PARKER VAN NOORD on AnDRE

As the sun sets early, I feel a spell cast over me. I remember the time when I was standing outside waving till my father was out of sight, watching him march away into one of his many adventures. That last wave always stood for a belief, as I could never wait for him to return home. He made an ordinary trip to the supermarket like a scene from a movie, a much-needed endorsement of the Dutch countryside. He promised me that if I did my best at school he’d take me on one of his work trips. Although he attracted loads of attention in the schoolyard donned in white or leather suits, I never had a clue about my father’s job. He always looked good. Bit by bit, I came to understand his profession. Accompanied by good class grades and then graduation, we’d occasionally embark on jobs together and we always found it so much fun. It was crazy to see how professional he was, and I remember how he tried to break the ice and teach me different poses. He bluntly said: “Well, Parker, there are two faces. Either you go and think, ‘Fuck you!’ or you say, ‘Oh, you wanna fuck me?’” I was still in school and I remember barely being able to bolt any definition onto his words. But over the years I got it, and now I look back thinking that it was such great advice. Oh man, sometimes I just wish we could stroll down the street together, both of us looking a little bit older – it would have looked great. My father lived his life the way he wanted: he wrote poems, sung his songs, took photographs and loved the countryside with my mum. They were together for 22 years and never stopped following each other from the day they first met. I think I was lucky to grow up in such a loving and stimulating environment. It’s funny how the sun has now nearly set and I’m listening to Old Man by Neil Young and thinking of those last months we spent together. I think of how honest my father was about his faults, but never afraid of me making the same mistakes, and how we said that we were each other’s biggest heroes. I keep so much pride in that, and it’s crazy to see how my family continues to feel liberated. For that’s exactly how we celebrate my father.

Parker van Noord made his modelling debut when he was 14. It was a shoot with his dad for a Dutch magazine.

EDITED BY RAFFAELE PANIZZA Andre van Noord, who died at the age of 54, was one of the top male models of the 1990’s. Opposite page. A collage of pictures of Parker’s family made by Parker himself.