Milan. The fashion capital of Italy. Home to the Duomo, Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II. A hub of fashion, art and culture. And the location of the BOSS Autumn/Winter 23 show.

To show us around? Tastemaker and model Reece King. A fresh voice in the world of fashion, King has been on an incredible journey since he first blew up in 2015. In 2023, he has multiple magazine covers under his belt, from Hunger to L’Officiel Hommes Poland and Attitude. He’s fronted huge fashion and beauty campaigns and worked with the likes of BOSS across their fragrance and fashion offering. And he’s cultivated a big online community via his Instagram, where he’s focused on celebrating and platforming individuality and creativity.

From vogueing with his collective at House of Sushi Versace to finding solitude each day, King sat down with us to talk career highs, having fun with fashion and what’s on his playlist.

Join King as he takes us on a journey through his Milan moments. From bike rides and sight-seeing to getting ready for the BOSS Autumn/Winter 23 show, this is what went down in Milan.

The first thing I do when I get up, sadly, is check my phone…

… just to make sure I haven’t missed out on anything or, you know, nothing’s happened while I’ve been sleeping.

My morning routine is wake up, fight the urge to go back to sleep…

… get up again, stretch and eat breakfast. It could be leftovers from the dinner before, it could be ordering breakfast, it could be going to get breakfast, or making breakfast.

I would describe my style as being a chameleon…

 … so, it depends on what the day is asking for. I would either do something that’s over the top; to run a really basic errand I would wear something that’s really over the top, just for the sake of it. Or like more comfortable and like tracksuit-y. There’s not really an in between.

Fashion to me means expression.

In terms of what role it plays in my life, I would say it plays a big part because it’s been one of the main things that’s made me establish my personality; through my own style or my own choices of looks for fashion events or industry things. But to me it’s fun. That’s what it means to me; just to have fun and to just make moments that you can look back on and just laugh about; that you were extremely uncomfortable, but you looked really good.

I think I’ve always been conscious about fashion from when I was younger.

 And a lot of the times it would be negative responses because people would be like ‘Why you wearing this? Why do you like that?’ Things to do with sexuality and gender, it all tied into that from young. It was always my thing; doing things I like even though I knew that people wouldn’t necessarily stand behind it...

At fashion week you’ll find me…

… running down the road, being late for something. Or at a casting.

The third look for the [BOSS] show…

… was a two-piece matching printed denim black situation that I wanted to wear with my black mullet. I had it open, to make it a little bit sexier.

Fashion week, even though it’s more hectic, it’s more inspiring…

 … because a lot of people are wearing things specifically for fashion week and it’s a lot more heightened and over the top.

At home on a typical day, I would be listening to music, relaxing…

… and doing something creative to fill up my spare time, like drawing or sculpting, writing or sleeping. Sleeping is creative too.

I started sculpting in lockdown.

For everything that I do, I only use brown or black clay, so everything I make is usually brown or black. I don’t like half-arsing it, so I just do it when I know that I have a nice full day to create something. I’ve made little people, little people version of family and friends. I made a friend an Egyptian cat. Female, naked bodies.

It’s hard to pick my proudest career moment…

…  all of my covers because I kind of started off with the idea that I wouldn’t get a cover or get as many as I’ve had, so each one I’ve been able to do has made me really proud of myself.

On Instagram, I hope to achieve a safe space for people who are like me or relate to me.

And going forward, I hope that I just evolve. I’m not sure what I’m going to evolve into, but I hope I just keep evolving. Regardless of my career or age, I just want it to always be a space that I can look back on or people can look back on and get an understanding of who I am and inspire other people as well.

I prioritise self-care and my mental health by being very vocal about where I’m at day to day…

… with the people in my life, whether it’s family, friends or my team. I just try to be very vocal about everything, so no one is in the dark about where I’m at or why I’m acting the way I am. And I turn off my phone sometimes or I put ‘do not disturb’ on and I just have solitude. Solitude is probably the main thing that helps. That’s my self-care. And I just try to look after myself.

I feel most myself when I’m with my family…

… because I feel like no one really knows you more than the people who have seen you grow up.

Vogueing plays a huge part in my day-to-day life…

… because I see them (the group) a lot, we spend a lot of time together and they are my family, just as much as my biological family. It plays a huge part because we’re all there for each other, we support each other and keep each other going each day.

A typical evening can vary really…

… because it can be something like an event, where it can be more work, or it can be super chilled at the park with my friends, or it can be just solitude. I’ve been playing a lot of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom on the Nintendo Switch. I’m kind of addicted, so that’s the main way I unwind.

I have quite a few mantras but the main one is The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz…

… which is: be impeccable with your word; always try your best; don’t make assumptions and don’t take anything personally.

The last thing I do at night is, sadly, check my phone…

… or just chill and just listen to music and maybe have a cheeky glass of wine.