Mar 21st, 2018, 01:34 PM

Meet Raphaël Lavigne, Model of All Trades

By Milana Alexeyeva
Image Credit: Raphaël Lavigne
Raphaël Lavigne was elected Mister France in 2016 and proves there's more than meets the eye in modeling.

By day, Alsatian Raphaël Lavigne is a construction site manager in public works. However, Lavigne was elected Mister Alsace 2015 on June 6, 2015, and then Mister France 2016, on June 5th in Wavrin (Nord). The 24-year-old is from Krautergersheim, a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.

He is a jack of all trades: Lavigne is impassioned by fashion and has many projects, including that of being a dancer. He was part of the ‘dream team’ of the event "Strasbourg My Love" in Japan on Valentine's Day. “Strasbourg My Love” is a week-long event based on Valentine's Day with lots of animation based on love and Valentine's Day thematic. Raphael represented France at the biggest international competitions such as Mister Monde, Mister Universe, and Mister Globe in 2017. In September 2017 he finished 11th among 74 countries represented.

MA: Tell me about your passion for fashion and how did everything start?

RL: Since a young age I have always been attracted to the fashion world. I always liked being well dressed. I started at the age of 23 by being a photo model at first and then I was spotted by various modeling agencies for fashion shows and then for haute couture.

MA: As you said, you started as a model, before becoming Mister France. How did you get into the fashion business?

RL: That's right! I started being a model. First I started with amateur photographers, and then with renowned professional photographers. The committee of “Mister Alsace” on a fashion show spotted me and then offered me to participate in the contest Mister Alsace. On June 6, 2015, I was elected Mister Alsace 2015, and then I represented Alsace at the Mister France contest. This is the same principle as for the famous Miss France contest.

MA: How did you become Mister France 2016? Did your family support you?

RL: I became Mister France 2016 preparing myself seriously:

Mentally: with my agent who gave me classes to know how to live, to know how to be and to know how and what to do.

Physically: being followed very closely by my sports coach, training 1h30 4X per week and having a healthy and balanced diet.

Being surrounded by an haute couture designer and a hairdresser from the French hairdressing team to work on my style to stand out from other candidates.

And of course, my family has always supported me, and always supports me in any field. It is luck and it really helps me from a psychological part of a view.

Image Credit: Raphaël Lavigne

MA: Currently you are at the driving school if that's correct. Could you tell me about it, please? Do you do it for your pleasure or you want to become a professional driver?

RL: That's right, right now I'm doing advanced training in driving in motorsport. Since childhood, I have always been passionate about cars and motorsports. When I was younger, I was participating in a karting competition. I participated in the FFSA Young Rally in 2012 finishing in 33rd place out of 900 participants. Today, I wanted to give a new dimension to my life by making my passion my professional activity. Having tasted the media and television through my title of Mister France, I wanted to reconcile my passion with that of TV. My project is to become a columnist and auto presenter for a TV channel and become a test driver for a major car brand.

Image Credit: Raphaël Lavigne

MA: What are your hobbies?

RL: Football, karting, moving to the F1 Grand Prix, Latin dance, and reading.

MA: That’s so interesting! Do you want to continue modeling and keep being in the fashion industry? And what kind of brands do you work with?

RL: My main project is to become an automotive columnist but I still keep a foot in the field of fashion. I continue to do some parades and more particularly to be a model or muse of several brands such as ready-to-wear, haute couture, hairdressing, and accessories including advertising campaigns. For the clothing brands it is Hugo Boss, Adidas, Puma, Ultima Strasbourg and Izis Goïta. And concerning hair styling, it is Schwarzkopf and Serge Comtesse.

Image Credit: Raphaël Lavigne

You can follow Raphael’s life on his Instagram account: raphaellvg_officiel