Andrej Pejic, a 20 year old male-bodied model, is redefining the gender boundaries in the world of high fashion modeling. He is known for his unique androgyny that the fashion world has never seen before. Pejic has consistently modeled both menswear and womenswear for the past couple of years and is stunning in anything he wears. I first saw him when he was chosen as the face of Marc by Marc Jacobs and thought the model was just another extremely thin blonde hair, blue eyed woman.
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| Pejic's biggest campaign for Marc Jacobs as both man and woman. Nymag.com |
This is the first time in fashion where a model is really allowed to excel in both women's and men's modeling and it is unprecedented. Male models are usually the epitome of what young girls crush over, the ultimate in manhood. Muscles, chiseled jaws, short hair cuts, and broad shoulders mark what men should look like, but Pejic defies all of that. Harriet Quick, a Vogue editor, said about Pejic, "For the past decade, fashion has concentrated on the alpha male and alpha female stereotype. Now it’s all about questioning sexuality and blurring the boundaries. Andrej is reflecting our times – he’s what’s out there; he’s reflecting culture" (
The Telegrah). The idea of sexuality and gender as just free-flowing spaces is embodied by Pejic and it is attention grabbing, to say the least.
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| As Marilyn Monroe for Lovecat in Fall 2011. |
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| Revealing his male-bodied chest for Vida! Moda. vincent-ko.com |
Anything out of the usual and makes people ask questions about what is expected from a man or a woman is worth a look.
I think that it is fantastic that a cross-dressing self identified transgender model could make it in the mainstream. Unsurprisingly, he's faced his fair share of discrimination. Barnes & Noble banned an issue of Dossier magazine for its cover, in which he models topless while his hair and make-up make him look traditionally feminine (http://news.softpedia.com/news/Andrej-Pejic-Talks-Banned-Controversial-Cover-It-s-Art-202960.shtml). Oddly enough, the company said that it would stock the magazine if it came with plastic to cover up the fact that he was shirtless. I think it's funny that they so felt the need to categorize him as either male or female that they chose to see him as completely female, and thus, despite the fact that he does not have breasts, make it unseemly to show him without a shirt.
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