Androgynous Models Who Are Breaking The Gender Rules

By Angela Bethea | January 18, 2013

There is something different happening in the catwalks. For years, the fashion world has watched models like Stella Tennant and Agyness Deyn gracing the covers of fashion magazines, but it seems bookers are taking the androgynous direction of modeling a step further with the hiring of 35-year old Casey Legler, a former Olympic swimmer, to model menswear.

This new direction began when Lea T, a transsexual model who is the face of Givenchy graced the cover of Elle. She modeled women’s fashion while she was still decidedly male. She underwent sexual reassignment only last year, while already established as a model for women’s fashion. She even posed naked for a magazine hiding her genitals with her hands.

Then Andrej Pejic burst into the fashion scene, the Bosnian-born model that started out as a male model but eventually ended up modeling women’s fashion. His portfolio includes having worked for the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier. He came out in Barcelona’s bridal week last year wearing a bridal dress.

Stav Strashko followed soon after, the Ukranian born model creating quite a stir when he came out in the Toyota advertisement wearing a red bikini. Tilda Swinton modeled menswear for Pringle two years ago. Liu Xianping became an online sensation when the 72-year old grandfather came out with photographs of him wearing his grandaughter’s fashion wares in his attempt to help establish her online fashion store. It seems that the fashion world is slowly softening its strict gender rules as men model women’s fashion and vice versa.

What are your thought regarding this new direction the fashion world is heading to?