Matt Kemp signs on as model for Gap outlets

Matt Kemp is currently playing under a $160 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but baseball is not his only occupation. Kemp has also done some modeling (remember that magazine shoot where he showed all that skin?). In fact, Gap Inc. recently announced that Kemp has become the first male celebrity for the company’s biggest ever outlet stores marketing campaign.

“This is pretty big,” Kemp told Women’s Wear Daily when asked about his new gig. “Everybody used to say that baseball players can’t dress and athletes can’t dress. You know, a lot of athletes now are trying to prove everybody wrong, though there are some athletes that try too hard and try to do over-the-top things. But me, I try to be simple and just make whatever I’m wearing look good.”

Athletes trying to do over-the-top things to make a fashion statement? Come on, where have we ever seen that? Guys like Dwyane Wade have the whole keeping it simple thing down pat, right?

Kemp showed up to his first fashion shoot with 17 pairs of shoes, three watches that included a gold Rolex, 11 belts and five pairs of glasses. Most people who shop at the Gap probably don’t have that kind of wardrobe, but none of that matters when your product is endorsed by a superstar athlete.

Kemp, who said he loves dressing up and will wear a suit any chance he gets, was asked by WWD’s Khanh T.L. Tran if he gives fashion advice to his Dodgers teammates.

“They can’t make it look as good as me,” he joked. “No, we play around with styles in the locker room. It’s fun for us. Everybody’s different. Everybody has their own personality. Everybody has their own brands, favorite brands, favorite colors.”

Yasiel Puig is one of Kemp’s teammates, so we know he’s not lying about the personality thing. And now that he has signed on to be the face of the Gap, I’m sure he’ll be the center of plenty of jokes in the locker room.