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Gen Nishino and Debbee May :
Playboy's Team in New York
Gen Nishino began his career working as a hairdresser/stylist and educational director for a salon in California.
In 1983 he moved to New York and, in an effort to break into this new market,
began offering his services for free to major fashion magazines. The strategy worked and
for the next two years Nichino worked among the best models and photographers in the industry.
Two years later, he picked up the camera himself and got his first shoot with Cosmopolitan.
Gigs for Elle, Marie Claire, Glamour, Mademoiselle and Redbook soon followed and Gen had a new career.
In 1991, while shooting the Danskin catalog, a makeup artist introduced Gen to Debbee May.
Debbee was an actress and dancer (she was Robert DeNiro's girlfriend in Goodfellas) and had been featured in Playboy's Babes of Broadway layout. She introduced him to Playboy and Gen sent some photos to Playboy's Chicago office. They responded by asking him to submit a Playboy-style test shoot. They liked what they saw: Playboy bought the photos and hired Gen. He has been Playboy's NY photographer ever since.
Debbee, now Gen's fiance, is still acting and is currently a casting director for Playboy and other New York area projects. Although their Playboy casting calls are frequently over-subscribed - the most recent had to be closed at 500 applicants - prospective models can always reach Debbee at missdmay@nyc.rr.com.
Her advice for beginning models:
"Don't lie. Girls lie about their sizes. Boobs get bigger, they get taller, etc. when they describe themselves. Meanwhile, here I am picking out wardrobes and when they arrive, nothing fits. It's better for everyone if they are honest. I can make them look better."
For photographers, Gen thinks it is still possible for unknowns to break into the NY fashion world. It really isn't, he argues, a closed system.
"You can come and present your work to agencies and magazines and if you are very good, very reliable, and the timing is right, you will get a chance."
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