Model to Watch | Oskar Tranum Exclusive

Unique model Oskar Tranum has had quite the year. Com­plet­ing high school and div­ing head­first into mod­el­ing full-​​time, Oskar made a splash dur­ing this past January’s fash­ion week and has since made edi­to­r­ial appear­ances in mag­a­zines, rang­ing from Vogue Rus­sia and 10 Men to Cit­i­zen K. At the age of nine­teen, the world is open­ing up to the Dan­ish youth and meet­ing him with a friendly embrace. From Den­mark and Paris to Milan, Oskar Tranum is one of this year’s bright­est faces on the rise.

How were you discovered?

Oskar Tranum: I was dis­cov­ered on the main walk­ing street of Copen­hagen. I was with a friend, hav­ing really bad hang­overs and wasn’t feel­ing very pretty, when a scout from my Dan­ish agency (Unique Mod­els) came to me and asked whether I was a model and so on. First I thought he was fool­ing me so I was being really rejective.

So, when did you start modeling?

Oskar Tranum: Shortly after I was dis­cov­ered, some friends of mine con­vinced me that it wasn’t a prank and after a short email cor­re­spon­dence I met with the agency and started soon after. It was almost two years ago, but due to school and exams and so on I haven’t been able to travel. So this past sea­son was sort of my first.

Photo by Alas­dair McLellan

Do you recall your first shoot?

Oskar Tranum: Yeah, what a mess! I had to rush from a high school exam straight to a stu­dio. I was an hour late and when I got there I had no idea what to do. But another guy from my agency helped me and told me what to do and so. And even though I cried a lit­tle bit on every pic­ture because of the make-​​up and a wind-​​blowing-​​machine-​​thing it was a very funny experience.

What is your most mem­o­rable shoot to date?

Oskar Tranum: Prob­a­bly the Vogue Rus­sia shoot with Alas­dair McLel­lan. Or a GQ shoot in Paris I did a cou­ple of weeks ago. The shoot took place an hour south of Paris in an old derelict fac­tory. Beau­ti­ful set­ting and very nice people.

Your shoot for Vogue Rus­sia was rather reveal­ing. How was that? What was it like to work with Simon and Alessandra?

Oskar Tranum: The shoot was fun and chal­leng­ing. Alas­dair McLel­lan and Katie Grand were both really pro­fes­sional and knew exactly what they wanted. Simon and Alessan­dra are great. They were both really nice and polite and they did exactly what they were told to do.

Photo by Driu & Tiago

You lit­er­ally glis­tened for your shoot with Driu & Tiago…what exactly did they put on you?

Oskar Tranum: It was dur­ing fash­ion week in Paris and I only had two hours or so in between cast­ings and fit­tings to do the shoot. But it was really fun. The glis­ten­ing thing was some sort of body oil they used on all of us. Very nice, smelled of some mix between lime/​lemon and vanilla. I felt very tempted and I can now assure you that it smells bet­ter than it tastes ha ha

How was your expe­ri­ence this past Jan­u­ary dur­ing the fall 2010 shows?

Oskar Tranum: I enjoyed it very much. Paris is an amaz­ing city. Very beau­ti­ful and with so much to see. I didn’t really see much of Milan because Prada hooked me up with a hotel room just a few blocks from Via Berg­amo. But fash­ion week on a whole was a really fun thing to expe­ri­ence, I met so many inter­est­ing and fun peo­ple dur­ing those weeks.

Where do you cur­rently live?

Oskar Tranum: I still live in my home town. But hope­fully I’ll move some­where soon. There’s not much to do in the coun­try side ha ha

How has your life changed in the last year?

Oskar Tranum: It has changed from hav­ing a nor­mal high school every­day to trav­el­ing all over Europe. Said in an other way: it has got much more fun! I meet new peo­ple all the time and I expe­ri­ence so much more than I would do if I didn’t have this job.

Photo by Ola Rindal

What music are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to?

Oskar Tranum: I study music and drum­ming back home and I’m really into jazz. Cur­rently I’m lis­ten­ing to some old Blue Note records with artists like John Coltrane and Blue Mitchell. But also a lot of newer pop, rock, funk, and elec­tron­ica. Cur­rently I’m in to the Nor­we­gian band Beady Belle — you should def­i­nitely check that out!

Def­i­nitely – mov­ing on to your per­sonal style…what is a typ­i­cal out­fit for you? Are you into fashion?

Oskar Tranum: Since this [past] fash­ion week, I’ve become more and more inter­ested in fash­ion and the indus­try. But I catch myself in look­ing more at the mod­els and their expres­sions than the clothes ha ha. A typ­i­cal out­fit for me is very relaxed. I’m a big fan of Con­verse shoes, slim fit jeans and flan­nels. Sun­glasses, hats, and scarfs too. But I like col­ors and clothes so it’s always changing.

You are board­ing a plane, what is in your carry-​​on?

Oskar Tranum: Pass­port, wal­let, Mac­book, books, iPod, a lit­tle salmon tartare and a French horn just for the fun of it.

What activ­i­ties do you enjoy?

Oskar Tranum: Mod­el­ing, music, espe­cially drum­ming, pho­tograph­ing, arts, meet­ing peo­ple, to travel, going to see gal­leries in the dif­fer­ent cities I visit, hang­ing around and going to par­ties with my friends. I’m also very fond of food and wine.

What does your future hold?

Oskar Tranum: I’m not sure yet. I’m plan­ning to apply for admit­tance to the Music Acad­emy in Copen­hagen. But right now I’m just enjoy­ing life; mod­el­ing, trav­el­ing and meet­ing people.

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY UNLESS GIVEN PRIOR PERMISSION