Photography by JEROEN NOORDZIJ
If anyone can rightly be called a gentleman, it’s model and content creator Julian Piket (@julianpiket). On his Instagram feed, he offers a glimpse into his luxurious lifestyle, full of old-money-style outfits in the most envy-inducing places around the world. He recently swapped his home base of Amsterdam for New York to chase his dreams. Even so, the born-and-bred Achterhoeker remains wonderfully down-to-earth despite all these picture-perfect moments, and doesn’t take life too seriously. “I don’t see myself as any different from others. That may also have to do with the fact that I grew up in a small village. Just act normal, that’s crazy enough.”
Football, friends and a culture of just passing
“My childhood in Winterswijk was ninety percent playing football with my friends. I had just one dream: becoming a professional footballer, like many other boys of course. I was reasonably good at it at amateur level, but I quickly realised that I didn’t have the ability to reach the really high level. School and work have always been secondary to me. I was part of the just-passing culture; as long as it was a pass, it was fine by me. My whole life was about having fun, and I didn’t find the rest all that interesting. The funny thing is that I always looked at fashion magazines. I never looked at the female models, but always at the male ones. I found that very intriguing and cool, but I never thought: maybe this is what I’ll do later on. Or that it was even a profession at all. I come from a village and didn’t know anyone around me who did this, so I had no idea that it was even a possibility.”
In Love with Amsterdam
“When I was 22, I had a friend from Winterswijk who moved to Amsterdam. Because of her, I started visiting the city more often, and that’s how I fell in love with Amsterdam. It was the first time I felt that I wanted to leave Winterswijk and start thinking about my future. So that’s what I did. I moved to Amsterdam to continue my studies in commercial economics there. During my studies, I worked as a host at events and had many colleagues who also did modeling on the side. I thought: finally, this is really something that I like and find interesting. I have the height, I have the measurements, why not at least give it a try? As soon as I had completed my studies, I gave myself a year to try to build a modeling career. I then signed up with several agencies and made sure that, through hard work, I appeared on their radar everywhere. This actually went so well that I was able to make a full-time living from it quite quickly.”
"I describe my style as old money style."
New chapter
“Since I took this career step, I see this as a new chapter in my life. I am very happy with where I am now. Recently, my wife and I moved to New York so I could continue developing myself. I noticed that Amsterdam was starting to feel too small for me, and I wanted to make a move toward something bigger. New York was the dream for both of us, so we are incredibly happy that this worked out. I’m really looking forward to meeting even more people here and doing many beautiful, new things again!
I think it is especially funny for old friends to see that I’ve undergone such an enormous change. That I went from a carefree slacker to being so driven at work all at once. Now things can’t go fast enough for me! That’s because I’ve finally found something I really enjoy doing and don’t even see as work. As a child, I always thought: it doesn’t matter what you do, eighty percent is talent and twenty percent is discipline, motivation, and mentality. But I’ve found that it’s not like that at all. It’s actually the other way around. Since I flipped that switch in myself, I’ve really gone for it much harder.”
Old Money Style
“Ever since I was young, I’ve always had the urge to look my absolute best. In the past, it was mostly very important to me that my clothes were from a certain brand. Fortunately, that has disappeared. Now I pay much more attention to labels and to what material it is made of rather than what logo is on it. That is also how I decide whether something is worth the price tag or whether I am really paying for the brand.
I would describe my style as old money style. A popular term that has been used a lot lately. I love a suit and a shirt made to measure. I have a good build, so if it fits well, that makes me very happy. I stick to two or three colors. I like monochrome outfits in shades of brown, so for example a beige sweater with brown pants and a different shade of brown jacket over it, so it all goes well together. I wear a lot of suits, but when I am working from home, I don’t sit there in a shirt and tie; I think that makes no sense. In the end, it’s also about comfort. Then I prefer to wear a cashmere sweater or a cable-knit sweater, but always with trousers underneath. Sometimes a more casual pair of trousers and other times high-waist with pleated trousers. You hardly ever see me in jeans anymore. And I always wear loafers, never sneakers.”
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