Simone Nobili

Simone Nobili was an Italian model from Vetto, in the province of Reggio Emilia, whose early career brought him into Dolce & Gabbana’s Italian family portraits and Givenchy’s darker fashion imagery. His rapid rise in the early 2010s placed him among a group of Italian men gaining international attention through runway casting and major advertising campaigns.

His introduction to modeling followed a move to Milan in September 2010. In a 2013 interview with Il Resto del Carlino, Simone recalled briefly studying sports science in Pavia before a friend introduced him to a modeling agent that November. Signing with Independent Men led to photographs and his first runway work. A Dolce & Gabbana casting in June 2011 proved decisive. Arriving two hours late, he asked Stefano Gabbana to look at his portfolio as the designer was leaving; a booking followed two days later. The show helped take him to Paris, where he worked for Givenchy.

Advertising soon gave those runway relationships a wider audience. Simone joined Monica Bellucci and Bianca Balti for Dolce & Gabbana’s spring-summer 2012 imagery, also appearing in its accompanying film, Italian Family. Givenchy booked him for successive campaigns, including its spring-summer and fall-winter 2012 eyewear advertisements. His connection with the house’s creative circle extended to the debut issue of CR Fashion Book.

Despite that fast ascent, Simone spoke about modeling with a degree of detachment. In a 2012 interview with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, he said that the appeal lay in the talent and collective energy of the people he worked with. Theater, reading, and film occupied his time away from bookings, and he placed particular value on intellectual curiosity in a profession centered on physical appearance.

His subsequent portfolio included Emporio Armani’s fall-winter 2014 lookbook and further runway appearances for the Armani labels and Givenchy in 2015. Simone died in 2023. His work documents a period when he became a recurring face of Italian menswear and Givenchy advertising.