Big, Black, and Beautiful: Dexter Mayfield Is Out’s New Gay Swimsuit Star

July 27, 2022
TOMMY

Though most of you will recognize Dexter Mayfield as one of the star judges on CBS' competition show Come Dance With Me, readers around the world are soon to recognize him as the newest cover model for the July/August 2022 edition of Out Magazine's Swimsuit Issue.

To mark its 30th birthday (that's the one where you dye your hair platinum blonde, right?) and its 300th issue, Out Magazine is bringing back its once-perennial swimsuit issue, but now reaching a wider audience. Typically, Out's swimsuit models are thin, ripped, and predominantly white, which is why Mayfield's big, Black self remaking the 2006 cover is extra wonderful. The 2006 cover model Mayfield is recreating the look of is Nicholas Lemons.

Before working on Come Dance With Me, Mayfield danced with Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez, and Katy Perry, though make no mistake about it: he's also no newbie to the world of modeling. He's also previously been a runway model for Fenty by Rihanna, and was one of the hottest models to make a splash at 2017's Marco Marco Fashion Show where Mayfield proved he looks just as good out of clothes, as he does in them.

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Gracing Out Magazine as the cover model hit a particularly personal chord for Mayfield. "Out Magazine was literally my little gay guide, I would sneak off to the store to read it. And to recreate an iconic cover, especially with the body, is representation I never got to see. I never got to see myself in any publication, so to see the representation and equity that’s coming from this project alone is beautiful," the model said.

I can't wait to pick up a copy of the this Summer's issue of Out Magazine, because if there's one thing I love it's sexy men in bathing suits. Woof!