Beautiful People 2010: David Agobodji

The first -- and, David Agbodji claims, only -- time he saw his naked, oiled-up backside on a gargantuan Calvin Klein billboard on Houston Street, he jumped out of a car and exclaimed, "What the fuck!" The traffic-stopping black-and-white Steven Klein image has catapulted the 23-year-old Agbodji to instant male supermodel stardom. "Six months ago, I would never have done nudes." The model, who is from the tiny coastal African country Togo but also lived in Paris and Moscow before moving to the Bronx ten years ago, realized that baring all is no biggie. "As a photographer, I shoot girls nude all the time. Art is always about sexuality and the human body. I'm not going to make anybody do something I wouldn't do myself."

Agbodji, who opened and closed the Calvin Klein runway show at New York Fashion Week, graduated as a painter from NYU, but chose a contract with Request Models over a nine-to-five job. "I could model and also do my art." Agbodji's current passion is photography, and he's installed a photo studio in his new apartment in Fort Greene. "I never studied photography," he says. "I learn techniques on set, asking questions. An assistant wouldn't get to learn as much as I do as a model. It's like school."

A globetrotter, Agbodji speaks four languages (he's fast becoming fluent in Portuguese, thanks to a Brazilian girlfriend), but, he says, "New York is my home. Wherever I go, people don't think I'm an American. They think I'm a New Yorker." But while Agbodji is constantly jetting around the world, staying in glamorous hotels, he yearns to be a homebody. "I don't like to travel. I like my bed. It's a Tempur-Pedic mattress. It's so comfortable," he boasts. "I like going to other places, but the whole time I'm there, I miss my bed."

David wears a suit by Calvin Klein. Makeup: Eryn Lefkowitz. Hair: Max Pinnell for Bumble and Bumble at See Management

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