Jack Mackenroth Interview

I am happy to announce a new feature to this blog: Interviews!

I am very excited to publish my interview with the incredibly handsome Jack Mackenroth.

I am going to shamelessly steal Wikipedia's mini-bio on him: "Jack Mackenroth is an American swimmer, model, and fashion designer who competed in the fourth season of American reality show Project Runway. Mackenroth was the first openly HIV-positive contestant in the show's history"

 Mr. Mackenroth was incredibly nice and easy to communicate with. He was very forgiving of any of my amateur "journalist" mistakes. He also provided me with some of his model pictures which can be found after the interview. I encourage you all to check out his site & support his HIV activism and follow him on his Twitter

1. Age? 43

2. Where are you from? Originally Seattle, WA but I've lived in New York for 23 years. 

3. Current occupation? Fashion designer and HIV educator/activist 

4. Favorite movie? Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion & The Devil Wears Prada

5. Favorite current pop song? "I Love It" by Icona Pop

6. Which do you prefer: boxers, briefs, or boxer briefs? Why? 

Briefs. And boxer briefs. I like snug underwear because I work out a lot and I don't want my naughty bits flopping around. Plus they make your bum look better as well if they are well designed. 

7. Do you favor any underwear brands? If so, which and why? 

Timoteo, Baskit and Andrew Christian are my favorites. They use comfy fabrics and they put some thought into the design so they accentuate your "assets" 

8. When you model underwear, do you have a say in which style you will model?

 I usually have some input in the shoot. Usually they provide several styles to pick from and I see what looks best. I tend to look better in briefs rather than boxer-briefs because I have big legs and the boxer styles are less flattering. 

9. Have you ever designed men’s underwear? If not, have you considered it?

 I have thought about it because I do love underwear but there are so many brands out there I think starting another one would be difficult. I also believe designing underwear is much harder than it seems. Getting the fabrication and the fit just right takes a lot of trial and error. 

10. What would someone find if they went through your underwear drawer? 

Hahaha!! Well I get sent a fair amount of stuff because of modeling gigs so let's see... A lot of Timoteo, Baskit and Piss and Vinegar stuff right now. I have a few jocks from Colt and a couple pairs of thermal long underwear. Tons of styles and colors.  Nothing naughty. That stuff is all under my bed. 

11. Do you have any funny or memorable underwear stories?

Oh tons! I've been a model and a competitive swimmer forever so I'm pretty used to being almost naked. 

Once at TSA security I wasn't really thinking and when I was taking my shoes and belt off I pulled my pants off as well. I quickly put them back on and everyone around me was laughing. It was hilarious. I wasn't really embarrassed. I don't remember what underwear I had on but I hope it was cute!!

Yesterday I swam in the early morning and when I showered at the pool I didn't put the underwear I slept in back on so I went commando and just put my jeans on. I rode the subway back home and while I was sitting I looked down and one of my boys was exposed through a hole in my jeans. Oops!! 

12. GQ wrote an article a few months ago stating that “tighty-whities” are stylish now. How do you feel about tighty-whities, & do you agree with GQ?

I don't mind tighty whities but I certainly don't think they are "stylish". If you are gonna go with the old standard you should at least go with Calvins or 2Xist. And use bleach!!

13. You can judge a man by the type of underwear he wears – agree or disagree? Why?

Yeah. I think you can to a degree. You can certainly tell if he's making an effort or not. Fruit of the loom or anything bought in 3-pack just screams function over fashion. 

14. Please share one interesting fact about yourself.

Interesting fact? Hmmmm. I was on season 4 of Project Runway? 

Probably easiest to just google me. I'm the only "Jack Mackenroth" on the Internet. I guess that's sort of interesting.

 Xx