Matthew Hitt

Matthew Hitt is a Welsh model and musician whose fashion career has developed alongside his work as the singer and guitarist of Drowners. His lean frame and tousled hair fit menswear’s enduring appetite for the indie frontman, a role he also inhabits away from the camera.

Raised in the Welsh valleys, Matthew grew up seeking music beyond his immediate surroundings. In a 2013 interview with Northern Transmissions, he recalled finding much of it online, moving from an early interest in 1950s and 1960s rock and roll toward punk and post-punk. New York offered a larger musical community, and he also taught guitar after moving there.

Matthew settled in New York in 2011, bringing songs with him as well as a modeling career. Drowners emerged from that move, and the band released its self-titled debut through Frenchkiss Records in 2014. Fashion and music developed in parallel, with modeling helping fund the time he spent writing and rehearsing.

His work for Saint Laurent and AllSaints connected his musical identity to fashion, while clients such as J.Crew placed him in a broader commercial setting. In AllSaints’ May 2015 lookbook, he brought the credibility of a working musician to the label’s rock-inflected clothes. His later appearance in Rag & Bone’s fall 2026 campaign extended that relationship with brands rooted in denim and urban dressing.

Speaking to Wonderland in 2017, Matthew described becoming a model by accident and spoke candidly about feeling self-conscious on set. Playing live felt more natural because he was presenting something he had created; modeling meant contributing to another person’s vision. He valued the freedom the profession gave him to pursue music, treating the two careers as compatible parts of a working life.