Paper Magazine — best known for publishing momentarily titillating photos of Kim Kardashian balancing a bottle of champagne on her butt — is now looking for models through the all-male hookup app Grindr.
Last week, the publication posted a call to action for Grindr users to submit applications to participate in an upcoming photo shoot for the summer issue. Prospective models are required to send their basic information, as well as links to social media accounts and portraits. Full body shots are encouraged, along with a screenshot of their Grindr profile and biography.
Grindr is no stranger to the fashion world. It first began dabbling in the industry in January, when the platform live streamed the fall 2016 menswear show of J.W. Anderson. Grindr users received a notification that provided a link and code to stream the video, which they could access from their browser. A total of 100,000 users streamed the link, which was also available for 24 hours after it aired, the New York Times reported.
“Grindr is a very unapologetic brand, we are what we are. There was a definitely personality fit on both sides,” Landis Smithers, Grindr’s vp of marketing, said of the collaboration.
Smithers said the past year has been an exploratory period for the company, involving testing the waters on a number of trial initiatives within its expansive interface of 2 million daily users across 196 countries. Fashion has been one of the app’s top priorities, but will likely expand to other verticals as well, including sports and athletics.
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“We’re actually trying to open up the gates of the community a bit to be more inclusive,” Smithers said. “It’s not that the prerequisite is an eight-pack and capped teeth. We’re looking for all types of people that use the app because we have a really diverse community. It could be a great trans model, or a normal body type with a fascinating career.”
