“Petey is 20, from Tennessee, and so pretty,” writes Mike Albo in this week’s New York Magazine. Petey won the Vman Ford Model Search competition, broke up with his girlfriend Sally, moved to an apartment in South Williamsburg and now, according to the accompanying photos, spends his days lounging in underwear, jumping on beds, eating, and walking. But good news for everyone who, halfway through fashion week, has had just about enough of long torsos and cheekbones: by the end of Albo’s subtle and effective exposé, being a male model kind of sucks! Petey makes no money and gets lonely. Of course, Petey’s stint in New York is still as glamorous as a bisexual, chain-smoking starlet, but Petey eventually gets to a “weird state,” as he says (he has to move home; he misses Sally; his agents won’t stop bothering him). The story hits a note of honesty after a week of aggrandizing every skinny young thing and their sweater; even if I do, at the end, pity the pretty boy.

Photo: Cass Bird/New York Magazine