Hipster Santa: Paul Mason, the most fashionable St. Nick in town
Is this the coolest St. Nick ever? Model Paul Mason has been given a Christmas makeover and made into a very fashionable Santa as part of Toronto's Yorkdale Mall holiday campaign.
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As well as being the face of the campaign, Paul will also be posing for selfies with shoppers in the mall, helping to raise money for Sick Kids Foundation, a charity that raises funds for Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.
Posing in designer labels like Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana and Givenchy, and swapping his sack of gifts for a chic backpack, Paul has become an overnight viral sensation.
Paul, who has enjoyed a long career as a male model, opened up about the campaign. "It’s just the most unexpected thing," he told the BBC, adding "Of course, I’ve had a long career – 30 years as a model prior to social media – and this is something else. I’ve never seen anything like it.
"Through working all over the world, I have friends in all the major cities, and collectively they’ve come together and just supported what’s going on. But they’re equally as shocked as anyone else."
Yorkdale marketing director Lucia Connor weighed in on why she believes the campaign went viral. "When we speak to some of the customers that come through to see Santa, the adults get so excited and they say: 'The last time I took a photo with Santa I was young, I was little'," she said.
"I think now what people are able to do is now proudly display their own photo of adult Fashion Santa, and instead of the mantel, they’re displaying it on their social media feeds."