’s what makes Pol so compelling – two brothers both working in modelling who create music full of vision and identity.
“I mean, obviously, we argue,” says Ruben. “Maybe even more because we are brothers. [Because] we have such a strong, deep, unconditional love and respect for each other, you know it will hurt extra if you do hurt each other.” Matthijs continues: “It comes with its upsides and downsides, of course. At the same time, it’s why we can create what we create. Pol wouldn’t be this if one of us was missing, that’s just a fact. But it makes it very special as even before playing anything we’re on the same line.” Brothers beyond.
Ruben wears RICK OWENS
Taken from 10 Men Issue 61 – MUSIC, TALENT, CREATIVE – on newsstands now. Order your copy here.
BROTHERLY LOVE
Photographer and Fashion Editor DAVEY SUTTON
Talents RUBEN POL and MATTHIJS POL aka POL
Text ISAAC MUK
Grooming BRADY LEA at A-Frame Agency using BIOEFFECT Skincare and MOROCCANOIL Hairspray
Photographer’s assistants BRUNO MCGUFFIE and KADI JATTA
Fashion assistants EMILIA ZENTNER and POLLY PARKER
Grooming assistant ALYSSA KRAUS
Retouching EURSA MAJOR
Special thanks to JORDAN HEMINGWAY, HELGA, SOPHIA FRENCH and Viva Model Management
