Just weeks before the fatal helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant in January, GQ’s Jim Moore was asked who his favourite celebrity to shoot with was.
His answer was “hands down, Kobe Bryant.”
GQ has been celebrating men’s style for decades, and at the helm of that has been GQ’s creative director-at-large Jim Moore. After a career spanning 40 years with the magazine, Moore launched a new book Hunks & Heroes – Four Decades of Fashion at GQ. The book shines a light on 250 of his most iconic covers with some of our time’s most popular celebrities.
The book was released in September and had Kobe Bryant’s iconic GQ image printed on the back cover. A decision, that Moore is now so glad to have made.
“Kobe just floats to the top for me because he was a hero, he took that role very seriously,” says Moore. “He is a family man… in a way he was completely selfless. He’d be much more interested in what’s going on with you than him. And it’s very rare to get a celebrity, let alone a basketball player to not just talk about themselves.”
Moore adds, “In the course of the shoot, he would meet everyone in the crew, even if they were just the guy making the omelettes at the craft service. At the end he would shake everyone’s hand and he would remember everyone’s name. Just the greatest guy.”
Moore joined members of the Canadian fashion industry in Toronto on Wednesday, to celebrate the launch of the book. The event saw Moore share stories of Jennifer Anniston being the first female on the cover, to working with Barack Obama as he entered and left the white house. Having worked with everyone from Bradley Cooper and Channing Tatum to Bill Murray and Justin Timberlake, Moore also opened up about some of his most challenging work with celebrities.
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“Most challenging shoot was Russell Crowe… he’s difficult,” Moore reveals. “And I don’t mind saying that because he is. And probably the only difficult person I’ve worked with.”
Another familiar face that Moore features in the book is Kanye West, including stories of the rapper taking nine hours to complete a fitting for a photoshoot. Having shot West several times for the magazine, the rapper and friend of Moore’s also wrote the forward to the book.
Moore says of West, “People are so intrigued by the fact that we’re friends. But in a way we’re not that different… he’s much more advanced. He is a force of nature. He is definitely someone that I completely respect. He is a very sweet person who is very respectful of other people.”
Hunks & Heroes – Four Decades of Fashion at GQ is available now.
