By Duncan Bick

Last updated at 08:17, Friday, 15 February 2013

Changing jobs is a common part of modern life. But going from a building site to modelling for one of the world’s most famous shoe brands is quite a dramatic switch.

Jake Wigham

That’s what Carlisle man Jake Wigham has done, becoming one of the faces in Hush Puppies’ latest advertising campaign.

He sees even more changes coming in the year ahead.

“It was actually a lot of fun to shoot,” he said.

“Everyone on the shoot was into the same kind of music and clothes.”

The campaign sees Jake feature in a short video, shot in Margate, Kent, which harks back to the town’s status as a haven for skinheads and mods.

These groups have long been an interest for Jake, 23.

“I’m really interested in youth subcultures of the 1950s and 1960s, that’s my kind of passion,” he said.

Jake, who lives on Tilbury Road, Rosehill, is currently studying for a foundation diploma in art at Carlisle College.

However, when he left Trinity School at the age of 16, he became an apprentice bricklayer. He completed this, also training in site management, but decided to move into a different field of work.

His brother Dan, 20, had already studied for a foundation diploma and Jake, who had always been an art lover, decided to give it a go himself.

He said: “It was just something I always did as a hobby. I wasn’t completely happy in construction so I decided to do something.”

Jake encourages anyone thinking about a change of career to consider a foundation degree.

His appearance in the advertising campaign came when he met legendary fashion designer Wayne Hemingway at a party in London.

He asked for Jake’s contact details, saying he would be a good model for a campaign he and his son Jack were working on.

Shortly afterwards he was contacted about the Hush Puppies advert and then made his way to Margate.

He is now scheduled to shoot another video for Kids of Dada, an art collector’s network.

Jake wants to continue working in fashion; but not as a model.

Instead he hopes to train in tailoring and move into creating bespoke wear.

“Being given the measurements and working with the garments is actually quite similar to construction,” he said.

First published at 08:03, Friday, 15 February 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk