The internet is freaking out over Rob Sand's modeling career
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Rob Sand walks the runway in the Prada Menswear Spring 2003 collection in August 2002 in Milan, Italy. Photo: Davide Maestri/Penske Media/Getty Images
During the campaign season, Republicans used Iowa Gov.-elect Rob Sand's former modeling career to question his electability.
- Now? There are viral TikToks, T-shirts and even Sand acknowledging his past on the runway.
Why it matters: Listen, it's a win in our book any time we get to break stereotypes that people have about Iowans, thanks to celebrities including Sand, Ashton Kutcher and Jason Momoa.
Driving the news: Here's the saga of Sand's short-lived high-fashion modeling career.
How it started: It all started with senior pictures.
- Sand first had an inkling that he may have a shot at professional modeling after taking the negatives from his senior photos to Positive Images, a photo store in his hometown of Decorah.
- During a podcast interview with comedian Brooks Wheelan, an Iowa native, Sand said that each time he went into the store, an employee would compliment his photogenic appearance, which he mostly shrugged off.
He later went to college at Brown University in Rhode Island, where everything was significantly more expensive than in northeast Iowa.
- In an effort to make some extra cash, he sent his senior photos to modeling agencies in New York.
- That's when IMG, an internationally renowned modeling agency, hired him.
Zoom in: The 6-foot-3 college student traveled to Milan three times and Paris twice for gigs modeling high-end brands.
- One particular shoot is going viral. Sand was photographed by Steven Meisel with Brazilian model Caroline Trentini in 2004 for an Italian Vogue shoot titled "Be My Baby."
- Sand also walked in Prada's spring 2003 menswear show and appeared in AnOther Magazine's 2002 spread, "Adolescents," per Vogue.
The intrigue: Sand told Wheelan that he met celebrities including fashion designer Ralph Lauren and photographer Richard Avedon during his modeling career.
- He also walked for Japanese brand Number (N)ine and Giuliano Fujiwara.
- "It was a crazy experience," he told Wheelan, noting he ended up making some cash, though not as much as the female models.
What they're saying: "Rob really made the difference, because even though we were both a bit nervous and shy, he was really immersed in the story, just as I was," Trentini recently told Vogue about their 2004 shoot.
The bottom line: Since his election, it's been memes galore, including "He walked Prada so he could run for Iowa" and a Raygun shirt touting "The Governor Wears Prada."
- Sand himself has also been having fun with it, correcting a Harper's Bazaar post for saying he was a model for Elite.