Ryan McGinley on How to Look Good Naked

Ryan McGinley has spent the better part of the last decade photographing pretty young things frolicking nude in the Great American Landscape. Such work has made the 38-year-old an expert in daylight, movement, location scouting, trespassing, and, naturally, what looks good naked. It’s a skill that came in handy for his latest show, “Winter,” which opened yesterday at Manhattan’s Team Gallery, featuring a classic cast of vibrant and nude creatives traipsing around upstate New York’s iciest settings. “We shot last winter as low as Harriman State Park and as far north as Syracuse,” says McGinley, who stumbled upon otherworldly snow-draped fields and frozen waterfalls in temperatures as low as zero.

The resulting spectral images of warm bodies unfolding on rime required an acute understanding of how to be cold, comfortable, and confident while disrobed, skills we could perhaps all brush up on as we prepare for winter—and its accompanying cuffing season. There’s no need to panic. According to McGinley, the most beautiful you’ll ever look naked has little to do with training like it’s bikini season and everything to do with a wild-at-heart spirit. “It really has to do with feeling the sense of adventure.” Time has taught McGinley that, aside from indicating that a person will likely relish the task of scaling an ice wall in his or her birthday suit for the sake of his art, a free-spirited nature also shows “a sense of ease with the body” that’s more beautiful in the flesh. And a few simple steps will coax even the coldest and shiest person out of his or her shell.

Unwinding nerves starts with getting lost in your imagination. “Be a character, channel your spirit animal,” says McGinley, who prefers “silly over sexy” every time. This is also one time when hiding behind your hair can be sexy. “It’s classic Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club. People use hair as a security blanket—a lot of girls brush it forward in front of the [body].”

When it comes to waxing (or not, as the case may be), McGinley says not to overdo it. “When I first started shooting, I fell in love with old vintage nudist magazines, stuff that was around in the ’50s and ’60s. The girls always had a bush. It goes with that era, too—more 1969 free love. That’s when America changed and when the ideals changed [and] people questioned authority.” As for the ideal body shape, don’t get hung up on perfection. “Having some meat on your bones helps.”

Still not there? Though lying down and striking “a little Renaissance recline” has eternal allure for nudes (as proof, take a walk through the Metropolitan Museum of Art), McGinley has found that nothing will make you feel at home in your skin like the right playlist. “You’re just trying to destroy any sense of self-consciousness,” he says of the songs he’s found that make everyone want to take off their clothes and move. For women, that most often involves a pop classic. On set, he says, “We ask, ‘Who do you want: Britney, Michael, Missy, Beyoncé, or Madonna?’ Everyone has their favorite pop star. If they’re like, ‘Missy,’ you’ll want to put on ‘Work It.’ ” Aaliyah’s “One in a Million” and Prince’s “Baby I’m a Star” are also top contenders. Men ask for hard-core and punk anthems or, more recently, experimental hip-hop by Death Grips. Because, says McGinley matter-of-factly, “A guy would never dance naked to a pop song.”

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