Nigel Barker on 'Top Model,' His New Book, and Shooting a Naked Tyra Banks

Nigel Barker has been immersed in the fashion industry for most of his life – he's gone from model to photographer to 'America's Next Top Model' judge – and now he's adding 'author' to his CV. Barker has decided to step out from behind the camera and discuss the issue of true beauty, something he knows plenty about, in his book 'Nigel Barker's Beauty Equation: Revealing a Better and More Beautiful You.'

Barker has been on 'ANTM' since the second season, and is the only person to stay on as a judge for 15 cycles. TV Squad caught up with the British charmer to talk about his modeling career, how 'ANTM' has changed, and his first photo shoot with Tyra Banks (she was nude).

You started your career as a model, correct?
I started when I was about 18 years old. My mother entered me into 'Clothes Show,' a TV model search show in England – which is still on the air, almost 30 years later. I didn't win the show, but I got in the top 3. I was offered a contract by an agency, and that was that. I wanted to go to medical school, but one thing led to another, one year led to two... and then I was financially independent. I realized I was not going to med school.

Why would you? Modeling can certainly be lucrative.
I lived in Milan, I lived in Paris. I traveled the world. This was the late '80s, early '90s. Things changed in the early '90s. I looked at the industry, and the recession had begun. Heroin chic had moved into the fashion world, the grunge movement too, and lots of models were androgynous. I looked down at myself, and I was like, "This isn't you. You're a 6'4'' tall guy."

There is nothing womanly about you, at all.
[Laughs] If I dressed like a woman, I would look like a she-male, and that certainly wasn't the look at the time. That was not heroin chic.

I guess RuPaul was in the late 80s. You missed it.
[Laughs] Damn! I would have had a MAC campaign!

So you left modeling, then.
Yes, I decided to change everything up. I'd always loved photography, and so what I did was use all my modelling experience and translate it into a photography career. I didn't want to lose all of the years I'd spent modeling. In 1996, I stopped modeling completely, and in 1998 I opened my studio in New York. I've never looked back.

You've written a book – 'Nigel Barker's Beauty Equation: Revealing a Better and More Beautiful You.' Tell me more about why you wrote it.
I wrote it to provoke the generation of people that watches 'Top Model.' I want people to consider beauty from outside of the modeling industry. All too often people think to be beautiful is to be a model. What people don't remember is that 9 out of 10 models in the magazines need to be retouched to the point where they don't actually look like that, either! Top celebrities also complain about being retouched on magazine covers, made to look younger, slimmer...

And whiter, in some cases.
And whiter. All these things. The message here, as a photographer, is that I don't look to see if someone's 5'9'' with perfect skin and hair to be beautiful. Yes, that makes for a model, but to make an iconic photograph, to capture a timeless moment, I have to evoke who you are. I have to coax. I'm talking about spontaneity; I'm talking about motivation, authenticity in a picture. These are all things that have nothing to do with what you look like on the outside.

Like Ann, from this cycle of 'America's Next Top Model.' She's 6'2'' and very skinny... lots of people had doubts about her, but so far she's rocking this season.
She's very slim and has an hourglass shape. People got excited about her physique and there was some controversy. Tyra or Jay [Alexander] – I forget who – could wrap their hands around her waist. The reality is that just because she has a narrow waist, doesn't mean she's not healthy. It's unhealthy to say you need a narrow waist to be a model.

My wife is a size zero and eats more than I do, and I'm a 6'4'', 225 lb. man! Life isn't always fair, genetics are different. People need to use common sense. Anyone who knows 'Top Model' knows that we look at all demographics, all sizes, all shapes. We've had petite winners, plus-sized winners. To say that 'Top Model' is glamorizing skinny models is a little silly.

Well, that's obviously not true, since you judges eliminated the emaciated, skeletal contestant near the beginning of the cycle.
Exactly. Absolutely.



Is there one particular photo shoot that you'll never forget?
One of my first photo shoots for 'Top Model' was certainly one of my most memorable. It was the garden of Eden photo shoot for 'Top Model' season 2, episode 1. It had nothing at all to do with the fact that all of the girls were naked. [Laughs] It was also the first time I ever photographed Tyra Banks. The first time I met her, she was virtually nude on my set. It was fun and slightly intimidating to meet your future boss and executive producer that way.

How is it working with Tyra?
It's a lot of fun. We've become great friends. We've been together for 15 cycles, sitting side by side. There's a certain camaraderie that develops when you work together on television for that long. We know each other's families, and she's been around for the birth of both of my children. It's like a little 'Top Model' family.

'Top Model' is really pulling out all the stops now – Andre Leon Talley as a judge, Diane Von Furstenberg guest-starring, Italian Vogue cover for the winner...
I think it also shows where 'ANTM' has gone. An element of the fashion industry believes that 'ANTM' isn't about fashion since it's on TV. It's too commercial for high fashion. I respectfully disagree with that – 'ANTM' couldn't be anymore in vogue. Our ratings are staying high while many magazine sale rates are going down.

The public's perception of what a model is used to be all about models on the covers of magazines. Now there's a lot more celebrity, there are a lot more "real" people on covers. You have companies like Dove using real people for their ad campaigns. I have haute couture clients who use their own children in ad campaigns, for a more realistic look. It is a shift. 'Top Model' has caught something there.

What else are you doing besides photography, writing books, and appearing on 'ANTM'?
I'm actually working on a new documentary for The Humane Society about shark finning, discussing that issue. Many shark populations are in decline the world over, and that has massive repercussions on ecosystems.

Is shark fin soup really an aphrodisiac? That's gotta be a myth.
No, I think it's bunk. A true aphrodisiac is actually being a decent person. If they want a real aphrodisiac, the whole of China should buy my book, and then they'll all feel a bit more beautiful. They might also get a bit lucky.

Want to buy 'Beauty Equation'? Here's the book's Amazon page.

'America's Next Top Model' airs on Wednesdays at 8PM ET on The CW in the US and on /A| Channel in Canada.