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Gender bending male model a runway trendsetter
By Bonny Ghosh
The Associated Press
Posted Feb 10, 2012 @ 04:22 PM
In this Jan. 27, 2012 photo, photographer transgender model Andrej Pejic has make-up applied by Cecelia Romero for a fashion shoot in New York. Transgender models have promoted the work of Marc Jacobs and Jean Paul Gaultier, but it's a man with no plans for gender reassignment surgery who�s straddling the line like no other. Pejic, 20, says he�s perfectly happy being gender neutral. Some in the fashion industry see Pejic as a sign of a new gender fluidity. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Nwe York - On a chilly winter afternoon, Andrej Pejic settles into a Manhattan cafe with a cup of Earl Grey tea, sitting gracefully, long legs crossed. The blue-eyed fashion model gazes out a window, unaware that almost every man sitting at surrounding tables is transfixed.
A man in a black leather jacket walks up to the window, presses his face against the glass and kisses it. Pejic giggles and admits: “I find it flattering.”
The admirers are likely unaware that the beautiful blonde is actually a man.
As Fashion Week gets under way in New York City, Pejic is one of the most recognizable — and controversial — faces in the industry. He’s the only top-tier fashion model who can walk down the runway as either a man or a woman. And his androgynous beauty has turned him into a trendsetter in an industry that’s always seeking to push the envelope.
“He’s just this beautiful thing that everyone wants a piece of,” says stylist Kyle Anderson, who dressed Pejic for a German magazine cover.
He has the kind of face that makes even the vainest woman jealous: high cheekbones, flawless skin and plump, shapely lips. When he speaks, his ever-so-slight Adam’s apple is the first sign of his masculinity.
Though Pejic isn’t trying to be a woman, many in the transgender community have already claimed him as their own. He is seen as a bit of a maverick, someone who has embraced his sexuality without any need for explanation or justification. Last year, the gay and lesbian magazine Out named him “stylemaker of the year” and put him on its cover wearing a bridal veil and flowers in his hair.
Pejic graced the covers of 14 magazines last year alone, including an ad campaign for a Dutch pushup bra. In 2011, he was the face for a fashion line by designer Marc Jacobs. He has walked the runways for heavyweight designers, including John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier.
French designer Gaultier was so enamored of Pejic that he used his gender-bending look as a source of inspiration for his 2011 men’s and women’s wear shows, both of which Pejic modeled in. In the Gaultier men’s show, a pistol-packing, bare-chested Pejic wore a sleek black suit as “James Blonde.”
That was in stark contrast with the women’s show, where Gaultier crowned Pejic with the prized piece in the women’s wear collection: a couture bride’s dress.
Read more: http://www.heraldnews.com/newsnow/x57440...r#ixzz1m1UTGr2k
By Bonny Ghosh
The Associated Press
Posted Feb 10, 2012 @ 04:22 PM
In this Jan. 27, 2012 photo, photographer transgender model Andrej Pejic has make-up applied by Cecelia Romero for a fashion shoot in New York. Transgender models have promoted the work of Marc Jacobs and Jean Paul Gaultier, but it's a man with no plans for gender reassignment surgery who�s straddling the line like no other. Pejic, 20, says he�s perfectly happy being gender neutral. Some in the fashion industry see Pejic as a sign of a new gender fluidity. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Nwe York - On a chilly winter afternoon, Andrej Pejic settles into a Manhattan cafe with a cup of Earl Grey tea, sitting gracefully, long legs crossed. The blue-eyed fashion model gazes out a window, unaware that almost every man sitting at surrounding tables is transfixed.
A man in a black leather jacket walks up to the window, presses his face against the glass and kisses it. Pejic giggles and admits: “I find it flattering.”
The admirers are likely unaware that the beautiful blonde is actually a man.
As Fashion Week gets under way in New York City, Pejic is one of the most recognizable — and controversial — faces in the industry. He’s the only top-tier fashion model who can walk down the runway as either a man or a woman. And his androgynous beauty has turned him into a trendsetter in an industry that’s always seeking to push the envelope.
“He’s just this beautiful thing that everyone wants a piece of,” says stylist Kyle Anderson, who dressed Pejic for a German magazine cover.
He has the kind of face that makes even the vainest woman jealous: high cheekbones, flawless skin and plump, shapely lips. When he speaks, his ever-so-slight Adam’s apple is the first sign of his masculinity.
Though Pejic isn’t trying to be a woman, many in the transgender community have already claimed him as their own. He is seen as a bit of a maverick, someone who has embraced his sexuality without any need for explanation or justification. Last year, the gay and lesbian magazine Out named him “stylemaker of the year” and put him on its cover wearing a bridal veil and flowers in his hair.
Pejic graced the covers of 14 magazines last year alone, including an ad campaign for a Dutch pushup bra. In 2011, he was the face for a fashion line by designer Marc Jacobs. He has walked the runways for heavyweight designers, including John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier.
French designer Gaultier was so enamored of Pejic that he used his gender-bending look as a source of inspiration for his 2011 men’s and women’s wear shows, both of which Pejic modeled in. In the Gaultier men’s show, a pistol-packing, bare-chested Pejic wore a sleek black suit as “James Blonde.”
That was in stark contrast with the women’s show, where Gaultier crowned Pejic with the prized piece in the women’s wear collection: a couture bride’s dress.
Read more: http://www.heraldnews.com/newsnow/x57440...r#ixzz1m1UTGr2k