Patrick Petitjean

Patrick Petitjean is a French model whose long hair and full beard became a defining image of menswear in the late 2000s. That look marked a new chapter in a career already established during the previous decade, when his work included major European fashion houses and international advertising.

Originally from Lourdes, Patrick was studying hotel management before entering modeling. Encouraged by his sister, he sent photographs to agencies in Paris. A 2000 profile in L’Orient-Le Jour described the change of direction from a prospective career in cooking and named Armani, Missoni, Trussardi, and Romeo Gigli among his clients. His career therefore began well before the bearded photographs that later made him widely recognizable.

Prada cast Patrick in its fall-winter 2008 menswear campaign, photographed by Steven Meisel. His longer hair and beard also gave photographers a different character to work with, suggesting a romantic, outdoors-oriented figure.

By 2009, that image had reached H&M’s advertising, including a fall advertorial with Karen Elson in Vogue Germany. The beard became part of his professional identity during a period when facial hair was gaining new attention in fashion.

Patrick’s subsequent work included JOOP!’s fall-winter 2010 campaign with Glen Luchford and magazine stories for Elle Man France and Les Echos Week-end. These assignments sustained a career in which changes in grooming could alter his photographic character while retaining the same recognizable face.

Runway work continued into later decades, including Zegna’s spring-summer 2024 show in Milan. His appearance in Massimo Dutti’s pre-fall 2026 edit placed him alongside a younger generation of models, extending a menswear career that had begun before many of his fellow cast members entered the industry.